Surgical Strike Visit to Arizona

Vaughn McMillan

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I got home early this morning from a quick trip to and from Arizona to go meet Carol Reed and pick up a slab of Michigan chocolate. I figured a few pics were in order...

Here's the slab in question. It's slab number 5, but the other numbers are dimensions in inches:

Walnut Crotch 5 Front 800.jpg

You can see the lower part of the slab still has the bark on it, but the upper part has been cut square. (I'm guessing that was to fit it in the sawmill.) My plans for the slab are to make a coffee table or desk, but I'd like it to have natural edges, preferably with the bark still on them. For weeks and weeks, I've been debating with myself whether to shorten the slab to remove the saw cut edges. I went to Arizona still undecided. If I shortened it, it would fit inside my SUV. If I left it in one piece, it was about 9 inches too long to fit, but I do have a roof rack. I took supplies for strapping it to the roof rack on my SUV, but also took a saw in case I decided to shorten it. (As if Carol wouldn't have a saw.) :rolleyes:

Well, after seeing the slab in person, and weighing the various pluses and minuses (and there were a number of them), I decided to shorten it. Larry, you might want to avert your eyes. :eek:

Carol had a great sheet goods cutting rack that we set up to hold the slab while I did the deed...

Strawberry Trip - 01  800.jpg

She also had a good straightedge and a pair of clamps. I figured I might as well get my saw dirty, since I already had it on hand...

Strawberry Trip - 02  800.jpg

And a minute or so later I had two slabs. The cutoff will yield at least three nice platters, including one large feathered piece that should probably make me enough money to pay half the cost of the slab.

Strawberry Trip - 03  800.jpg

We threw a few wraps of stretch wrap around the slab to protect the bark and help hold the moisture for now. We also wrapped the cutoff, but I didn't get any pics of it.

Strawberry Trip - 04  800.jpg

Now that it's all home, I get to wait a year or two for the wood to dry. I'm planning to build a vertical rack to hold the big slab and protect the edges. It'll be stored in our climate-controlled storage locker, so I'd like to put wheels on the rack to make it easier to move around. I'll post pics of that project once it gets going. (Hopefully tomorrow.) The cutoff will get rough turned and dried like I'd typically do with any fresh walnut, so we should be seeing results from that part in a month or two. ;)

And the final proof of the meeting, the Family photos...

Strawberry Trip - 05  800.jpg

Aw c'mon, Carol, I'm not that disgusting...

Strawberry Trip - 06  800.jpg

Ah, that's much better. :D

We had a great visit after the wood butchering session. Carol is a lot of fun, and we could have swapped stories for hours. Unfortunately, I had to hit the road and get back home. I finally rolled into the driveway this morning about 4:30, but had a great ride, with a few stops along the way to stretch my legs and enjoy the surroundings. (A few more pics in the next post.) Carol also took a number of pics, so hopefully she'll get a chance to post a few here, too.

Carol also gave me a nice piece of what appears to be spalted maple that should be getting some quality lathe time here before too long. Thanks again, Carol. :thumb:
 
One or the things I was looking forward to about visiting Carol was returing to a part of Arizona I'd not visited for over 20 years...the Mogollon Rim country. Not a lot of folks think of tall pines and mountain meadows when they think of Arizona. ;)

This was just a few miles up the road from Carol's place...

Strawberry Trip - 07  800.jpg

One of the things I miss seeing in my part of California are little dirt roads that head off into National Forest land, and are open to the public. This gate was on the edge of an old burn area...

Strawberry Trip - 08  800.jpg

I couldn't resist doing a bit of exploring...

Strawberry Trip - 09  800.jpg

I used to spend a lot of time wandering around the forests in New Mexico and Arizona, but this was a first for the RX300...

Strawberry Trip - 11  800.jpg

Found this guy watching me...

Strawberry Trip - 10  800.jpg

And one more "I can't believe this is Arizona" photo...

Strawberry Trip - 12  800.jpg

Dang, I miss spending time in places like this. Unfortunately, LOML isn't the camping type, so I don't get out in the hills as much as I used to. She doesn't mind if I go without her...I just need to start doing it. Just wish there were places like this closer to home. Maybe someday. :rolleyes:
 
Vaughn glad to see ya finilly got your chocolate.:thumb:. That's one big chunk of wood for sure.Carol's one nice lady as you just found out. Hope yours and hers tables turn out the way ya want them. Any idea of the legs you want to put on that thing? Carol was telling me what she planes on doing. Just woundering what ya might do.
Steve
 
Good for you Vaughn, I look forward to see what comes out from that wood:thumb:

I see that you've trimmed your moustache since we met during the Tour:)
 
Hey Vaughn,
Nice piece of wood there... looks heavy. Also some nice photos of AZ... I didn't get up into the Mogollon Ridge area when I was out there, we talked about it some, but never made the trip. I did get over to Prescott... they have some nice tall pines there as well. Also went through the Flagstaff area a few times, but rarely got of the freeway. I was usually on my way home to Texas from California and just topping the high points in the road.

Sure sorry I didn't get to meet Carol when she was down this way... 'course there's no pictures of JCC or the area, so she probably didn't really come :dunno::rofl::rofl::rofl:

maybe should have made arrangements to jump over the hill myself and met her at the school... :dunno:
 
sounds like you have had a geat trip. Your wife is not the camping type either, Huh. My wife would go camping as long as she could stay at a hotel. She missed the whole concept of camping.

That chocolate slab looks yummy. Can'y wait to see the platters and the table.
 
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