I'm a big fan of Howard Garret and often listen to his radio program while woodturning in my garage. Any gardening I do (which aint much) is organic.
I often drive around my neighborhood (Arlington Heights in Ft. Worth) looking for storm damaged wood and pruned tree pieces which fit my rather limited range of useable wood for turning. I've made goblets, boxes and other items out of wood from the neighborhood and am always looking for more. Anyone with interesting stuff, let me know.
In the last month, I have found a huge walnut tree (the tree service had already hauled off everything I could have handled and left behind some 18" thick trunk sections which I couldn't even budge. Just yesterday I picked up some pecan from a spring pruning project, some unidentified fruitwood and several pieces of crepe myrtle.
I have some of my work visible online at
http://www.fwculture.info/jim/index.htm
My work includes samples from milenium tornado damage in cedar and pecan, a few items from construction debris collected at the Amon Carter Museum remodel as well as various sycamore pieces. I even turn things out of old fence posts sometimes. I hate to see trees cut down or even trimmed back, but when it happens we really shouldn't let the wood go to waste.
Thanks,
JimEd
_________________
JimEd Clark
Sr Network Analyst
University of North Texas
Health Science Center at Ft. Worth
jclark@hsc.unt.edu
jim.fwculture.info