Silktree acquisition.

On Veterans Day 2005 I joined several turners in Gresham, OR to partake in the dismantling of the largest silktree I have seen. When I arrived about 9:30 the trimmer had set up his pulley block and starting to trim the smaller branches.

Every time he took a break the turners descended on the limbs like ants on honey. I had my new chain saw that Sandy bought to replace the one that walked away from our garage last August. It was fun to cut the wood into turning blanks. Silktree is a soft wood and my Stihl 310, with 24" bar, went through it like water through a sieve. There was plenty of water from the sky and from the wood. Silktree is structurally weak, probably because it is so porous and all those pour are full of water. The first few bowls were roughed out the next day on the 12th. During the drying process they lost nearly 50% of their weight. Not surprising considering how much water sprayed out while cutting it.

By the end of the day the tree was dismantled and most of it carried away by a succession of turners. A couple of diehards, like me stayed for the final thump of the trunk. I was wet, tired and glad I was invited by Dave Ramer to help myself to his in-law’s tree. I met a lot of great people from the two Portland turning clubs which was icing on the cake.

The first bowl with one coat of Rockler's gel polyurethane. This bowl will return home after several more coats of finish. It is about 2 1/4" high and 8" in diameter.