My local PBS station finally got back to non-fund raising programming and Norm was on yesterday. He was making the "monk library table" or what ever it was called. Anyway he went to visit his source for southern yellow pine and then was taken by that fellow to see part of the process to get these old timbers back to usable condition. I like segments like those and enjoyed this one too. I did notice however a unique form of dust collection being employed in this Georgia location. The old over 20 inch wide planer was by the open door of the shop and the hood was missing. The camera guy seemed to like the view of the blades as they whirled around. As the guy fed a sample piece of the reclaimed yellow pine through this old monster, the chips flew straight up out of the top. Then they were blown out the door by a large fan behind to operator. No collection hood, just a good stiff breeze!! This is made all the more interesting by the fact that this old timber could have a nail or some other non-wood projectile in it. Did anyone else notice this arrangement?
FWIW I am not bashing Norm or the fellow who ran the shop. I would love to have access to that type of wood myself.