Oh, Me Achin' Hands.

Last week, I overheard someone at work say her parents were giving away firewood. And, being the ever-opportunistic turner that I am, I asked, "What kind? What size? How long's it been down? Could I get some? Now? When? This weekend? Where do they live? In town? Huh? Do they? Huh?" (If you can't tell, I get kinda excited about this stuff...)

As luck would have it, they'd just lost a beautiful older Maple -- about three foot thick at the base. Unfortunately, rotting from the center out.

So, I grabbed my chainsaw and headed over to Mercer Island on Saturday morning. I found the tree in about 18-inch lengths, and for the most part, unchecked. Bonus!

I lugged six halves home in the back of our little truck and immediately set about roughing out some big bowls.

First, these pieces are about 50-60lbs (at least the bigger ones are). And as you can imagine, I can't get 'em round with the chainsaw, so it takes a bit of figuring to get them to fit and turn on the lathe.

With my son peppering me with 60 questions a minute, and slamming my knuckles several times trying to saw off corners by hand, it took about 45 minutes to get each one mounted and ready. I got through half of them on Sunday. The rest, I wrapped in plastic and hope they won't crack until I can get to them.

Again, I'm being greedy by trying to get the biggest bowl possible and expect these to crack some from the pith down, but sometimes they don't. And I'm feelin' lucky.

These are gonna be awesome if they dry without cracking. I'd forgotten how hard Maple is. Even wet, it'll dull your tools a lot faster than you think. By the time I finished three, I was worn out.

Wish I had a coring system -- such a waste here. (Could have gotten 5-times as many bowl with the right system. Maybe someday...)Good mulch for the garden though.

Next morning, my hands were stiff, My neck was stiff, and it took some coaxing to stand up straight. What a wonderful workout. Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Thank you Jane and Steve Urner for the generous gift.