HomesteaderWife's Crafting & Sawmilling Adventures

[HomesteaderWife]

I was inspired by the @CrealCritter at the Crealbilly Wood Working thread and encouraged by @baymule so here goes nothing - a place to share recent experiences with our sawmill and different wood based/crafting projects. By no means am I an expert or have any skill at what I do, LOL! But thanks to my husband, we have fun along the way and you never know until you try and never learn without doing.

To start it off:

Last bone needle made with a rotary tool this time. Nice built in curve to the end makes it comfortable to hold.


Picked up a huge domestic boar hog head a few years ago and finally got around to doing something with the tusks. Managed to sell one made as a necklace.


Any idea what in the world this is? Found on my Grandmother's farm many years ago and seems to half be a bottle opener. Figured some tool folks could help me solve an old mystery.


Learned it is best to not lacquer the Black Walnut right before husband told me about something else to use. Turned it much too dark.


The Black Walnut slabs just off the sawmill - these two are supposed to be book matches but the grain changed up crazy.


Pine Needle hand brooms ready for the craft show. Got to work on some with fresh green needles next.


The Black Walnut went through the new planer and boy is it smooth, pretty, and all around amazing.


New ornaments for the craft show woodburned onto slices. Personal favorite - "Whoa, 2020 was rough" - let's put a little humor into a tough year by making ornaments for the tree and realizing the year is nearly over. Hope some other people get a chuckle from them?

 

[HomesteaderWife]

October 4th, 2020: Set up something interesting to go to the craft sale. My husband ran some big slices of Black Walnut branch segments through the planer. I kept thinking on what to do with it, and said darn if they didn't remind me of a taxidermy base somehow. I had a 2019 adult male raccoon skull I decided to fix onto the Walnut as a base, and photos can't do it justice to how cool it looks in person! (If anyone seems interested in it, I can't wait to say - guess what? Over here we have the tanned hide. Over here is a dreamcatcher made with a segment of the tail tip. And over there, those are resin necklaces with some teeth from the bottom jaw and top canines cast into it!)

 

[flowerbug]

wooden spoons and stirrers are always useful things.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@flowerbug - I’ve actually got some sawmills pieces that were uneven trim offs I saved specifically for my first attempts at spoon making. I have a wood carving set on the Christmas wish list LOL!

@baymule - We’ve tried a bunch around us, but most of them are so darn expensive and as goofy as it sounds, I really don’t try to exaggerate my prices and usually try to work out deals so by the time it’s said and done I wouldn’t make a profit lol. I found a few affordable areas but they’re very slow when we went or far off and again, lack profit. BUT last year I found a good bet and so we said we’ll do that one craft show a year, and this time I’ve got more to work with. It’s coming up next Saturday fingers crossed. Eventually hoping to make a flea market booth. As for bark “live” edges, I’ve actually left those edges on a few pieces of crafts just because it’s so unique. The photo frame is an awesome idea though- we have another log to cut still.

@CrealCritter - That’s great! Been working on any new woodworking projects lately?

 

[tortoise]

I love flat "spoons". No hollow for batter to get stuck in! Its one item that I will buy at a craft show. Theres a vendor here who makes the most beautiful butcherblock and striped cutting boards. Theyre out of my price range (my kids put everything in the dishwasher - it would be ruined), but so beatiful!! Someday!!

When you make some, please post in the buy/sell part of the forum!!

 

[Fuchsia]

The things you made are amazing!

 

[CrealCritter]

You make me smile, real big

 

[baymule]

That's awesome! In addition to Etsy, do y'all set up at craft fairs or flea markets?

Looking at the black walnut, I just had an idea for the bark edges, make picture frames. Put a piece of glass in them and a picture so people get the idea. Maybe you could take photographs of the nature/woods/animals around you, put them in your frames and sell them, or sell just the frames.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@baymule - We called a bunch of folks last year looking for cattle parts and as best as I can tell they already have pickups. Whether it be the hide/tallow factory or individuals. I usually pick up deer heads on occasion and always a bunch of hides/legs as much as I can handle at a time. I don’t have a great setup for large skulls yet.

 

[tortoise]

If you send in wool on sheepskin for commercial processing, its like $200 each, and it has been a while since I looked at prices. 😲 I want a sheepskin on my couch, but I cant justify the cost and I'm not physically able to tan a sheepskin. Bummer. I'm not sure you would get more for hide and skull than selling lambs. It would depend on climate and pasture, I think. You would have to grow them out to 1 - 2 years old, so feeding hay and grain would make it tough to profit even with selling skull mounts $500. You could sell a grassfed, ewe-raised ram lamb at 6 to 8 months old for $120 - $250 with little labor/feed expense. But feed it out over winter, house it for an extra year, butcher, prep the skull mount and ship it... for only $250 extra? Sheepskins go for up to $400, but it labor intensive or expensive to send them out for processing.

Maybe if a farm has tons of space, good pasture, existing fence, auto waterers, mild winter. In my climate and farm (20 acres pasture, no auto waterers, harsh winter requiring hay feeding, it wouldnt work out to raise them for skull mounts/skins. (But it works out to raise grassfed lambs for auction)

However, if you have a flock, you'll probably need a new ram every 2 years, and mature horns would be more than selling the animal at meat auction. More of a waste product.

Dont let me talk you out of sheep. Just work out the business plan with your land and inputs. It might work on your land?