# A new family of naturals



## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

My last big rush of April natural frames, I went on a bit of a rampage this month.

Three of them came from the same tree and all have the same qualities and one is from an ugly ducklinh frame I was working on last year.

I won't bore you with all the build along pics. As usual, finished to 600, then sanding pads, Tung Oil and was. The little plinker got finished to 5000, as my sand paper order just came in. All future frames will get this treatment as it does make a difference and worth the extra time and effort.

Daddy frame:




































Mommy frame:













































Baby frame:




































Red Headed step child:




































Family shot:


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## Tony the slinger (Sep 25, 2015)

Beautiful work, Bruce!! Those are fantastic!


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## Alfred E.M. (Jul 5, 2014)

*You are one prolific artist Bruce, they're all so beautiful and unique.*

*Sanding to 5000? - yikes, your patience and craftsmanship are way off the chart. * :thumbsup:


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

You have the art of naturals mastered !


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## rockslinger (Nov 16, 2010)

Very very nice work bud!

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## flipgun (Nov 14, 2012)

An attractive group!


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## honorary pie (Feb 12, 2015)

awesome brother, you are a master in your own right... Stepbrother looks pretty cool, is he Oakey in the head or summthin?


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## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

WOW! Dude, you've been busy!! Those are awesome!!


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## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

Thanks guys, they were all fun builds and your comments are too kind. I'm just fumbling along and trying my best with what I have. I left some of the bark or underbark on these and am quite happy with the way they turned out.

There is only one more on my workbench and only a couple more forks drying. I'll need to take a few walks through the forest to make sure I have some forks for future projects.

@Alfred E. Monkeynipples my first few naturals were sanded to 220 and I was happy, then I added up to 600 and figured that was plenty, then I added up to 5k and was amazed at how smooth and shiny they are, even before any other finishing. When all's said and done, I now have 15 stages of hand sanding and 2 stages of small acrylic pads l put them through, before oiling. It's a lot, but worth it.

@honorary pie I didn't remember where this piece came from, it was posted in your ugliest slingshot contest a few months ago. I kept looking at it on my table and thinking it's going in the garbage or I'm going to try my hand at making something out of it or destroy it trying. I took off the lumpy ergo attempts and found it to be similar to another size and shape of another little frame I made, so modelled it after that one. It was as hard as Oak and as soon as it went in the Tung, I realized it must have come from our Oak tree out back. So long story short, yes.

Here is the pair. Original on L and new one on R.



Spoiler


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## Ifab25 (Jun 5, 2013)

Those are super cool! I really like #2 of the first group. Great work! Yes, extra sanding does add some pop.


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## devils son in law (Sep 2, 2014)

Wow! Those all are very nice, Bruce, you've been busy, my friend!! :headbang:


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## slingshotnew (Oct 29, 2014)

Very very nice! Congratulations!


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## mattwalt (Jan 5, 2017)

Those are awesome.


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## Dr J (Apr 22, 2013)

Good looking group of forks. Congrats!

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## mostho (Mar 28, 2017)

These are really fantastic firks my friend! So exquisitely made!


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## The Gopher (Aug 25, 2010)

Great! I love Ash naturals!


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## RHTWIST (Jan 31, 2014)

Brucered - Nice work man! As fancy as we all get, those are great SSs! Those little guys can be some of the best shooters. You finger and thumb the forks and get that handle right down the middle of your palm, center of the heal and just point!

I always carve a tie groove but it never looks as clean as those. -CD


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## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

Having never been 100% happy with the baby frame, I decided to refurbish it. I had a mishap when shortening the forks, so had to make it smaller than I was hoping. It should still work, will be a small tube shooter based on one of my favorite natural.

It's a work in progress.

Unhappy Baby:









Planning:









Next to it's inspiration:


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## RHTWIST (Jan 31, 2014)

Bruce, that is a really nice fork! -CD


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## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

RHTWIST said:


> Bruce, that is a really nice fork! -CD


Thanks. I tried @mattwalt tip of wet sanding with this one, seemed to work out ok. Not sure which is better, hard to tell on this fork as it had already been oiled. I stripped it down to bare wood and resanded it, soaking a bit right now

I'm much happier with the revamp.


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## flipgun (Nov 14, 2012)

Sorry Dude! ...Can't feed your anxiety. Nuttin' wrong I can see. You doin' Fine.


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## mattwalt (Jan 5, 2017)

Bruce - its not wet sanding... Dampen with a wet cloth - allow to dry then sand. That baby oak one is insane BTW.


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## Alfred E.M. (Jul 5, 2014)

mattwalt said:


> Bruce - its not wet sanding... Dampen with a wet cloth - allow to dry then sand. That baby oak one is insane BTW.


*It's called raising the grain.*


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## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

mattwalt said:


> Bruce - its not wet sanding... Dampen with a wet cloth - allow to dry then sand. That baby oak one is insane BTW.


Sorry, wrong terminology. That is exactly what I did....wet surface, wipe down with towel, sand, repeat.

Here's where we are now. Sanded, light soak in oil as it had already been soaked and now drying. I'll put 2-3 top coats on and it'll be ready to shoot.

Pics aren't working for me and a video shows it better anyways, so here's a quick little view.


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## mattwalt (Jan 5, 2017)

As AeM says - raising the grain 

Looks pretty shiny in the video - nice shape too.


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## Ukprelude (Apr 17, 2016)

Can't believe I missed this, really stunning work man. Is the family still together? Or has the step kid been adopted out haha lovley work and the baby is amazing, tip my hat to you're time and patience with all that sanding. Well worth it though 

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