Baren Digest             Tuesday, 19 February 2002     Volume 18 : Number 1726


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From: ArtfulCarol@aol.com
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 09:30:17 EST
Subject: [Baren 17037] Firemens Update 

Hi,

Bareners you've touched many people and are part of something very worthy.  
There's strong shared feeing in the presence of these 23 woodblocks all lined 
up together.
In the Guestbook someone wrote,"We should remember this forever.  God Bless!"
That  about sums up all the comments.

Updated list of sales:

Arango, Maria     (2)
Center, John        (2)
Kuster, Mary
Lyons, Carol        (2)
Mason, Barbara
Mundie, James   (2)
Rodriguez, Julio  
Telfer, Jan
Williams, Lezle
Wilson, Cyndy

 When sold the print was removed from the wall in  its plastic bag  and  was 
replaced with the next one in another bag. That works.

I  have most of the adresses of people who bought. Twice the library was 
being locked up and I was being rushed out as payment was being made so I 
couldnt get the info. 

We are not finished yet!  Exhibit goes to Feb 28, Library hours. 
 Volunteers, some I dont even know signed up  for sitting to relieve my 
husband and me. ,  Some viewers want to talk and ask questions. Some just 
write a comment.   I am able to tell each one about the exhibit and prints 
according to how much I feel they want information.  I shouldn't talk too 
much because they are concentrating.They read the notes you sent in and that 
is very helpful, too. I have a piece of carved wood to show them as an 
example.

Reception went very well.-Gallery talk and Tour, juice and cookies.   I spoke 
about  Baren and woodcuts, also some individual prints. people interested and 
impressed.  They are very surprised that we got in touch with each other 
through the Internet.

Newspapers covered the Exhibit with photos last weekend and this weekend.

95% of the people come into the Gallery because I beckon them through a glass 
door. They may think that I work in the Library, but that works for us. I say 
"Did you know that the Library has a new Gallery?"( The building is a newly 
opened renovated historic site with Tiffany lamps and original 19th century 
wooden posts and brickwork. For those into architecture, it was the Lord and 
Burnham Building, maker of hot houses) While beckoning , I feel like I have a 
lot of nerve, but it is for a good cause.
 

I am glad there are 3 others so far who are planning or looking into doing an 
exhibt in their areas., something viewers asked about . I have more 
suggestions and ideas  based on this experience.

Library closed today---Presidents Day

More later.
Carol



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From: "Lee and Barbara Mason" <bemason@concentric.net>
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 06:44:16 -0800
Subject: [Baren 17038] Re: Firemens Update 

Carol,
Thank you from all of us at Baren for taking this on and actually making
money for the benefit fund. Over $500 so far if I am calculating rightly.
And thanks to all of us for making the prints in the first place. I am
looking for a venue here in Portland.
Good job!
Barbara


>
> Bareners you've touched many people and are part of something very worthy.
> There's strong shared feeing in the presence of these 23 woodblocks all

lined

> up together.
> In the Guestbook someone wrote,"We should remember this forever.  God

Bless!"

> That  about sums up all the comments.
>



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From: Mike Lyon <mikelyon@mlyon.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 10:25:59 -0600
Subject: [Baren 17039] Re: Baren Digest V18 #1725 

At 10:01 PM 2/18/2002 +0900, Graham Scholes wrote:

> >You're excused, Graham.  Even though it cuts 'like butter' and is
> >relatively light weight, Basswood IS a hardwood (not a hard wood, a
> >hardwood)!  Check out http://www.
> >I read your yesterday's posts (I subscribe in 'digest' form, so I'm
> >usually a day late and a dollar short) and agree with the rest of
> >your comments -- you are very articulate and I'm sure I'm not alone
> >in genuinely appreciating the time and care you frequently take to
> >answer and suggest.


Well, Graham, I stand by my previous comments:  You are 'articulate and 
frequently share useful information'  and basswood is a "hardwood" even 
though it is easy to carve.

