Oops!

No, this is not my car. I don't even know the people who live here but I bet this guy wished he had parked in the garage. Several weeks ago a severe downburst of straight line winds blew through the Indian Lake area of our town. This shows the power of falling timber. I didn't get to aquire the walnut from this yard but it was very nice. There were more trees than I could ever imagine trying to harvest. I am only one man with limited equipment. I also simply do not have the time to be gathering trees, although.......

With some help from Pete Wiens and Bob Peterson we did manage to gather a few. That's me on the left only wishing I was able to cut the beech tree you see behind us. This tree was near 200 years old and 4 feet across. Pete(far right) wanted a quarter section to turn on his lathe so I tried to cut a piece for him. The tree company people felt sorry for my little 20'' Sthil chainsaw and showed me up with his monster saw which melted through this log without hesitation. He grinned the whole time he was cutting. He knew he had showed me up. I'd like to see him make a chair!

Here is the result from the beech tree. Remember, this is only a quarter of the log.I cannot wait to see how Pete will chuck this on his lathe. Good luck.

Here is a cherry tree I cut up into turning blanks for chair parts. I also sawed a hickory and maple for firewood. The best tree we found was a butternut and of coarse we sawed into seat blanks.

For those of you coming to the chair class at Kelly Mehler's here is Bill Nelson helping me harvest some white oak for your chairs. Bill recently had hip replacement surgery. What was he thinking?

I like being able to select the trees while I can see them standing. We also cut some post and rafters for the front porch of my shop. This will be my next project after returning from Kelly's school mid April.

I like this picture showing all the wood I have been collecting the past month. On the trailor the front porch wood, the chair logs already unloaded on the ground(by the way they split very well), and in the back ground tons of firewood for next winter.

I have had lots of students at the shop during all this and one more class to teach right before I leave for Berea to help Pete Galbert. I finished the last of the turnings tonight and will post some pictures later this week. Time for a nap!