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Did you ever wonder how those world famous Bill Baumbeck stabilized pen blanks come into being? |
These boxes contain only part of the stock required for the Woodturners Symposium |
Pen blanks, pen blanks, and more pen blanks yet not a drop of water to drink. |
The first step in the search for the perfect pen blank is to go to the far reaches of the earth, here Provo, Utah |
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Sometimes there are clandestine meetings in the parking lot where wood gets transfered just after daylight |
Then it's off to one of the suppliers of burl to Bill's empire |
Not enough in the downstairs, it's off to the upstairs to check out the Box Elder burl |
Every piece is hand chosen by the man himself |
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And yet another stash of burl to be sorted through |
You load up your 3/4 ton to the gunwales ... |
and then you load up your friends van ... |
until the front end lifts off the ground |
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After a quick trip to unload into yet another truck, it's off to Craft Supplies to peruse their stocks of burls |
Not only does Bill have unfettered access to the stock rooms ... |
but he's allowed to search the secret stashes of special stock |
After hand selecting only the finest, Bill cuts it, has it stabilized, and then ... |
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brings it to market to anxious penturners around the world ... |
bringing in the heavy hitters like Kip Christiansen and Tim Boddy |
It was a great day wood hunting with the gracious Kathy Baumbeck and Wild Bill |
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Photos by Kurt Hertzog |
