mel jacobson on fri 16 mar 01
it is hard for people to believe the amount of scrap wood
that is available to us here in minnesota and wisconsin, usa.
at our farm, we live within spitting distance of four saw mills.
our favorite, butch, cuts many trees per year into milled lumber
of varying size. the largest `boards` we can buy are 22 inches
wide. yes, 22 inches. think of a clear pine board, 22 inches wide,
10 feet long, and four inches thick. 40 dollars. it is air dried
for about six months. i have purchased and set aside, 12 boards
of pure, clear oak, 22 inches wide, 5 quarter, 12 feet long.
they are 6 years drying at the bottom of an 18 foot stack of
oak. not a knot. they will be given to the bible project for
the binding boards. my gift. the first five books of the bible
are done. will be presented to st. john's university on the 20th
of may.
when the trees are milled, the outside bark and thin boards
are set aside as scrap. those are bundled in two cord bundles
with metal straps around them. they sell for seven dollars.
he even loads them on a trailer for you with a tractor.
we got the cedar from butch, he squared enough cedar to build
a house for some guy. all the scrap was bundled and sold.
we got one bundle, and it did not burn.
as i remember, he gave it to me.
we took the entire gang from hay creek to spend a day with
butch last summer. he showed us the entire process of milling
and forming wood. the gang was really impressed.
to fire our wood kiln we a have source of walnut and cherry,
kiln dried.
it comes in 12 foot lengths, one inch by one inch. (sorta)
we (kurt and i) just back up our trucks and trailers, and load
as much as we can carry. every time we stop the pile is there.
the company makes athletic trophies that are sold all over the world.
the cuts that we get are the cut offs that make the boards straight.
nice. they also have barrels of one inch by three by four. those
are to hard to handle. would have to shovel them in the kiln.
we have discovered that many lumber companies are now converting
their gas driers to wood. they do not have as much scrap as before,
because they are using it for themselves. they guy at youngblood
said to me, `hell, we are not paying for gas when we give away
scrap wood`. (many green houses are converting to wood fire.)
butch sells every scrap of sawdust for industrial furnaces.
in the united states there is a growing society of exchange, re/cycled products
from factories. (www.mnexchange.org, links to others.)
i get a list each six months listing what is being
given away. it is unbelievable. wood, glass, soap in 50 gallon
drums, chemicals, electronics, furniture. all that would be going
to land fills. free. just have to go and get it. that is how i found
our source. kurt and i have given mugs to the owners, now they
know us and always ask....`shall we save you anything special`.
all it took was mugs. (damn nice mugs i may add.)
so, wood, fuel, it is all around us, but it takes a commitment to find
it, haul it, stack it, cover it and then protect it from our friend
bob holman. he goes through the pile looking for pretty ones.
then he makes all sorts of things from it in his wood working shop.
we found about one hundred walnut and cherry sticks covered in
the barn. he finally made a japanese screen from them, totally
wonderful. he is now making `weiner sticks` by cross laminating
cherry and walnut, with white oak spacers. about four feet long,
finished and varnished with steel prongs sticking out the front.
two hot dogs per stick. god, the joy of working for fun and not
for pay. he is a wonder.
so, ivor, wood. is is growing everywhere in our part of the world.
wise use, and re planting is critical. we use the left overs.
but, it sure is growing around
here. like the oil wells of the world, natural gas is burned off...
millions of tons a year. and they tell us the price has to go up
because of shortage. right.
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
Les Crimp on fri 16 mar 01
Ivor & Mel -
I remember attending a John Leach Workshop here in Vancouver, B.C. about two
years ago. I guess we all know that John is a wood-firer and considers wood
as a much more environmentally justifiable product to use in firing than
gas, oil, etc.
He has even gone to the extent of buying a large rural area on which he has
planted trees that will be used for his kilns. On this property he has also
completed what he calls his "largest clay vessel".
He has constructed a huge pond on the property that is lined with clay and
has planted indigenous and special plants. This, of course, has attracted
loads of water fowl and many other species locally.
Hooray for wood!! (Mel - I am interested in your comment that cedar does
not burn?)
Les Crimp on that Island in the Pacific.
lcrimp@home.com
Richard Jeffery on fri 16 mar 01
John Leach - next kiln opening in Mulcheney on, in early April - if anyone
is passing...
Unless of course, with the foot and mouth travel into the countryside is not
a good idea...
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Les Crimp
Sent: 16 March 2001 20:31
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: ivor/red cedar (story)
Ivor & Mel -
I remember attending a John Leach Workshop here in Vancouver, B.C. about two
years ago. I guess we all know that John is a wood-firer and considers wood
as a much more environmentally justifiable product to use in firing than
gas, oil, etc.
He has even gone to the extent of buying a large rural area on which he has
planted trees that will be used for his kilns. On this property he has also
completed what he calls his "largest clay vessel".
He has constructed a huge pond on the property that is lined with clay and
has planted indigenous and special plants. This, of course, has attracted
loads of water fowl and many other species locally.
Hooray for wood!! (Mel - I am interested in your comment that cedar does
not burn?)
Les Crimp on that Island in the Pacific.
lcrimp@home.com
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Lee Love on sat 17 mar 01
----- Original Message -----
From: "Les Crimp"
: He has even gone to the extent of buying a large rural area on which he has
: planted trees that will be used for his kilns.
This is the soundest environmental fuel, this side of solar energy. If
you plant trees and harvest what you plant, on net, you are taking
hydrocarbons out of the air. About 2/3rds of the tree is roots, leaves,
etc, that release hydrocarbons slowly in and on the forest floor.
Firing scrap wood is not as good for our air quality, if the wood
would have been landfilled instead, but if the scrap wood was going to be
burnt anyway, you are at least getting energy for a wood firing out of it.
The dirtiest fuel is sometimes what looks like the cleanest fuel.
(Our blindness to this comes from the "Flush Toilet Syndrome." If you don't
see the sh*t, you don't think it sinks.) If your electricity comes from a
nuclear powerplant, you are contributing to the dirtiest fuels man has
created. Waste products are created that have a longer half-life than any
know civilization.
--
Lee Love
Mashiko JAPAN Ikiru@kami.com
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iandol on sun 18 mar 01
Look, I have no hassles about wood firing. Constructive creative way of =
disposing of the stuff. I have a nature reserve to grow wood as well, =
Sugar Gums getting on for sixty feet high in twelve years. My comment =
was about the burning opf a timber that is worth about $2000 a cubic =
metre on the World market as a furniture and architectureal timber.
So please don't put me in the pillory by using my name in the Header for =
saying it would be more profitable not to burn it. You want to fire =
wood, fire wood!!!
By the way. Capitalists in this part of the globe saw the chance for a =
fatter profit from sidings, those off cuts made in preparing the timber =
for milling. Used to give it away when it became embarrassing to burn =
the trash. Now it's ten bucks a trailer load. NO not a forty foot =
trailer, a four foot one!!
Regards,
Ivor,
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