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Grinding Bench Design

Randy Anderson

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Many an hour there when the drinking age was 18, longneck beer was cheap and barrels of free crackers to grab a handful of as you left the bar. Bottlecap alley to walk through as you tried to find your ride home. Late 70s, different world for sure.
 
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Alvin, TX
Larry, I grew up not far from Alvin. Santa Fe / Alta Loma. All my family lived there and most still do. I went to Alvin Comm College for a year out of HS then graduated from Texas A&M. Yep, lots and lots of tallow trees. My yard was full of them and always got in trouble for throwing the hard green berries at each other as kids. Have you tried to turn any of it? My all time favorite wood to turn is mesquite. My nephew still lives in Santa Fe and gets it for me when I can get down there to pick it up. If you can get your hands on some mesquite then suggest you snatch it up. Hard to get in big pieces for blanks but it's great to turn, sands and finishes well and has a really nice feel to it when done. Great stuff.
Hey Randy...yeah, Santa Fe is just down the road from us. I don't head that direction much as I work at Ellington Base over near 45, have a daughter in Pearland and a son over in League City. I have yet to see any mesquite on my 7.5 acres or nearby but will have to keep my eye open. I have a buddy down here who is from the Dallas area who goes home quite often and said he would be sure to hook me up next time he went north. I did find this on a TAMU site talking about mesquite: "One of the most common species in Texas, occurring statewide except for East Texas where it occurs rarely on salty soils. Mesquite is quite invasive in cattle pastures and open, unmaintained fields."
 
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Alvin, TX
Randy…realized I didn’t address your comment about using Tallow. I haven’t yet but initially thought I would use it as accent wood (and still will). That said, some time ago I came across a website where someone had turned some bowls and other things from Tallow and they actually looked pretty nice…junk wood for most things but evidently not for everything!
 

Randy Anderson

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May 25, 2019
Messages
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Eads, TN
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www.etsy.com
Larry, funny how wood some folks consider "junk" or not worth turning based on what someone told them or they heard can be wrong. You never know. I was told repeatedly that sweet gum, almost a nuisance tree around here, was not worth messing with. Finally got some from my neighbor and it's really nice stuff to turn, stable and great color on some of it. I've been able to sell all I've turned so far. I'd like to try some tallow since I grew up climbing them, building tree houses in them and mowing down the sprouts all over the yard.
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2019
Messages
133
Likes
38
Location
Alvin, TX
Larry, funny how wood some folks consider "junk" or not worth turning based on what someone told them or they heard can be wrong. You never know. I was told repeatedly that sweet gum, almost a nuisance tree around here, was not worth messing with. Finally got some from my neighbor and it's really nice stuff to turn, stable and great color on some of it. I've been able to sell all I've turned so far. I'd like to try some tallow since I grew up climbing them, building tree houses in them and mowing down the sprouts all over the yard.
A little “turn” on an old military saying from way back when…“Turn ‘em if you got ‘em.”
 
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