Beach Milling Pictures - Cherry Birch

[Daninvan]

Another gorgeous day at the beach. Ocean was calm, I was up for waterskiing but no-one was offering me a ride!


We had a couple logs set up, one we thought was box elder, the other birch. After we took a cut off the 'maple' we were saying what an unusual maple with was with all that pink in it, and funny how it had hardly any staining in it even though it had been sitting on the beach for nearly a year. finally my friend said he thought it was cherry, and my lightbulb went on . Yes, it was cherry.




We got a couple of slabs out of it before it revealed what it was really like inside! That was the end of slabbing the cherry!


The birch had some nice dark colour in it, without looking badly stained. I was happy with it, although my bowl turning buddy was not keen on it. So I got all of it.




There was also, as I had predicted last week, still a piece of big alder lying around.


I cut about a 2' cookie off the end of that piece and just for fun used a froe to split out half a dozen pieces.


Then, just as we were wrapping up a city guy came by and dropped off some walnut. Unfortunately it was too small to bother milling.


I took a few 'walnut cookies' home to use as plant stands.


OK, maxed out on 10 pics, continued below . . .

 

[Daninvan]

There were a few other people there as well, cutting firewood. Notice this guy cutting firewood and his wife loading it, both all decked out in full safety gear. Not!!

Sadly, that will probably be the reason that the city eventually closes this down. Liability concerns over people without training or the proper safety gear.

One of the guys who was cutting the huge cedar 'tubes' last week came by again, he offered to pay me to cut a birch slab for him, so I let him steal it for $25. (Picture of cedar from last week below)


Anyways, the wood was not that great again this day. And in fact when I got home I discovered the birch had a lot of bugs in it, so I have it stored in a different location. No way I want bugs getting in my main pile I use for drying! But nonetheless it was still a great morning at the beach! We left a bit, but not too much. Before we were gone there were guys scrounging our waste pieces. Day was still stunning when we were done.

 

[abbott295]

I heard something about a big fire in downtown Vancouver within the last couple of days, I think. I thought of you and your pictures from your milling site. Do you know anything about that?

Always love your photos.

 

[Runknpap]

what a awesome change. To pull out the mill at the beach. Its looks like a gift from god how they are all lined up 2 at a time. Whats the deal with that. Why are they all lined up like that.

 

[Dobbs]

Always so cool to see your pictures!

One of the coolest places this Illinois farm boy got to go growing up was Vancouver.


Dave

 

[beachcomber]

Nice pics as always, cut the sweep off that alder, the rest would make some nice finish lumber, alder can be quite beautiful. Thanks for sharing

 

[Daninvan]

Yes the fire was all over the news the past couple of days. It did not affect me at all, it was on the other side of downtown. I think it turned out to be a single container full of some strange chemical.

The logs lined up in the background are set there by the city for people to use in the summer. Kids play on them, people set their blankets behind them for shade and windbreaks, they are used for tables, for drying out wet stuff on, etc. Seems like it's kind of a unique Vancouver thing, like fireworks at Halloween. They are mostly pretty old, cracked, and full of holes and sand and dead bivalves that will kill a chain instantly. Not worth milling.

I am thinking about that alder. I got quite a bit a few years ago though so I am not dying for it. However, I have almost run through the best of the stuff in the log dump, so might be tempted fairly soon if there is nothing better that shows up. FYI there are another dozen similar pieces just out of view of the photo, I should be able to find one without a curve or a crack!

 

[SDB777]

Thanks for sharing!!


Scott (a time lapse for the day would be awesome) B