Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

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Twelve Builds All in a Pile

Well they will be about a dozen builds in a few years...after the lumber is all air dried.

Cut off a few rounds of hemlock and cedar a while back. Painted the ends and this week end
Will n me finally got a round to rippen them up.





The next 2 pics are me and the cedar round having a conversation about things pertaining to loofierisum and other mystical import







Will and me Checking out the mill.




Discussing the cut.







Doggie supervising me.




There it is ...all racked up for drying. Enough for all the linings and bracing, necks, backs and tops for about 6 archtops and 6 travellers.





So thats how me n Will n Doggie spent the long weekend.



blessings
duh Padma

What a great way to spend the weekend!

As it happens I have been putting a bit of time into the same endeavours Padma. These pieces are taking a long journey to a secret destination far away from here in order to practice the art of being tonewood along with another group of tonewood that has already spent years practising the art. As novices they will perform menial tasks perched high or low (depending on their allocation in the hierarchy) in lonely places on their long path to becoming yantra then finally placed in the hands of skilled practitioners to accompany mantra into the universe. As you can see the ceremonies that have been taking place around this Woodhenge are so secret that I have not filmed them and could only take a few stills after the rituals and before the journey begins. The Stihl ritual was first ( I see you are versed in these ways yourself Padma) A rather noisy aggressive ritual that sees the novices cut open baring their souls briefly to the universe and covered in sacred lubricating bar oils. The next the "Glad" ceremony where they are sealed in order to keep out negative energies that they may encounter on their southern path. Then they will sojourn safely at location X until they are sequestered to their next destination. I also managed to convince my partner to dance naked around them with me late at night (not really part of the ceremony but, you know, any excuse to get her naked).
Jim

Looks like the weather has turned out a treat for you Padma. Very nice looking blocks that both you and Jim have got squirrelled away.

That's a beautiful "little" pile Padma, and looks like a lot of fun you had and will have with it!

(Jim, are you sure those logs will not develop mould when packaged like this? Be careful. This wood is too beautiful for being spoiled.)

duh Padma wrote:.

Hey Pad, I think your chainsaw is upside down

Yo, Jim

me heard of rubbin em down with petrol or oil,...but saran wrap...gee dude thats kinky alright.

me wood is lucky if it gets a splash of paint on the ends.

What type of wood is that you spliting up....me likes the colour of it...perhaps in a few years down the road we might do some horse trading....me got west coast B.C. red cedar, spruce, hemlock, fir and spalted birch with real authentic worm holes. All me wood has been duly prayed over before being harvested, then blessed and consecrated for the purpose of loofierisim in the 3rd degree.


blessings
duh Padma

DarwinStrings wrote:The next the "Glad" ceremony where they are sealed in order to keep out negative energies that they may encounter on their southern path.

I thought wood grew like that Jim, just like the meat they grow in those little plastic & Gladwrap trays at the supermarket!

Must be something quite 'organic' in cutting & milling your own Timber then turning it into a beautiful instrument. I'm envious of the pair of ya! Thanks for posting Padma, weather looks good up there in BC too (as I sit & look out onto a wet grey day)

Weather ... right Nick,

its been pissing here since me cut that stuff and will be for another week...they call it our "Rainy Season"...more like monsoon season, and we get 3 of them a year....the last one , this one and the next one. With any luck we get sunshine and lolly pops or a blast of snow some were between the three.

Actually the real truth be known, Canada only has 2 seasons...winter and next winter.

me should post the temperature conversion chart...ya me do just that. In fact here is the link

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3293



blessings

charangohabsburg wrote:(Jim, are you sure those logs will not develop mould when packaged like this? Be careful. This wood is too beautiful for being spoiled.)

Yep I am sure they will be fine Markus, this is they way I sent the last few logs and if there was a problem we would have changed methods, they were wrapped day before yesterday and would be at the truck depot getting ready for their 4000 Km journey now except I have got some horrible bone aching flu and don't have the energy to be man handling chunks of wood at 100Kg each.

It is African mahogany Padmah (khaya senegalensis) it has a very pretty stripped figure and oxidises to a dark orangey brown like the Honduras one. There are some pics of it Here that are fresh cut and if you scroll down there is a pic that shows it oxidising. Sounds good Padmah I wouldn't mind a horse and by the way I wouldn't mind that bandsaw you got there either.

Jim

Life is good when you are amongst the wood

Padma, I feel your pain. I'm still waiting for Spring to get here. It was just pouring a few minutes ago. Now its the soaking mist. Its still in the 40's at night and if we are lucky, 60's during the day. Rain is expected for the next 3 days.

Great pictures there padmah, what a nice scene , with the house in the woods, do you ever see any bears around there ?