Basswood is professionally and scientifically classified a "hardwood" not a 
"softwood".  It has the relatively short fiber (up to 1.5mm) typical of 
"hardwood" and is a deciduous species.  "Softwood" comes from conifers and 
has a relatively (relative to hardwoods) long fiber (2 - 4mm).

The terms "hardwood" and "softwood" are 'terms of art' with definition and 
meaning separate and distinct from whether the wood seems 'hard' or 'soft' 
in our application.  In terms of how basswood 'feels' to us woodworkers, of 
course I, too, perceive it to be relatively light in weight and soft.

By the way, all, there is a useful little program which PC users can 
download here:
http://www.woodweb.com/software_downloads/woodpro.zip the zip file is only 
about 76k and contains comparative data on many wood species.  It's free 
for trial and $15 (honor system) if you keep it.  Here's a sample page 
(view using a fixed-space font like courier new):

- -------------------------------Cherry-------------------------------
Overview of Properties  Engineering Properties
Weight: ......... 5     Specific gravity: ..... 0.50 ~15%
Compression: .... 7     Weight: ............... 35 lb/ft3 ~15%
Strength: ....... 3     Stiffness rating: ..... 150 ~15%
Stiffness: ...... 6     Shock resist rating: .. 112 ~15%
Hardness: ....... 3     Modulus of rupture: ... 12300 psi ~16%
Shock resistance: 4     Modulus of elasticity:  1.49 Mpsi ~22%
Price: .......... 1     Work to maximum load:   11.4 in-lb/in3 ~34%
                         Impact bending: ....... 29 in ~25%
Woodworking Properties  Compression (parallel): 7110 psi ~22%
Planing: ........ 80%   Compression (perp): ... 690 psi ~28%
Shaping: ........ 80%   Shearing strength: .... 1700 psi ~14%
Turning: ........ 88%   Tensile strength: ..... 560 psi ~25%
Boring: ......... 100%  Side hardness: ........ 950 lbs ~20%
Mortising: ...... 100%  Shrinkage: ............ 113
Sanding: ........       Cost: ................ $4.00/board foot
Steaming: ....... 70%
Nailing: ........ 70%   Color: Reddish-Brown
Screwing: ....... 70%

The "Woodworking Properties" are the chances of producing a decent result 
when performing each operation.  I think that from a carver's perspective, 
we would be most interested in the 'Planing', 'Boring', and 'Mortising' 
operations.  Too bad the database does not include data on printing 
characteristics.  But -- you CAN query for woods based on any or all of the 
properties.  After downloading, invoke the program with the command line: 
"woodpro ALL"  -- the 'all' is necessary to bring up the entire 
database.  Even on my FAST computer, it takes ten seconds or so for the 
program to load.

Mike



Mike Lyon
mailto:mikelyon@mlyon.com
http://www.mlyon.com 

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From: FurryPressII@aol.com
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 11:41:09 EST
Subject: [Baren 17040] Re: Firemens Update 

e-mail me carol if you need more prints  will express mail them to you    
wonderfull reaction   glad you were right    wow

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From: Graham <gscholes@woodblock.info>
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 09:21:18 -0800
Subject: [Baren 17041] Re: Baren Digest V18 #1725 



You are known for playing with words......
You have used them on me and on Dean.

All that you have written is unrelated to the problem at hand.
The terms that matter "for our art" is hard wood and or soft wood and 
has nothing to do with categories.
I am referring only to the ease and results of carving and nothing more.

This make all the data below irrelevant and total uninteresting to 
the matter at hand.

End of tongue waggling for me.

