On Apr 29, 9:21 am, Robatoy wrote:

SNIP

Solid surface fabrication is doing well for me... but wood is in my
blood.
I even had a dream that I bought some exotic hand plane which produced
a curl that floated to the ceiling.

I need help!

r

Sigh. I have similar dreams. I am sick of remodeling and repair. If
I had something else on the table that would pay the various expenses
one seems to incur by osmosis, I would seriously consider shutting
down the company, or reducing it to "intersting projects only".

If I had a sawmill open up anywhere near to me... just within 50
miles, I would probably be thinking waaay too much about what I could
be doing instead of what I should be doing. I spend too much time
thinking about a roomy furniture/cabinet shop at the edge of some
small town around here.

But before that when I was at the Texas Furniture Maker's Guild
contest, I saw a lot of really good work. Some of it was OK, some of
it just wasn't my taste (but the workmanship was great), and some was
clever and inventive. But the guys that placed, WOW. A couple of the
pieces would challenge anyone. It was inspiring to me, but also
pointed out new wood working skill sets I haven't even touched.
Skills that could take years to master. Sounds good to me.

I often wonder why I never took up fishing or something along those
lines. At least you could blame poor performance on bad luck,
weather, equipment failure, etc. Kinda hard to do with woodwork. Yet
I think for some of us woodworkers/carpenters, like your dream of a
long wispy curl from a well tuned plane, it is the climb as much as
the summit.

But a woodmill? I have a friend of mine that made a trip up to Ohio
last year and went to veneering mill near a town he was visiting. He
wanted to get me some bowl blanks for the lathe, so he stopped in to
see how much they wanted for them. They had ends that were deemed
unusable for veneers with some cracking, branches and knots. These
were piled high outside the main machinery. Price? Take all you
want, in the off season they can't give these stumps away fast
enough. In the fall, they give them away for firewood so they don't
have to haul them off.

What a haul I would make for the lathe and my woodturning club with a
nearby sawmill. I would have more new best friends than I could
count.

Robert