The people at the local post office think I am very odd. Sometimes I get boxes full of wrought iron bars, or sand and I sometimes send out chunks of railroad track. What, it’s what postal service is for, isn’t it?
5,000 years old.
I’ll probably make two bowls out of that, and there will be yummy scraps to play with. That chunk is from a guy on etsy who’s in Ukraine. Remarkably, it arrived in less than a week.
It has some cracks in it, so I may bandsaw it into blanks and then resin-soak them.
Right now I need to repair/replace/upgrade the tensioner for Mr Happy Dancing Bandsaw, so I can’t do any sawing until parts arrive. But they should appear by next week and then I can have it all working fine and dandy.
While I’m at it, here’s another piece I cut a few weeks ago; I’ve been letting it air and dry:
Ant log turned out pretty well, but the holes in the wood were vertical and I wondered how it would look if the holes were horizontal, instead. Easy enough to find out. Next I need to make a container to resin-soak it in. I feel like I am wasting a lot of resin, pouring it in and chiseling it out again – I want to have something close-fitting and maybe a vacuum bag I can put it in. Bagging is easier than having a large vacuum chamber and I know the guys who do carbon fiber use that technique, so something must be out there. [https://www.fibreglast.com/category/Vacuum_Bagging_Vacuum_Infusion – holy moly lots to learn there! So exciting!]
I had an idea the other day for a bowl-making project that ought to be pretty cool, and I don’t think I have seen anyone else do it. So it occurred to me that I could set up some lights and cameras and do a build video. But the problem is that nowadays youtube is full of professional-quality build videos that are produced by people who really know how to edit for dynamic interest, and, basically, I don’t know if it’s worth going to a lot of trouble to make something that hardly anyone will ever care about. Maybe I should just stick to what I’m doing, which I think I do OK at. On the other hand, I’d be product-placement free and I’d have no need to bulk it up with extra stuff to meet some kind of minimum length target for a sponsor. I guess I dread youtube and social media, it’s such a dumping-ground.
I’ve never let the existence of objectively better videos stop me from making and posting something personal.
@sonofrojblake: that’s a good point.
It is not about the size of your wood, it is about what you do with it.
Charly & Marcus, you have me in stitches.
Stop worrying what other people think and do what you think is best. There is no need to give others that much power over your life. At least, thats how I operate. YMMV.
My, what big wood you have!
That will make some really cool stuff.
Agree with StonedRanger. If you decide to make one, your video is your video, and that is exactly the value, right there: it’s what YOU would do, from your perspective and your point of view. Doesn’t matter what others do. It’s not a contest. If you would enjoy doing it, go for it. If not, that’s fine. Your photo essays are marvelous, you don’t need to prove anything.
Nice Wood!
I think a build video would challenge you artistically, and it doesn’t need to please anyone, except yourself. I agree with everyone that it isn’t a contest and if it’s something you’d like to try, go for it. And I’m sure that there will be people who will find it useful. Personally, I’d rather watch something without fancy production values, if the information is organized and well presented.
Thanks all for your input re: making videos. You’re right – it should not depend on others, the question is whether or not I enjoy it. Having spent many hours in video editors, I’m not sure making “how to” videos would be fun in its own right. Perhaps I will think of a fun way to do it, though. It’d be cool to play with time-lapse AI and stuff like that.
It’s going to take me a while to cut that bog oak up into something I can do something with.
One piece of the bog oak will make up the handle of my next wok-pimping project!
As custodian of Ant Log I’m excited to see what emerges from your horizontal holy wood