Graham




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From: Jack Reisland <reislandj001@hawaii.rr.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 08:48:33 -1000
Subject: [Baren 17042] Re: Baren Digest V18 #1725 

Mike, you are right of course. The terms "hardwood" and "softwood" are
definitions of tree growth characteristics, as you stated, and this use
of the terms are recognized by all botanist, foresters and lumber
suppliers, generally the whole wood industry. It doesn't work to use
subjective standards to classify woods, such as how soft it feels under
your knife, particularly since there are such wide variations in working
characteristics and density within a given wood species. These
characteristics can vary for a number of factors, including growth
environment and seasoning. If a subjective criteria is used, then I can
search out a relatively soft piece of cherry, let's say American cherry
at specific gravity of .58, and compare it to a hard piece of pine, say
pitch pine at specific gravity of .67 . Which one would be the
"hardwood", which the "softwood". Of course, we don't have to worry
about such subjective problems, the industry wide standard tell us
cherry, no matter how soft,  is deciduous, and therefor a hardwood, and
the pine, no matter how hard a hunk I search for, is still a conifer,
and therefor a softwood. It doesn't work that we all get to make up our
own classification systems, unless we keep it to ourselves, to avoid
confusion.

Jack R.

Mike Lyon wrote:


>
> Basswood is professionally and scientifically classified a "hardwood"
> not a "softwood".  It has the relatively short fiber (up to 1.5mm)
> typical of "hardwood" and is a deciduous species.  "Softwood" comes
> from conifers and has a relatively (relative to hardwoods) long fiber
> (2 - 4mm).



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From: jimandkatemundie@juno.com
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 14:14:59 -0500
Subject: [Baren 17043] Say it loud:  I like pine and I'm proud! 

John Center wrote: 


> my 2 cents on the wood thing
> pine ;  hate the stuff for cutting only use it to imbose things into 
> it  such as wire or other objects    to cut YUCK


Hey, different strokes for different folks.  I like pine because it is
inexpensive, readily available in a variety of widths and qualities,
versatile, and gives up ink freely (unlike poplar, which cuts like a
dream but can be a nightmare to print).  I can get a whole range of woody
goodness out of a single block of pine ('clear', white, or yellow) --
from superfine delicate cutting to broad chunky marks, from super smooth
surfaces to grain and knots.  Pine is both fun and challenging to work
in, which is why I like it.  Incidentally, engravers have mistaken my
plank grain pine woodcuts for engravings, too.

I appreciate a nice tight-grained hardwood as much as the next guy, but
for a different style of working.  Lately I've been toying with engraving
some Resingrave blocks I've had collecting dust.  The surface is merely 
'okay' and prone to chipping, but -- once again -- it's a heck of a lot
cheaper than boxwood! Resingrave claims to have come up with a new
formula that's better, so I'll have to give that a try.  Seems everyone
is enjoying Corian, so I'll pick some of that up, too. 

All this really only goes to show what a deeply personal choice wood
preference can be.  Dave must be thinking, "Are you all nuts?! Mountain
cherry is the only choice!" -- but those of us working in different
styles and traditions will cast our votes for basswood, birch, walnut,
etc., or even a non-wood surface like linoleum or Plexiglass.  Only
experimentation with a variety of woods will dictate which is best for
what purpose, but even a 'wrong' wood will work if one has an affinity
for it. 

James Mundie, Philadelphia U.S.A.
http://missioncreep.com/mundie/index.htm
http://barenforum.org/encyclopedia/entries/015_01/015_01_frame.html 


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From: Louise Cass <lcass@primus.ca>
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 15:05:35 -0500
Subject: [Baren 17044] Re: Baren Digest V18 #1724 

Hello all-

I'm glad to see James Mundie has spoken up re pine blocks - I have been using
well-seasoned pine I get from a cabinet maker -the advantage being he's
already chosen good aged wood which is close to one inch thick so I feel like I'm
really sculpting when I work -it also comes from 9 to 16 inches in width- I
select what I like the look of from him - i.e. re grain., etc. I sand, then
coat with shellac thinned with about 50% alchohol - wait for it
to dry and sand again with very fine sand paper - it cuts beautifully and
I've been able to (hand) print 30 or more impressions if I count the proofs. I usually coat
both sides with the shellac when I've finished with a block before storing.
Incidentally my supplier doesn't accept money for the woodblocks so try to get acquainted 
with a friendly neighbourhood cabinet maker who likes what you're doing!

I have a request for help - I'm looking for information on chine colle with
woodcuts (without a printing press)

Thanks
Louise Cass (www.LCassArt.com)



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End of Baren Digest V18 #1726
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