One night last winter I brought a bundle of wood in from the crib and spotted a chunk of red oak that was particularly appealing and thought it would make a decent sized piece for a stool to sit on while futzing with the stove. So I set it aside and late this Fall ran it through the thickness planer till it had some bearing surface, ran a couple slots in it to take some scrap 2x6 by way of some legs, and knocked the sharp corners and stringy bits off enough that it wouldn't give a splinter. Well, with the cold we've had, and between burning through twice what I used all last winter in two weeks and being down to some really wet stuff, my butt has spent more time on it than any other seat in the house. Didn't intend it to be anything other than a purely functional piece, but it's kinda growing on me and I'm thinking maybe next Fall I'll see about making a more pleasing set of legs for it. So what have you got? Ever spot a pice of cordwood you just couldn't bring yourself to burn 'cause you knew it'd be just right for making whatever out of? Got a picture? (The guy peeking out from behind is Pepite, which I think means "nugget" in French. Rescue French bulldog. Spent the first year or so of his life stuffed in a crate at a puppy mill. Cute as a button but eats his own poop....So we're working on that. The girls call him Petey, I call him Pepe.)
I made some firepit seating out of some big knotty pine rounds that I didn't feel like splitting a few years ago. I'm only certified for chainsaw carpentry
This was not really my "save", but my father in law was working at a sawmill and saved out these pieces of pine and made a small outdoor table for my wife Katie...manyyyyyyy years ago. It has moved from New Hampshire to Maine, and still serves us well on our porch, or for the occasional photo as shown here.
Darn modeling union contract, only allows Katie to model so many times a day. Besides this was taken pretty early in the morning and she was still sleeping. Note to you guys/gals from New Hampshire, you can see Mt Washington in the distance, some 150 miles away in that photo if you look hard enough!
Not sure she's got any dogs up right now:Rags To Royals Rescue | French Bulldog Rescue | English Bulldog Rescue Small, one woman show. Be aware this is not the ASPCA and she needs to cover her operation costs so there are fees dependent on each dog's situation. Not sure if she places dogs out of state, but she may have a contact that works in your neck of the woods.
Loving the pieces above. What a great form on that stump! The table for Katie is obviously very special, what a treasure. And I'm pretty sure chainsaw carpentry is one of the highest certs a fellow can get. Surely the hounds approve?
Here's what I'm going to create when I find the right upturned tree. These seats can be found on South Bass Island in Lake Erie at Joe's Bar
I wish I had the photo...but one time I saved the most gnarliest board you have ever seen milled out and turned it into a dovetail saw. The wood was crab apples so it polished up well and was hard as a rock! I used that for a handle, then being a machinist/welder turned down some stainless steel saw bolts to attach it to a 316L polished stainless steel saw. The saw back was staggered, only possible because I can weld and thus tig welded the spline. For the teeth i formed them by filing every tooth by hand with a triangular file, then kerfed the saw. Obviously a display tool, I mounted it in a case with red felting as a background. But the cool part was, the one and only cut the saw ever made was a test piece of aromic red cedar. I glued this to the back of the case, then on a polished chrome chain, placed a block of wood with sandpaper adhered to it. In this way, when the owner wanted to get the smell of fresh cut cedar, the sanding block could lightly sand the test cut piece of wood and fill the room with cedar. Ultimately I gave it away to a friend who was a carpenter, BUT while I did get pictures, the external drive they are on crapped out. I tried to recover them, but so far no luck! :-( BTW: All this was before I had sheep and had the time to do that stuff.
