What some nice people have said on Etsy!

Maredyl says:

Got it yesterday,I love it. It is very very well made. I am impressed with the joinery. (Is that the right word?)It is the perfect size to keep in the kitchen and it is just nice to have such a well-made, handmade wooden piece instead of something plastic and made in China. Thank you, thank you!!!!!!

6/04/2010

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• Caribbean Pine Step Stool / Foot Stool

ciel04 says:

it is lovely, turned up quite quickly, and is the perfect present for my dad! thanks heaps

5/04/2010

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• Hand-turned Mesquite Bloodwood and Maple Walking Cane

bryancollins says:

Thank you.

5/03/2010

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• 5 ACEO ATC art cards - Mesquite wood blank

momoruth says:

love the wooden blanks..my atc's are special now..thank you...I will be promoting this shop at my workshop

4/05/2010

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• 5 ACEO ATC Art Solid Wood Blank Mesquite

momoruth says:

Love the wooden cards...hoping you have more

2/13/2010

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• 5 ACEO ATC art cards - Mesquite wood blank

heidimiso says:

Absolutely lovely. Love the bloodwood grainlines, the inserted zebrawood hand, and it's the right length. I intend to use as well as admire. Very skillfully made.

1/29/2010

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• Bloodwood and Zebrawood walking cane

wmarymargaret says:

Great cards. Quick shipping. Lots of thanks!!

7/16/2009

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• 5 ACEO ATC art cards - Mesquite wood blank

Do I look like a furniture maker now?

Well here I am in the beginning of the next step: turning my log into lumber.

Guess what I found out about trees? God apparently didn't make them with the intention of going through my bandsaw. They are lumpy, twisty, and have this funny bark stuff on the outside. Which generally says my bandsaw is too small and the tree is more powerful than it.

Speaking of powerful trees, who'da thunk they were 85% water. And water weighs 7lbs per gallon. Don't think that's much? Go measure your milk jug. It's not that big of a branch. Now stack that milk jug on top of itself 9 times and tell me how heavy the branch is?

So with all of that said, I'm finding out both how strong I am and how out of shape I've become. And how much both of those effect being able to make a rectangular piece out of a round branch. Especially a branch that's too big around to fit under my 6" clearance on the saw. So you'll find a couple of things have happened. Some of the logs I've had to center split with a chainsaw first, while others I've used chisels, mallets, a hatchet even to remove the bark to thin them down. (Thinking about that - where did I put my draw knife?)

All this fun and I'm on branch one of five, plus two trunks and a burl of tree one out of nine! A lot more blogs to come about the trials/ tribulations and back pain of milling a tree.