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.