This rather unassuming chunk of wood represents the initial stages of an abstract wood sculpture that is being crafted by my friend Rich. The wood came from a white oak tree that had been cut down 3-5 years previously and had been slowly air drying in a garage since then. My involvement with the project was to assist in cutting the wood to rough size and shape and to flatten the base.
Although these pictures were taken in the woodshop, most of the milling was done outside using an electric chainsaw.
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A view of the front and one side (or will this be the back?) The block is about 8″ thick at the base and about 20″ high. |
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A view of the opposite side that shows how the block tilts a bit. The “fissure” in the middle of the left side is where Rich started to carve out an indentation for the sculpture. |
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This close-up view shows that the wood on one side had started to decay, although we did manage to chop off most of the really bad material. The rot actually gives the wood a little extra character… |
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We clamped the block of wood to the work table using pipe clamps and then used a 15″ jack plane to flatten the base. White chalk was used to mark areas that needed extra attention. |
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Here’s Rich going to town with a jack plane to do the final flattening of the base. He’s a man on a mission… |
When Rich is finished carving his masterpiece, I hope to get some pictures to post here. Until then, it shall be the “mystery wood sculpture”.