# Sawmill poker. Ante up . . . . .



## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I have cracked open a lot of logs. I found a baby T-Rex (still alive) in a big 'ol Cypress, the Virgin Mary in a Red Oak (just her likeness and a kind note), and what I thought was the one that couldn't be trumped, I hit a concrete box inside a Northern White Oak that I bought off eBay which was cut down from the parking lot the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. 

That was the last place Jimmy Hoffa was ever known to have been seen. Inside the box, there was a dark blue short-sleeve shirt, blue pants, white socks, a pair of black Gucci loafers, and an empty wallet. There was also an urn that was was labeled . . _ "JH. You are not so big now. Fa-gitta 'boud it." _ There was also an old beat up bugle that looked like it came from WWI. Go figure. 

Well, just when you think you have seen it all, I sawed something out of a stump that I am not sure any of you can top . . . . a Royal Heart Flush. Under most poker rules, there is no higher hand. That's why I want to play sawmill poker because I think I have already won. 

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I know what y'all are thinking. You probably think I scribed those hearts and faces with a red, permanent marker thick felt pen like the one in my shirt pocket. Just coincidence. Purely. Those poker insignia were already there when I sliced the cookies off, and they were in order! 

Man I don't know what to expect next. I'm thinking I'll open a log and find the Ark of the Covenant. I hope not. Soon as the blade touches a feather on the wings of one of those Cherubim - I am dead meat. 

Maybe I should . . . . . take up knitting. I would have said crow-shay but I can't spell it. So who's up for some poker?




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## Leatherneck (Dec 14, 2008)

now that's WAAAAAAAAAY cool.  speechless


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

Can't beat that.:no:


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## Mrs. Texas Timbers (Nov 26, 2008)

*Dear Texas Timbers!*

All I can say is you better "Ante up" one of those hearts for me...it's been years since we found a tree like that. They are truly a one of a kind find!
Most Sincerely,
Mrs. Texas Timbers :smile:


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I just locked the doors and was turning off the lights and something told me to refresh before I shut the 'puter off. Now I wish I had not done it. 

Okay okay. I will make you a pair of end tables from these if it will appease you. Trade you that for one of your famous baked chickens. See you in a few minutes.

P.S. Quit checking in here so often you might want me to build you a house or something. :surrender:


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Yea, you got me too...NICE :thumbsup:. Can I bluff (oh shoot, asking if I can bluff sorta tips my hand :blush


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## Mizer (Mar 11, 2010)

TT, sounds like you got trumped.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

:laughing:, yep she did didn't she.


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## Mrs. Texas Timbers (Nov 26, 2008)

*Thanks in advance...*

You got your baked chicken last night :yes:, so get "woodworking" on my tables...pretty please?!:brows:


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Yeah, she called my hand. I don't know if I ever posted anything about it but ~4 years ago I had a section, a very short one not as long as this one, that produced a couple of hearts. I sold them on eBay for some good coin and the Missus weren't none too happy that I didn't keep one to make her a table. :blush:

I had said in the eBay description I'd never find a tree that would produce hearts like that again. Here is one of them . . . 









I guess I was telling the truth because these aren't exactly the same, they are even bigger. That stump will produce another 7 or so. I harvested that stump months ago but just casually mentioned it to her "I think I have another stump that might make hearts" and left it at that. Yesterday just before sundown I asked her to go get some diesel and when she left I loaded it on the mill and had them laying out on the mill when she got back. Her eyes were the size of silver dollars. 

I'm already designing the legs in my minds eye. I think I have something that will really add to the top without taking away from it. Anything beneath that kind of top could easily be overshadowed to the point it is not noticed or looks feeble. This image just popped into my head and I like what I see but first I have to dry these things.




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## Shamus (Aug 22, 2008)

Well I never!

TT I'd say you hit the jack-pot in more than one way. Baked chicken and a beatuful heart flush. Congratulations on both. :thumbsup:






























I know what you meant and I can't spell it either but that there's a first, a woodworker said crow-shay on the internet


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## Chad (May 10, 2009)

That's some purdy lumber!


