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<body>Hello members, Denis Falch with help from his brother Doug (Doug is the finishing guru in that family, thank you Doug) has turned in another treasure trove of them. Thanks Denis. <div><br /></div><div>Some will recall that Marv brought in some catalpa blanks to the March meeting. The piece I got was very wet, so I let it dry in a bag until this week then made the top and base of a wig stand from it, with a spalted birch stem. The wood was still wet, but I turned the parts, and they finished piece is interesting. The coloration is not dramatic in my opinion, but it has very "contrasty" grain and is a medium brown. The wood is pretty soft and hard to get the end grain cut down nicely due to an apparent tendency to tear out. Of coarse, knowing myself as well as I do,maybe to gouge was not optimally sharp. Just sayin'... An attempt to smooth with a negative rake scraper made it worse. But with a lot of sanding and several coats of poly, it turned out well. So thank you Marv.</div><div><br /></div><div>John</div></body></html>