I'm kinda excited. I was chatting with a landscape partner/owner and we were talking about trees, and the plight of burning perfectly beautiful mesquite burls and he resonated with my lament. He wanted to know what I did with it if I wasn't burning it, so I showed him my digital archives of mesquite, including my wife's pepper grinder.
The next day he brought by 2 4' long , 18" diameter half logs and wanted as many bowls and plates as I could get from them. I explained how coring systems yield nesting sets, and now I have a commission for 3x sets of nesting bowls and a dozen plates.
I committed to late June to balance the day job and he was content.
I exchanged contact info and thought that was that, until the next day he came by with a 14' tall whole mesquite trunk he nabbed from one of his customer's house that morning. We got it anchor sealed and nerded out about the center section that is completely covered in burl for about 5' of the length. I tried to figure out whether he was negotiating some 'in leu of' and he declined and said "I knew you would make good use of it."
I tried to condition him to the expectations of using wood plates and the maintenance necessary to keep them in good repair and he seems to have taken it to heart.
The next day he brought by 2 4' long , 18" diameter half logs and wanted as many bowls and plates as I could get from them. I explained how coring systems yield nesting sets, and now I have a commission for 3x sets of nesting bowls and a dozen plates.
I committed to late June to balance the day job and he was content.
I exchanged contact info and thought that was that, until the next day he came by with a 14' tall whole mesquite trunk he nabbed from one of his customer's house that morning. We got it anchor sealed and nerded out about the center section that is completely covered in burl for about 5' of the length. I tried to figure out whether he was negotiating some 'in leu of' and he declined and said "I knew you would make good use of it."
I tried to condition him to the expectations of using wood plates and the maintenance necessary to keep them in good repair and he seems to have taken it to heart.