And Jim what great looking Mahogany, grown in Australia , how can you tell it's African ?

Rob

auscab wrote:Great pictures there padmah, what a nice scene , with the house in the woods, do you ever see any bears around there ?

Rob

Yup Rob,

Black, brown and Cinnamon bears....and the occasional grizzly, though not often as they live higher up. Bears come down in the spring and then again in the fall looking for food. If you go for a walk in the woods, is best to wear some jingle type bells, just to let them know you are coming and carry bear repellant spray.

Best way to tell the different bears apart is by their scat.
The common bear eats berries and small rodents so you find seeds and bits and pieces of fir.
Grizzly scat smells like bear repellant and has bells in it.

Lets see we gots deer and elk and this year is a bumper crop of moose. Higher up you find mountain goats and sheep. Lots of road kill, and you are allowed to take it home for food.

The fishin is all gone cuz they turned all our lakes into controlled level dams for hydro so now they are just big water reservoirs. Oh well.

Of course there all an awful lot of two leggeds walking around these parts but its against the law to be hunting them.


blessings
duh Padma

duh Padma wrote: Black, brown and Cinnamon bears....and the occasional grizzly, though not often as they live higher up. Bears come down in the spring and then again in the fall looking for food. If you go for a walk in the woods, is best to wear some jingle type bells, just to let them know you are coming and carry bear repellant spray.

Best way to tell the different bears apart is by their scat.
The common bear eats berries and small rodents so you find seeds and bits and pieces of fir.
Grizzly scat smells like bear repellant and has bells in it.

DarwinStrings wrote:

charangohabsburg wrote:(Jim, are you sure those logs will not develop mould when packaged like this? Be careful. This wood is too beautiful for being spoiled.)

Yep I am sure they will be fine Markus, this is they way I sent the last few logs and if there was a problem we would have changed methods, they were wrapped day before yesterday and would be at the truck depot getting ready for their 4000 Km journey now

Great to read it will work.
It seems to depend a lot on the species, moisture contents and ambient temperature. I once had covered some logs (of softwood) for a few weeks to discover the problem a bit too late. Now I use that wood for other things than instruments, including as firewood too.

DarwinStrings wrote:except I have got some horrible bone aching flu and don't have the energy to be man handling chunks of wood at 100Kg each.

I wish you quick recovery!

Didn't know bears could scat Padma!? Mel Torme visit and teach the wildlife a few runs did he?

auscab wrote:
And Jim what great looking Mahogany, grown in Australia , how can you tell it's African ?

Rob

I know the tree well Rob and have identified examples of it via the flower and seed. I also know the history of the African mahogany imports into Darwin. Post cyclone Tracy, which flattened Darwin, these trees were handed out free as seedlings because of their rapid growth to re-vegetate the town quickly.

Jim

Cheers Markus

DarwinStrings wrote:

auscab wrote:
And Jim what great looking Mahogany, grown in Australia , how can you tell it's African ?

Rob

I know the tree well Rob and have identified examples of it via the flower and seed. I also know the history of the African mahogany imports into Darwin. Post cyclone Tracy, which flattened Darwin, these trees were handed out free as seedlings because of their rapid growth to re-vegetate the town quickly.

Jim

Cheers Markus

Thats a great story , it would sell a guitar by itself, you know, nice end to a sad event
and the stuff looks great as well .

Is it a street tree or were they planted all over the place ? Just interested because I've worked with heaps of Mahogany with furniture,Antique stuff, never seen it live though, I have a book some where with an old black and white photo of a Mahogany forest taken in 1915 approximately, huge stuff .

Rob

auscab wrote:Best way to tell the different bears apart is by their scat.The common bear eats berries and small rodents so you find seeds and bits and pieces of fir.Grizzly scat smells like bear repellant and has bells in it.

Here Ya Go Padma a sign to hang on the front gate

I think the picture of Padma in his slippers sitting atop his pile of wood (field of victory) would make a good desktop background

auscab wrote:
Is it a street tree or were they planted all over the place ?

It was mainly planted in the yards of houses after Tracy but most of them are gone now as they do tend to worry people when they get big. All of the ones I have were planted years after Tracy in parks (or they just popped up from seed and were left to grow as they do tend to sprout up all over the place) the ones you see in my pics are probably all around 25 - 30 year olds and Tracy was Christmas 74 I think.

duh Padma wrote: If you go for a walk in the woods, is best to wear some jingle type bells, just to let them know you are coming and carry bear repellant spray.

I thought bear repellent spray must have been something you carried around in a couple of barrels.

Jim

Life is good if you are amongst the wood but maybe not so good amongst the woods.