A Short Story About a Pine Bowl

Local wood worker

Mar 15, 2025

I will begin at the beginning. I sawed down my neighbor’s white pine tree. Boy was he surprised.

I dropped that tree by myself.

I carefully sawed pieces out of the log. My objective was to cut short sections of the log where the branch nodes were formed.

I took my dogs over to the site. They were not impressed. But you can see where I made some of the cuts.

I sawed some plain blanks, too. This bowl sold quickly to a longtime friend - she grabbed it up and would not set it down.

But back to the nodes - I have seen bowls made out of Norfolk Island pine - they are attractive and popular. Since I don’t 

live on Norfolk Island I decided to use a local tree as an able substitute - I think having the branches grow out on from the 

same point on the pith of the log is the key to their esthetics. Here are some pictures:

The bowl started out looking like this.

But as I sanded it I discovered that the sap had not set, despite having spent a year drying in the bowl room. Hmm. 

What to do? I read up a bit and learn that heat can help set the sap. So I pop the bowl in my oven and turn the temperature 

up to 140 degrees. A few hours ought to do it, right?

Wrongo! When I put it back on the lathe and resumed sanding it still completely gummed up the sandpaper. 

Back in the oven with you, bowl!

More hours. Ten, twelve, then eventually a whole day. I tested it intermittently and while I was getting there, 

it was still too sticky to sand properly.

More time, more heat! Surely this will work. Cue Leslie Nielsen. The final formula was three days at a bit over 200 degrees. 

Toasty!

The results were worth it. The wood gained a great color and the appearance of the branches became more pronounced.

Another view:

Here another piece I made out of that log:

But back to the baking - an added benefit of cooking a big chunk of white pine in my oven was that the sap ran out and 

coated the inside of the oven. Due to how the range was vented when I turned on a surface burner the wonderful smell 

of pine sap wafted up from the oven into the kitchen. It’s as if the house became piney fresh time after time.

Sadly, after close to 70 years of use the drop-in stove broke down beyond repair - I replaced it and when it departed 

took the pine scent with it.

I’ll close with Bou and my bird bowl.

On No Head, Two Hind Ends & Dropped Star Ratings

 

I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

You're a Special Guy

 

I was perusing the offerings on my Amazon Prime and lo and behold I saw that they had the first season of The Apprentice. You know, the series that really introduced President Trump to the American People. It was filmed in 2004 and it was a revelation. New York never looked so beautiful. It was the Bloomberg era where the effects of the Guliani reforms were still evident. Very little crime. Much cleaner streets. Very few homeless people in your face. A paradise compared to the hell hole you see now.

You know how it worked. A bunch of aspiring businesspeople try to be picked as The Apprentice to work in one of Trump's properties. He was using it to promote all of his businesses and his triumphs like the skating rink. They showed his buildings. His airplane. Even the water company he had for a hot minute. But that wasn't what threw me for a loop. Now it was the grace notes.

I got emotional at the littlest things. A shot of the dirty water hot dog stand. One of the tasks was renting an apartment on the street where we had our last apartment in Brooklyn on 3rd Street. But I wasn't devastated until Trump took the winning team to Yankee Stadium to meet my personal hero, George Steinbrenner.

On Whaps, Caps & Laffs

 

The Powerline Pic of the Week that made me laugh and appreciate creative freedom.

On Games & Trains

 

On Anchors Aweigh/Away & Real Reasons

 

Not only is the stealing being exposed, so is the difference between what a working President intent on stabilizing and bettering the country is doing compared to what the one who previously held that title did and didn't do on his watch.

On Blasts & Waves; Signs & Wonders

 

On Broke & Pointless

 

The Korean Connection

 I first learned of hanta virus years ago from my brother who worked at USAMRIID. He was quite the fan of hemorrhagic diseases and would regale us for hours about various zoonitic diseases like Ebola. He would have had a field day with the recent unpleasantness inflicted on us by Fauci the dog-killer, alas my brother died decades ago. 

I had to read up on hantavirus when there was an outbreak back in '93 in the Four Corners ares. It was then that I learned that hanta was not a Navajo word, rather it was named after the Hantan river in Korea, where the disease was first discovered. 

But enough about that. The other day I watched "The French Connection" which starred Gene Hackman. I had read the book years ago and saw the movie when it first hit the theaters. I decided to rewatch it after Mr. Hackman's recent death just to see how it has held up. 

William Friedkin did a good job directing that movie, and back when it was released I was very familiar with many of the places it was filmed. My late ex-FiL was in police work in NYC back in those days and he fancied himself another Popeye Doyle. He liked driving like a maniac under the el and putting on and taking off hats while tailing suspects. His career was more like Serpico in that he was invalided out due to an on-the-job injury, and he lived on his gubmint pension for another 20 years or so. Good for him, he had a difficult life, including getting PTSD at the Battle of the Bulge. 

So when I watch that movie I am taken back to that time and place. Friedkin captured what is known as to some as the "grittiness" of the city. The rest of us call just call it filth, degeneracy and lawlessness, so in that regard it is a time capsule. 

The chase scene is pretty darned good. Of course, the whole movie is a chase scene. But the interesting part to me was that Friedkin mounted the camera low on the car (and the train) to enhance the sense of speed, and he also undercranked the camera to 18 frames per second. They used the wrong make and model car for smuggling in the movie, the story telling has lots of holes, and the resolution is ambiguous. But what are you going to do, eh? The cars on the road and in the junkyard are a trip down memory lane, including one like I used to drive. 

Anyway, Hackman's wife caught hantavirus and it killed her. Without his caregiver, he was not long for this world. Being 95 and having dementia without any backup for care is a tough way to go. I hope his remaining dogs are okay.

On Fiddling Around & Autopens

 

After reading a report yesterday of evidence that an autopen had been used on all the official documents collected so far that President Biden had supposedly read, approved and signed during his term as president (except for the one stating he wouldn't be running again which bore his real signature) another piece of the internal puzzle I hold regarding Biden's behavior, cognition and presidency, fell into place.  I also found it curious that Obama was the first president to have had his autopen signature put on a bill, with it done while he was vacationing in Hawaii, 4,800 miles away from the Oval Office.  What came in handy for him then, also appears to a have come in handy for whomever was handling the responsibility of managing Biden's presidency when Biden was no longer capable of doing so himself.  All of which makes the big, bold, confident and unmistakably distinctive signature our current President has been openly placing on his official documents all the more personal, intentional and impressive.  

"Harry Truman was the first President to use one in office and Kennedy allegedly made substantial use of the device. However, the White House autopen was a closely guarded secret until Gerald Ford’s administration publicly acknowledged its use. Traditionally, the autopen has been reserved for personal correspondence and documents. More recently though, it has taken on a higher profile role in the White House. Barack Obama was the first American President to use the autopen to sign a bill into law, which he first did on May 26, 2011 when he authorized an extension of the Patriot Act from France. And now he’s used it again to approve the fiscal cliff deal from more than 4,800 miles away and, in so doing, has returned the autopen to the national spotlight."   From The Smithsonian

Looks like it's back in the spotlight again.  As is President Trump with this visual, repeated over and over again in front of the media. 

On Down to Size & Back in Shape