Turning Van

I was watching some show the other day and they had a big article about a new van, Honda, I think, which was especially made for dogs and dog owners. Now I have a dog but she lives in the yard where dogs belong and the only time she gets in my truck is when we go to the vet together. I wonder what a dog van is like. I suppose it has special nonstaining carpets and seats and it probably has dog biscuits in the glove pocket and fresh bubbling water flowing into a doggie bowl. Videos of rabbits and quail and ducks and dogs playing with kids. Maybe a place to store the leash and a dog bed in the back. Maybe a ramp to help get up in the back of the van when you get tired and old. Probably one of those Mack truck bulldog hood ornaments. Anyway you get the idea.

I got to thinking that someone ought to create a turning van and I was trying to figure what it should have in it. I would start with a ramp just like the dog van so you could get logs in it easily and then a big storage place for the stock because you can't have just one piece to turn. You need a chain saw and some saw horses to get a piece roughed out. It must have a sharpening station so you can sharpen as often as you need and it has to have a band saw to clean up bowl blanks. A place to store the tools, and if you don't have a dust collector then the windows will get covered up on the inside and you can't see to drive. Maybe windshield wipers on the inside also. Wonder if it is legal to dump chips and dust on the highway as you drive. that way you can save the space for the dust collection bin. Then you have to have a place to sand the finished piece and after that you need a dust free place to put the finish on it. How about a display gallery to show your wares. You know you could take this thing to craft fairs and shows and let people tour it. They could walk up that ramp into the rear of the van and observe the turning process and then leave through the display gallery and sales area and if you had a little refreshment area, perhaps they would stick around and stand a better chance of buying something. We still need a lathe in this thing. Course we will need at least three people to run this thing -- one to drive and sell the wares when we stop, one to turn, and then one to sand and finish. Oh yeah, someone to keep the web site up to date and handle the internet sales, plus do the packing and shipping when someone buys something. Plus we need a place in the van for the computer.

Maybe GM or Chrysler could take this up as a project and help rehab themselves. I think they may not sell but one or two of these things, but when they do get one built and sold it will be so big and expensive it could affect their profitability. Maybe my shop in the back yard will do and I will just stay at home.

Ambrosia Maple

I just went by the best woodworking store in the world (personal opinion), Highland Woodworking in Atlanta, and they had just gotten in some new turning blanks. Normally I like to use more found wood than anything else, but when you turn green wood you have to wait for it to dry after you have roughed out the bowl. Usually takes three to six months for it to dry enough so the finished bowl will not shrink, crack or warp. Sometimes I just don't want to wait. So I bought an eight inch diameter three inch thick bowl blank of "ambrosia maple". Pretty expensive at $19 but you just won't believe how pretty the stuff is. It is a light tan or biege for the most part, but it has these beautiful spots and stripes running through it like some kind of mutated Holstein cow. I've seen some pieces which were turned from ambrosia maple but made by turning from the end of the grain and hollowing down the center of the tree so to speak. Doing it that way makes a beautiful pattern in the wood, but I normally turn ninety degrees from that and it produces an entirely different pattern. Trouble with paying for wood is that sometimes you mess it up --I have a beautiful walnut bowl from a bought blank which has a bottom you can see through. I mean paper thin. Sad!! Hope my skills are up to this one. If so, it will be posted on the etsy site for sale. I'll let you know.