white oak

The Champion Table Build, Part 1: Compose, Scribe and Fit

the beauty of God’s edge

composing pieces

flattening black walnut with a router and jig

more looking, more composing

smoothing and shaping edges

smoothing and joining white oak

assembling white oak panels

white oak and black walnut adjusted and clamped for scribing

knife scribing every curve

the white oak panel marked and ready to cut

rough cutting on the bandsaw, staying about 1/16th to 1/8th away from the scribed line

cutting the line deeper

paring away the waste to establish a shoulder along the scribe-line

making the shoulders broad and deep

chopping and paring right up to the line

the shoulder becomes a jig to cut the rest of the piece right to the line using a pattern bit and router

after cutting a slot for a floating tenon, dry-fitting pieces

the floating tenons cut and laid out

tenons glued in

glued and clamped

joining and smoothing the new edges

on to the next step…

Wood Fire

Lift Earth Rise , compositional sketch on guitar

small eyes wonder

A five year old little girl with a pension for the aesthetics of random objects

while carving walnut to look like earth

of the golden dust of osage

he discovers eggs make lovely lanterns

walk out to find these things from my Goldsworthy protégée

the horse rolls out, making its provision and fuel

Quercus rubra holds Quercus alba for a shave

showing how much learning is found when a draw knife pulls through the grain

and much beauty in the life of trees

yielding four legs from the rugged giant of civilization (that is Mr. Q. Alba)

back to the door. routing tongues and tenons, applying coiled energy to transferred pattern

every fit feels like a miracle

and the two become one

“Onforan” becoming a door, framing a passage

embers stirring embers

into the incense of fearless youth

a seed within a seed, life and healing travel in a mysterious shell

later, the arrangement has changed, she’s at it again

meanwhile, nature imitates nature

round violently became flat, then eases its way into concavity

green tips taken by the hoof-shod

the edges wound-up by the steel-shod

summits of pollen-yellow splendor arise from the dust

in a moment, history and beauty merge and glow

while the broad axe composes its song

as it was written in fire

as it was written in wood

Onforan

Prairie Creek Dining Table in white oak and black walnut.

Red Elm window sill and shelf moving from rough to smooth.

and being joined longways.

Obed Edom is getting his finishing touches.

A test print is pulled to see what needs adjusting.

John Beartrist Laceroot is stirring.

Jonas is free from his box and wondering if it could be time to tell his story again.

Clive Hicks Jenkins has posted the second part of an interview with me about The School of the Transfer of Energy Puppet Theater here. Thank you Clive.

White Oak and Cherry

A bowl for Clive, a mantle for Tanner, and a spoon and a saddle (I am only responsible for the plaque, which is in hedge and walnut) for Harold. This weeks bonus image is a little tree frog freshly emerged from my son’s tadpole nursery. I trust you’ll forgive so many images of one bowl when you consider how stunning the character of the grain is from every angle.

White Oak and Black Walnut for Eating

The early stages of a stout white oak and black walnut supper-eating table.

Step Right Up

Here are three bowls and a vessel that have just been added to our Etsy store today.

Spring Bowls

kentucky coffee tree

white oak

locust

locust rim

black walnut

crabapple

crabapple base

cherry spoon

cherry spoon

kentucky coffee tree

kentucky coffee tree

kentucky coffee tree

black walnut

Ligneous

Thank you to my great friend Cody for the first photograph in this group.

Try Mend Make

The Newton Chest

I am pleased to share some images of this memorial-hope chest built for a kind family up North. They drove a long road to pick it up this weekend and meet my family and myself. and found the road back with a little less leg room I am afraid. I have sought that my work might be graced to carry God’s blessing for those who are receiving it. I certainly hope this one does. It is a dovetailed chest with drawers featuring an inlaid tree design and an unorthodox lid. The woods were all harvested and milled here in Kansas: black walnut and green ash, with quarter sawn white oak, eastern red cedar, ebonized black walnut, bald cypress and poplar (not from KS).