Stinky wood
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| Wagon full of elm |
I got a call from the wood carver telling me there was a load of camphor down at the turnout. Excited, I rushed down, as I love camphor. despite it being a totally squirrelly wood, it has tear out issues and ovalizes something fierce, it is beautiful and the smell is amazing ( probably deadly, but I feel like I am in Kamakura at an old temple when working it ).
I get to the location and start rummaging through a huge pile of logs. I don't see any camphor and I am following my nose, which is turning up a zero. There is a pile of nicely figured yellowish wood, but it doesn't have THE smell. Since I can't find the camphor, I take some of the yellow wood. It sits in the back of the truck for a couple days and it certainly has an odd, off putting scent. I can smell it a few feet away from the truck, but don't think much of it.
Then, I start working it And.... it stinks. Like horse dung stink ( I know some people love the smell of horse dung, sorry ), it is pervasive and cloying. Thoroughly unpleasant to work. Turns out this may be a type of elm, but the smell must be species specific, because I have worked elm in the past and it hasn't had any specific odor. I may discard the whole lot. Time is too short to spend time on stinky wood ( ha!!)
In other news, I was working in the photo studio the other day and didn't see a very fine wire sticking out from a board I was moving around. I bump-pushed the board with my right hand and drove the wire deep into the meat of my hand right to the bone. I am sure it would have gone all the way through if it hadn't hit. Bled all over the place and my client was due in 15 minutes or so.... rushed the first aid and saw the doc later for an overdue tetanus shot since I was thinking about it.
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| Bruising around the puncture, wish I had an image where my palm was full of blood. |
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