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Practice on free pine with a surprise

Raja Abusharr

Raja Abusharr

Joined
Aug 16, 2023
Messages
38
Likes
8
Location
The Woodlands, TX
I just started turning last month and practicing on pine logs that I picked up after a storm. Just getting comfortable with the lathe, gouges and sharpening and technique. Practically all the 8-10" rounds have burrow holes in them but its ok since its just practice. Yesterday however this critter probably thought his world was ending. The littble bugger poked his head out as I was roughing out his real estate... 20230902_184717 (1).jpg
 
Raja Abusharr said:
littble bugger poked his head out as I was roughing out his real estate...
Click to expand...
Not as surprising as finding 1/2 a worm in apple you’re eating:-)

One time I picked up some sycamore the power company left by the roadside.
It was full of some type of wasps just ready to come out. Produced 4 marvelous bowls with a Swiss cheese look.
The rough out shavings had a few dozen survivors crawling around but they weren’t able to pump up their wings.
 
I had some Ash a couple years ago - cut into it and found lots of beetles*. Splats on the face shield. There were so many I cut up all the off-cut scraps down to less than 1/4" thick to ensure they were not going to invade my shop/wood pile.

* They were not emerald borer beetles - I did make sure of that.
 
Dean Center said:
You're not a real turner until you've got a splat of bug on your faceshield. Congratulations!

Also, great strategy for getting started. Connecting with the good folks at your local AAW chapter is another component of a great strategy.
Click to expand...
Most definitely going to head over to the Gulf Coast chapter. There's only so much you can learn off of YouTube. Hard to believe Stuart Batty doing a 3-day workshop 20 minutes from where I live, but of course it is completely full and pretty damn expensive. I'm super happy to see such an enthusiastic and welcoming group of people who call themselves woodturners.
 
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