Whatever

It's in the mail heading your way!

 

Nite dad

 

Nite Squirt filled donut

 

She's lying to you.
It doesn't smell like strawberries and cream at all.

Freshly sawn or milled?
Hardwood or Softwood?

Hmmmm...


Gritto Discusses Stinky Wood

Obviously, this is almost entirely subjective.
What smells good to you will not necessarily smell good to me.
And smells are very hard to describe, aren't they?

But let's have a go, shall we?

When it comes to lumber, when are you smelling it?
Freshly sawn, unseasoned wood is not particularly distinctive... it's too wet and green.
When cutting seasoned wood on a table saw, almost inevitably there will be a faint burnt aroma.
Or maybe not so faint, if you're binding up.
That stinks and overpowers other smells.
Sawdust... meh, not very distinctive.
Once you really get going on sanding, your sinuses get plugged up anyway.
Sneezy, yes.


You wanna smell wood at its most pungent?
Run seasoned hardwoods through a stationary planer.

Oaks
All oaks have a bitter tang (it's the tannin).
It's like autumn leaves, only super concentrated.

Poplar
This one's a toughie to describe.
It's one of the softest "hardwoods".
Freshly planed, the shavings are a little sweet and skunky at the same time.

Red Birch
Definitely stinky.
Very very stinky.
Like cat piss stinky.
I mean it.

Black Cherry
Faintly sweet and floral smell, but also a little toxic.
Wear that mask when sanding.

Black Walnut
This always reminds me of dark roasted coffee and dark chocolate.
But I may be somewhat influenced by the color.
This one is definitely toxic.

Northern White Ash
The Vanilla of hardwoods.


For close to 30 years, I heated primarily with wood, cut and split by myself.
They knew me by name at the District Forestry office, from me coming in for fuelwood permits.
I wore out quite a few chainsaws.

Oftentimes, I'd come across some particularly nice dead wood (you weren't allowed to cut any live trees).
I'd cut that baby into 8 foot bolts and wrangle them into my F-150.
Then cut them at home into planks with my Alaskan sawmill.
Stacked, stickered, ends painted, and left to season in a corner of my shop for a few years.
When I didn't have any houses to trim, I'd play around in my shop with my wood.

 

night

 

I don’t how I never managed to watch Legends of the Fall with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins . Just did ,good movie ! Good night all you Whatevers

 

Poplar - sweet and skunky

 

I just meant the colors.

I am getting more accustomed to the smells. Not good at describing them.

 

I know, I was being a jerk

Yeah, hard to describe.


I just took a couple pics in my shop.

Some planed Poplar:




A couple experiments I threw into a box:



On the left is a cutting board made from scrap Red Oak and White Oak in alternating bands.
Note how "White" Oak can vary from a greenish brown to cream color.

On the right is a solid one-piece (not laminated) cutting board made from Red Birch.
Note the spalting in the wood and the "live" (undressed) edges.
The outer bark was removed and given a light sanding.
Spalting comes from fungus which attacks dead wood.
If it's only just started before you get to it, it does not affect the integrity of the wood.
Some people think the discoloration and streaking are interesting looking and add character.

One more with the birch one flipped.
Birch is quite hard and suitable for cutting boards.

 

Nite Whats

 

Morning Whatevers

 

25* with a real feel of 13* ,snow flurries

 

Coyote just trotted by before I could even pick my bow up.

Morning folks!

 

Dats a lot of death wish!

 

This would be me if I had more than my usual half cup of coffee in a day!!

When we had the Death Wish…. I had to use half regular coffee, wasaaay too strong for this lil body!!!