After Dinner - Dancing With the Devil

[MichaelMouse]

Got all my chores done today, even remembered to get flowers and give SWMBO her anniversary present. She agrees to a one-year extension, BTW.

I hadn't turned anything, so I went down after dinner, which tastes so much better when someone else does the cooking, BTW, and grabbed the other chunk of the hemlock. I thought perhaps it might make something inside down to justify the bad behavior, especially with the thick bark. Didn't take long to discover the wind shakes. CA'd and CA'd again as I turned, and came close to pitching it. If only it were not for the bark.

Well, you can be the judge. Note that I was indeed dancing with the devil all the way down when hollowing. If I had known the shakes were that bad, I'd have stopped. You could hear the hollow sound as I hit that rock hard knot every revolution.

It still stinks, it's soaking wet and stringy, but I have to say I may try another, flatter version to emphasise the bark. Might even go out of my way to prevent flakes, too. Didn't see much sense on this one, as I expected it to blow up any second. Blew all the water I could out of it, but it's still to soft to sand. Hemlock, not for the faint of heart.

 

[George Van Beynen]

Sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do....just to do it!

Looks like a good tool finish considering the hemlock.😉

 

[dkulze]

Looks like an accomplishment under the circumstances. I'd say you were a braver man than me but I do pretty dumb/risky/crazy stuff too. Got the cut on my forehead to show for it (from my face shield being driven into my skin).

Dietrich

 

[MichaelMouse]

Brave often equals foolhardy, doesn't it?

George, it's the standard forged gouge method, and NO pressure on the bevel. Wood didn't tolerate pressure at all. Deformed along the long axis and crushed the fibers otherwise.

Outcome remains in doubt at this moment, as there appears to be an opposite direction shift in progress on the bottom wind shake which may open the whole thing up. It's probably a thirty-second or maybe even a sixteenth offset. I'm certainly not going to do more than sand it, that's for sure. Think I got away with something, and shouldn't press my luck.

Did get four pieces off the larger end of the log today, though.