The Woodshop Shed

Maple Oilfield Beams

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


A friend of mine in Rockport Tx has a saw mill. He was offered all these beams if he would haul them himself. They are about fifteen feet long and either 6×6 or 8×8. They are used at drilling rigs. They are laid down around the rig to form a foundation so the trucks and equipment will not get stuck in the mud. It gets really wet around drilling rigs. As you can imagine they stay in mud and water for a long time. They are Maple so that they will last longer. Eventually they must be replaced. We don't know how the guy that gave them to him got them, and I'm not sure why my buddy was crazy enough to spend a whole week hauling them to his place. I'm sure glad he did though. When we put one on the mill and sliced it we both nearly fainted. I guess being wet for so long is what caused the massive spalting. He gave me a few of chunks to bring back home and the bowl and box is what I made from those pieces. I carved the bowl and decided to inlay a deer antler into the edge of it and inlayed crushed turquoise in the voids. The box is a Lois Ventura band saw box pattern and the drawer pulls are made from Padauk. I thought the color went well with the spalt. By the way, a good way to crush turquoise is to use a bean grinder. Get a cheap one and use it untill the blades wear off. Then get another cheap one.

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