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New project

Started by maple flats, May 06, 2021, 05:49:50 PM

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maple flats

I sell my syrup online and at just 1 local retail store. That store outgrew it's first location 2 yrs ago, and has now outgrown the second. The first was in an old school house with 6 classrooms, It's now in an old Home Center that went out of business likely because they lost too much business to Lowes.
At any rate, they are now moving to an Army/Navy store, likely 4x the size of their current location. For in the new location I'm planning to make a nice display using a retired oak barrel from a distillery as a base and I'll make a top using a good size slab of Oak I have. Slabs aren't real easy to make on a Peterson, but, a few years back a neighbor had 2 oaks removed from beside a highway. I wish I'd kept the measurements, but I think the logs ranged from about 24" up to 32" x 10-12' long each. The landowner had the butt logs cut in two, making 4 total, he cut the rest into firewood. My 8000# old tired excavator couldn't lift the two biggest ones onto my trailer, I got the smallest one fine, the next larger one barely, the two biggest, according the the FF log weight tool, weighed between 3300-3700#, I struggle to lift 2500. So I talked to a friend at the local stone/block yard if I could hire him to load them, He did and didn't even charge, I gave him 2 half gallons of maple syrup the next day as a thank you.
Well, as I was sawing those logs into 5/4 x 4 boards mostly, to be made into oak flooring, he had me make a slab for him. On a Peterson, you can basically make just 1 slab/log. You cut down to about 1-2" below the pith, then flip the log, and saw down on the rest until a slab remains of the desired thickness. After I did that on one log, he asked (he was tailing the saw) if I could make another on the next log, which I did, when I finished that he said it was for me. It's a slab about 22-25" wide and 2.25" thick if I recall.
Back to the store display I'm going to make (yes, I'll make it a point to get pictures) a display table using an oak barrel as a base and that slab cut into 2 pieces to make the top. Will likely make designs in the oak of some sort, before I put poly on. I do have a very talented niece who I might get to do a design If I get it ready soon enough and she has the time. This all needs to be finished before June 1.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

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