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## Ack (Mar 13, 2009)

If ya don't mind I'd like to hear the story about finding the T-Rex still alive... sounds amazing. 

Truly great stories though. I didn't realize ya might find such things in a tree


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## Streamwinner (Nov 25, 2008)

TexasTimbers said:


> and they were in order!


Hahaha...

Haven't seen anything like those before. Beauties.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Ack said:


> If ya don't mind I'd like to hear the story about finding the T-Rex still alive... sounds amazing.
> 
> Truly great stories though. I didn't realize ya might find such things in a tree


Ack, there's not much to tell about the T-Rex. Soon as I cut the first thick slab and slid it off onto the forks, the thing jumped out of the hollowed crotch and lunged at me. A brief struggle ensued, he had me pinned to the deck and was about to finish me off when I was able to grab a big crescent wrench and whack it on the noggin. 

You should have seen the look on my buddy's face, the taxidermist down the road, when I tossed that thing on the table and said "Stuff it." 












We named him Redoak Rex. Cute little fella ain't he. 





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## Rick C. (Dec 17, 2008)

That T-Rex just ain't right.:laughing: I've seen '***** & squirrels come out that make ya think of a t-rex though!
Cool cuts:thumbsup::thumbsup:.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I got the cookies back from the vacuum kiln quite a while ago but just had to stash them away. I decided a couple days ago I had to get some kind of woodworking fix though so I pulled one from the box. 

I ran it through the planer & lightly skimmed it, then through the drum sander. Then took the ROS to it, then took the scraper to it. That's the part I actually enjoy. Then I applied WB-19 two part bleach to it and let it dry. 

I haven't cut a bowtie in eons but it turned out okay. I didn't want to redo it so it'll have to do. This was taken in poor lighting (set the flash off) a few minutes after the first coat of shellac was brushed on. 









I started out thinking this was going to be an end table, but as I was scratching out a leg design for it, it occurred to me since I have quite a few, I might make some bar stools out of them. 

The bowtie is a little larger than I wanted, but I wanted a single flame within the tie - one that was completely contained within the border so I compromised, not being able to find a smaller one that didn't run into another flame. It's hard to see, but if you squint you might notice a faint nose and sly grin below the two borer holes - almost as if someone couldn't resist taking a pencil to it. :shifty:










I'll post in the project showcase once I finish it - whatever it is going to be.


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

TexasTimbers said:


> Then I applied WB-19 two part bleach to it and let it dry.


 Just curious, what's this for? Wouldn't that bleach out the red color?
By the way, barstools would look cool.


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## cody.sheridan-2008 (May 23, 2010)

TT all I can say is wow


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## Mrs. Texas Timbers (Nov 26, 2008)

This is really beautiful...the picture doesn't do it justice!


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

djg said:


> TexasTimbers said:
> 
> 
> > Then I applied WB-19 two part bleach to it and let it dry.
> ...



Most species don't react well to bleaching in both the sap *and* the heart. Usually the heart will bleach out. Like ERC. This beam is from a tree that grew in a riverbed that had a lot of sulphur in the soil, so the sap was very yellow. Couldn't find a before shot but just take my word it was very yellow and yuckish. I had my son treat the sap only. Had he gotten it on the heart, it would have faded dramatically. 









Flame Boxelder is a different story. It's one of the species that enhances both the sap and the heart. It makes the reds redder, and the sap sapper. I mean whiter. It also removes much of the nasty stains that can set in when you wait too long to send them to the vacuum kiln like I did. Although there was one cookie in between these two, you can tell they were within a couple of inches of each other in the log. Both have been dried in a vacuum kiln, and both have been planed. Of course one has also been sanded and scraped and bleached and had a coat of shellac applied, but look at the difference in the quality of the wood itself. The one on the right had all the same nasty staining before I bleached it. If I were to plane about a 1/8" off of it, you'd see it still there.


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