Sam I trained my Ol' Black and tan Coon dog to sniff out. Try as he might he just never seen to find any.Then when I would bring him home he would not eat his supper.I got so worried about his not eating after hunting them I finely gave up taking him. I just could not stand to see him punishing himself for not finding not 'shrooms. Wait you don't think he may have been ...... Nah surely not
... hmmm ... disaster is still a heck of a lot easier to spell than pisco ... er .. silobaby ... uh ... salmonita ......
Robin in good years when there are lots of morels ... if you find more than you want for dinner, fry the rest just as if you were going to eat them and then let 'em cool and freeze 'em. Here, we like to shake 'em in flour and saute' in butter with a little salt and black pepper. If you prepare them that way, then freeze them in freezer bags they keep well for years (if you stay out of 'em). They won't taste like fresh, but in February .... THEY'RE GREAT!!!
Robin Thompson said:
3 dozen-- wow!
I looked Sunday but haven't looked today. Maybe I'd better get out tomorrow.
Hey Phil ... maybe you could train up a morel sniffing pig like they do for truffels! Matter of fact, I work pretty cheap OINK OINK ... ate all those for dinner last night!
phil said:
the 'Shrooms are up here in Indiana too. Does me no good to go looking for'em I always seem to walk right past them. Was out by the lake this weekend and the cars where parked along side the road and the woods was filled with 'Shrooms hunter carrying there 'Shrooms hunting sicks.
the 'Shrooms are up here in Indiana too. Does me no good to go looking for'em I always seem to walk right past them. Was out by the lake this weekend and the cars where parked along side the road and the woods was filled with 'Shrooms hunter carrying there 'Shrooms hunting sicks.
Thanks Carrie ... great day out. Not to cool, not too hot. Just had some of the morels ... just as good as always. We've had warm weather early here this year. If it holds I hope to freeze a bunch of morels.
Found 3 dozen today. My youngest son came by we had a terrific trail ride on our atv's back into the mountains shroomin'. Hard to believe that the forest we were in used to be plowed fields. Look at these 'stack rocks'. Used to do that as a boy to clear the rocks out for a 'new' ground.
Adding pictures is easy Bill. To add the one below, I started typing this and then in the Reply Window Toolbar I clicked on the icon to the right of the LINK icon. Up popped a window that asked where the photo I wanted was located - on my computer or at a URL like a Photobucket account. The photo of these noters was on my computer as a .JPG file, so all I did was click on the Search My Computer button, find the picture and click on it. After a minute or two the picture appeared in this Edit window. It was 'way too big. So I clicked once on the picture, selected Edit and reduced the pixel width by half. And here you are....
Another place I've used isLuthier's Merchantile International:
http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/Results.asp?searchtext=violin+pegs&Submit=Quick+Search
Violin pegs (PE1) are $2.20 each
I get them from here Bill.
http://www.internationalviolin.com/SearchByCategory.aspx?CategoryCode=83
I use viola pegs and buy the cheapest ones. I don't know if they're the best or the cheapest but they are the most convenient for me.
About the Chestnut ... This is really well worth watching. it will make you appreciate what a great American treasure you have there ... I'd love to have one, if just as a testament to the past glory of the forests of the U.S mountains ...(and this from an Aussie ....)
Cheers,
Anne
Thanks Ken I'll have the Chestnut Next week.
Phil - unless you have sophisticated audio instruments, you'll never be able to tell any difference between wormy and non wormy chestnut if you made matching instruments. Even if you could hear a difference it could most probably be traced to something different like different amounts of glue on a given joint. If you've got chestnut of any kind, slice some up and send it to: Ken Hulme 1300 Lee St....
Do give it a try phil, like to hear how you get on with it.
Can't see that wormy wood would have any special acoustic properties, maybe it does.
I don't see how you could make any meaningful comparison anyway, without finding someone who has done considerable work with both.
A fashion for wormy wood seems to have grown up in the US, where obvious signs of age are seen as all important, image more than anything else.
