I've always worked hard to avoid the resin lines while sanding or shaping. I once baked out a few stems to see what they would do. Very interesting transformations.
I've learned that sharing the best fishing holes is a lot more pleasurable. But I understand artisans can't always just give a simple answer. It simply ain't simple
But okay, secrets are mysteries. Wasn't prying actually, I was more interested in earlier conversations about sealing the wood and what temperatures that makes the wood safe to vape with. I know wood makes great thermal insulators but that end of the stems gets pretty darn warm.
Sorry I was super wasted last night and way into the inner reflection. The sealing is different for each one. It is the dust that causes the bad reactions, so if you want to heat seal you are just looking for the effect of plastic'n the wood. Each wood is going to have a different temp depending on the amount of resin and oils in it. So it is a by feel thing that will take a while to get use to sorry about that bud. I thought you were asking more for curing after lumbering to get different effects on woods. After you lumber green wood you can cure it, this can have many different effects depending on how you do it. That is more what I was talking about not sharing too much, because I can type the words but you have to live it to understand it. Here I will give and example.
When I use to buy logs I would get the lat long/gps of were the tree was fell. Then I would look up what is around it. I am looking at air quality is there a factory or any type of air pollution area near it. Any highways or pathways well traveled roads, any volcanism or hot springs that will leach gasses and minerals in the air. Then I look at the ground and geological information. What deposits are speculated or known here, how much of it is thought to be or known to be there. Any mines or homes, farms or plantations. In south america avoid any trees that are with in 100km from banana plantains. In India do not use trees for food or pipes that is down river from major cities. These places have large amounts of the bad stuff that the trees soak up. You have to start thinking about how the tree grew and when it got access to the deposits, how long has it been leaching the minerals. The rest is experience, after a while you will get an eye and just know. Or you get a slight hint of a smell that you know. Like I get weird ass looks when I scuff the end grain a bit and start smelling really hard in the stores. I am smelling for that memory. That I can not teach you. That is something you just pick up.
I did not want seem like I was being a dick or anything. It is just a lot of what I do is a learned skill. I have to show you the smells for the different woods to know they are sealed, or you can tell by the feel. But for the most part after a some use they are sealed by the oils that soak into the wood. But for a temp like all I can say is about that hot, because I will do it until It has the effect I am looking for, I know it has the effect when it feels right from doing it before. I do not take temps, the only thing I temp regulate that hard is lumbering, and that is just so I can ensure that stuff I want to stay in the wood does not get cooked out. That is a shit ton of trial and error and just using the force.
Ok so here is how the rest of the month is going to work. I am going to launch the Shaddam and Gurney line together, by just slowly stocking them in the store once they are ready. I go into the shop tomorrow, and I have found something really rare the other day. I have found some legal Lignum Vitae turning stock. You do not want to know how much I paid for it. Only thing is that it is turning stock, so it is sealed and I did not get a good smell of it. I hope it is not a fake, but I will not know until tomorrow when I cut it up for use. I did not want to waste any doing a test cut because I have so little of it. For this wood though I am going to keep one for my self. I feel bad for it, but it is really that hard to find. Like it has been years, literal years form the last time that I have seen some that meets the requirements I look for. I will be making some of those tomorrow and a whole lot Shaddam and Gurneys. Then on Monday I will be making Stilgar and Ducan to launch next month.
Now you all have seen some of what I can do, but I have the Bene Tleilax line coming up and I am going to wander away from the old school a bit on that one. I am going to start going with some modern tech added in with those. Trust me I am going to get really weird with it, so hold on tight. My problem now is the whole virus thing and most of the places I can get the things I need are closed or never opening again. Like it took me 3 weeks to find a new face shield, just a face shield. The guy who use to supply me with natural pigments for homemade stain has told me he is never reopening. I have other places, and I am not going to use stain on any of the bodies or stems. But you get the idea, of what I am talking about.
So adapt and overcome I have a plan to start getting the supply train moving again. It is just going to be a slow build. But the Bene Tleilax launch is going to create two different types of lines. I know it sounds confusing and I do not want to give too much away. But there are going to be Ghola lines that use the new techniques, and the reg lines that use the old school ones.
But for now I am going to eat and read a bit of The Eyes Of Heisenberg, then go to bed. So It is going to be a short night for me, because I am getting up super early so I can sequester my self in the woodshop and hope no one finds me lolz.
Good Puffen! 07
Welcome to the new FC 
. Congrats, I love the shape of that one
