Follow the pictures as I take a 500 pound log and literally "turn" it into a massive 34" diameter bowl.

The story behind the log:

The log came from a very good friend who owned over 200 acres near our home. Through a rather unfortunate series of events, the land was sold to Cobb County and was scheduled to be graded, and all the timber destroyed. Doctor Hill was gracious enough to allow us to take part in the timber rights he kept before the land was to be graded. He not only gave us this massive American Beech, one other similar giant, and several smaller Beeches, but he helped us haul the logs to my wood yard.

My uncle, a professional tree cutter, came early one cold, January morning to fell this giant; how sad it was to see this old sentry fall! But had we not felled the tree and rescued the logs, it was destined for a roaring chipper at the Cobb County Dump. As the tree lay on the ground, we stopped to count the rings; it took several minutes, but we calculated the tree to be 105 years old. Just think, it began as a tiny sapling in 1899, and grew through an entire century, only the last part of which I saw. What a privilege to work with such an old, awesome part of God's creation!

At 500 + lbs this log sits right where it was dropped off the flatbed dump truck. I almost cried when I saw the tree fall and discovered the cavity you see at the end of the log, but fortunately the cavity only destroyed one half of the log for a short distance up the trunk.

It takes at least two chain saws to work timber this large - the big Husky in the picture and a smaller saw to rough shape this half of the log into a circle.

Normally I just lug the bowl blanks from the woodyard into the shop, but this one's a bit heavy so I let Dad do the hard part! From the tractor bucket I'll use a pair of eye bolts, some rope, and an engine hoist to get this chunk of wood onto the mandrel of the VB36. Trying to screw 500 lbs onto a threaded spindle on a lathe would be all but impossible, but the engineer who designed the VB36 (my big lathe), thought of this and solved the problem. Instead of threads the mandrel consists of a triple bayonet mounting system that incorporates three high tensil bolts and three keyed receiving holes. Simply slip the bolts of the faceplate straight onto the mandrel, rotate the spindle 15 degrees, and the blank is held fast.