If you have clean timber from the same era then use it.
It can always be distressed later if that's the sort of look you want.
john p
My question is how does a dulcimer sound made out of Chestnut that's not Wormy Chestnut, I have found some old barn wood that over a 100 years old and have not found a hole in it. We have andAntiques store here that has a load of barn wood they have been trying to sell. This wood is 2-inches thick, so my band-saw will be busy when I get it
In my experience, wormy chestnut has more often been used for the top or soundboard of the dulcimer. Less frequently it is used for the entire dulcimer. Like someone else has already said, it is frerquently used as a top on a walnut body and gives a very mellow sound, much like an all-walnut dulcimer.
I own an hourglass-shaped,walnut dulcimer with a wormy chestnut top. It was made by Clifford Glenn on September 20, 2001. Sweet sounding 3-string dulcimer. The melody rings out, while the middle and bass drones are a little more subdued. Perfect balance between melody and drones.
I also own an Echo Hollow Tennessee Music Box made by Jared Weaver. Once again a wormy chestnut top on an all-walnut body. This one has 4 strings and mechanical tuners. The larger soundbox creates a loud booming sound that tends to drowned out the melody if played on a single string, so I usually play double melody string on this one using a noter. It was made in November 2008.
Walnut and wormy chestnut are a beautiful combination of woods.
Greg
OK time for me to get my eyes checked
I blew the Pics up a bit and I see what your talking about. Boy is my face red.
Geoff Black said:
Phil
It's actually a very light instrument and, although I can't measure the thickness of the sides, I would imagine they are similar to the thickness of top and back - which are only 1/8th. I think you are looking at the incised marks on top and back (think Homer Ledford-type simple incised decoration).
Patrick
Yes, I was sceptical before it arrived, but I agree it does sing out really well. Think it needs a little work still before it's possible to play in modern fashion...or I may decide to leave it as it, a supreme example of traditional craftsmanship.
Phil
It's actually a very light instrument and, although I can't measure the thickness of the sides, I would imagine they are similar to the thickness of top and back - which are only 1/8th. I think you are looking at the incised marks on top and back (think Homer Ledford-type simple incised decoration).
Patrick
Yes, I was sceptical before it arrived, but I agree it does sing out really well. Think it needs a little work still before it's possible to play in modern fashion...or I may decide to leave it as it, a supreme example of traditional craftsmanship.
Geoff can I ask you about the sides of that dulcimer? can you tell me how thick they are? it looks like they might be a 1/4" and the sound broad looks as if it set down inside of them.
Hi Geoff,
That looks like a really nice dulcimer. And do you agree with Clifford's statement thatthis kind ofwood made some of the best singing dulcimers?I can't wait to hear it in action:)
I know them books well Don. The one that had the Dulcimer was Book number 3.
Hello Geoff. Just to amplify what others have said, since chestnut trees in the Appalachians suffered the blight in the early twentieth century, they have only grown to a height of 3 feet or so. These days any chestnut wood used there for instruments or anything else is reclaimed from old buildings or furniture. It virtually always has oldwormholes in it - hence 'wormy chestnut'.
I have a wormy chestnut and walnutdulcimer made by the late Keith Young (wormy chestnut top and walnut back, sides, headand fretboard). This was one of his favourite wood combinations, which he regarded as giving a loud, strong sound.
I got the band saw. Without going to messure I know I can run a 4" wide broad through it I thinking it will go a bit bigger. If only we lived closer together I could cut it down for ya,
Don Moores said:
Phil
I made a dulcimer about 10 years ago with wormy chestnut top, rest of walnut. Got an old piece of barn beam that was grey and weather checked on two sides, and about a dozen coats of paint on the other two. When I put it through the planer,the wood underneath all that paint was beautiful, golden. I still have some left ... plan to make another. Problem is that every time I use my table saw 1/8 inch blade to cut a 1/8 inch thick piece, I'm losing half of the wood to sawdust, and it isn't being made any more. Before Imake another I need to find a friend with a big band saw!
phil said:what great looking Dulcimers. I would love to find some Chestnut wood to make a dulcimer from, It would be so fitting for me considering my last name is Chestnut.
what great looking Dulcimers. I would love to find some Chestnut wood to make a dulcimer from, It would be so fitting for me considering my last name is Chestnut.
Thanks Robin...i enjoy woodworking but this kinda stuff is WAY over my head!
Now if i could just learn to play it as well as some of the folks on this site!!
Pine
Pine, you've got a real piece of folk art there! Though it's not rare to see a dulcimer made of chestnut, it's not one of the most commonly used woods. American Chestnut is wood not easy to come by.
I also look forward to hearing yours geoff...it's a treasure. I wonder how similar it will sound? Mine has a redwood top so i would think yours may be a bit brighter. Have you posted a tune with it anywhere?
Pine
Both instruments are fine examples of an artizan's craft. Beautiful, just beautiful.
This discussion caught my eye as i too have a chestnut mtn dulcimer...except mine is only headstock, back and sides. The luthier, Harold Turner from S Carolina, said the chestnut was reclaimed from an old piano. Not pre-worm though. Is chestnut fairly often found in dulcimers? I've never seen it but i'm pretty new to dulcimers. Harold worked at the Hagood Mill, and thus the headstock...
Pine
Wow is right! What a fabulous find, Geoff! I'm drooling over that one... 
And the accompanying letter makes it so very special.
I look forward to hearing/seeing you playing it!
Wow, Geoff, you've got a beauty and a treasure! That headstock is exquisite. And, yes, American Chestnut got hit with a terrible blight. Builders here are happy to get the wood from old barns and buildings that have been torn down.
Hi All
Just received a 1983 Clifford Glenn 4 string which is made entirely from wormy chestnut (save nut, bridges and pegs which are walnut). It's delightful - a lovely natural golden yellow colour and it delivers a full sound akin to all-walnut dulcimers I've owned.
BUT, first of all why chestnut...and then why "wormy" chestnut? Is it for its appearance? Because it's by definition seasoned? Cheapness??! In a letter which accompanied the original sale of this dulcimer, Clifford said: "The reason I made it from Chestnut is that not long ago I made another one just like it except that it was a three stringer, and it was one of the best singing ones I ever made."
And second, is Clifford right when he says later in the letter: "I have made but very few like this (all chestnut wood) and it has probably been 20 years since I made the last one....this wood is becoming increasingly rare, as it is not growing anymore, for the blight killed the native american chestnut these many years ago.
Hi Pat;
Ignoring all the Biblical folderol what they mean is:
1. Don't show up at a jam to impress others with what you think is your skill.
2. Keep the beat - the rhythm - set by the song starter, whether you like it or not.
3. Sit in a circle. Keep your eyes and ears open so you can anticipate what the others will do.
4. Don't play louder than the singer or soloist, or if you don't know the tune intimately.
5. Tune it or DIE! An out of tune instrument is inexcusable.
6. Watch and listen for the start and end of the song. See #3. Start and stop when everyone else does.
7. Pay attention to how others are playing a tune so you get the sequence right. If you screw up just jump back in where you can. .
8. Know what key everyone is in, and play many tunes in that key before changing. Don't change keys arbitrarily.
9. Never disparage or insult other players favorite genres of music.
10. Don't just start playing something while others are tuning or deciding what to play. Especially if it's some tune the majority probably doesn't know. Unless you're asked or are teaching that tune as your turn in the circle. Be considerate.
phil said:
Thanks Robin. Don't worry I wont give up on finding something funny to post. It makes my day to know that I put a smile on someone for a while,
Thanks Robin. Don't worry I wont give up on finding something funny to post. It makes my day to know that I put a smile on someone for a while,
Aw, gee, Phil, no harm done! As a matter of fact, I enjoyed 'em!
phil said:
AHHHh Nuts I hate to repost something
