≡ Menu

Yoda Moment: In Details, Devil is

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • John Venlet December 4, 2022, 10:27 AM

    And here I thought size 24 blue wing olive mayfly was devilish in the details.

  • ghostsniper December 4, 2022, 12:06 PM

    Just spent the past half hour understanding my woodworker friend David Marks (Woodworks) explanation of how he created his award winning piece “Metamorphosis”.
    https://djmarks.com/metamorphosis-by-david-j-marks/

    6 years ago, at a show in Greenwood, IN, I gave David one of my custom pens made with structural grade plywood and other stuff and he was knocked out, said he never seen anything like it. A couple months ago David told me about a woodworker named Mark Whitley down in KY and I contacted him. Nice chap and he spent the time to tell me how to ebonize wood like was done in the show Craftsman’s Legacy. https://www.pbs.org/video/the-table-maker-m7dZt9/

    Since then I’ve worn Mark out with questions on various aspects. Yes, it really does start with steel wool and vinegar. And trial and error, and patience and curiosity.

  • Dirk December 4, 2022, 3:16 PM

    My nephew down is the SF Bay Area is a wood worker for fun, literally just yesterday he called said uncle Dirk, I got you that table wood. Say what? He scored me a 1500 yr old redwood slab from the Oakland Hills fires, many years ago, it’s 48 wide, 4 thick and 60 long.

    It is a stunning piece of history. 1500 yrs old. So here’s the question, he’s going to make the table for us, GHOST, or anybody who works with wood, he wants us to pick the topping, do we want it sanded to 1500 grit, then oiled, or do we want it sealed and shiny.

    I don’t know wood, so I ask for advice. 60 long x48 wide X 4 thick.

    He did say he liked the oiled look, the rings stand out, but it’s a bit duller, it would not protect from cup rings, I guess. The shiny ? Stuff would protect from cup rings.

    This has burn marks from the Oakland Fire. I remember the fire, god wasn’t that 20 yrs ago. And this came off of private property a downed tree.

    The pics are absolutely amazing.

    • ghostsniper December 4, 2022, 7:14 PM

      Dirk, redwood is a soft wood and very unforgiving, so it needs protection. My personal preference is polyurethane in either gloss or satin but that’s a personal call. Go on youtube and look up some of the resin stuff people are doing these days. Blacktail is just one of many out there. https://www.youtube.com/@BlacktailStudio/videos

      BTW, I “found” a piece of redwood one time, in real bad shape in a terrible place. Before it was said and done I had fabricated that piece of wood into several different things and sold them for a few hundred dollars. I mentioned that stick in another post here on AD a couple years ago.

    • ghostsniper December 4, 2022, 7:15 PM

      I’d like to see that wood before it gets worked on.
      And afterward too.

      • Dirk December 5, 2022, 6:20 PM

        Ghost, I got the numbers wrong, 48widest X 39 narrowest X 4 thick. It’s a round not a slab.

    • Casey Klahn December 5, 2022, 7:55 AM

      In Western Washington, I grew up enjoying these kinds of “log round” tables; yours is of unusually good size.

      I adjure you: do not go with the glossy look. Too artificial and spoils the form of the wood. My 2 cents/ enjoy.

  • rabbit tobacco December 5, 2022, 7:43 AM

    No, God is in the details!

  • Casey Klahn December 5, 2022, 7:59 AM

    As God is my witness, I am against details. However, this illustrator has gotten the composition organized well, and extra credit for including some modern vehicles. Most artists wouldn’t, and in the distant future, people will wonder whether artists ever even saw cars.

  • Dirk December 5, 2022, 8:44 AM

    Ghost, Casey, best I can do is forward the pics to GV, to forward. I’m not computer savvy.

    I was talking with my mother describing this 1500 yr old redwood yesterday afternoon. She says we’ll I’ve got a giant chunk in the garage they purchased thirty years ago, to make a side table, she gave it to me. It’s in Sacramento Ca, I detest driving anywhere down their. So this one may not work out.

    My nephew has an Alaskan lumber mill, his partner has a much bigger mill, I’ve not seen either. Their making stuff for market. JJ was telling me he’s coming to Grants Pass Or to get giant oak rings. Black Oak? Anyway, most of these guys are seasonal fire fighters, surf, ski and hunt, off fire season,,,,,make bitchen stuff out of the wood.

    I kinda envoy their young life styles.

  • Terry December 5, 2022, 12:00 PM

    Big tree you say?

    I grew up about 15 miles from this state park:

    https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g28926-d143871-Reviews-Calaveras_Big_Trees_State_Park-California.html#/media-atf/143871/?
    albumid=-160&type=0&category=-160

    Could be burned up and gone now. It was a fun area for pick nicks.

    • Casey Klahn December 6, 2022, 7:30 AM

      Big Tree in California? O no, you din’t just go there, did you?

      I credit you with using the singular; Cali has THE big(gest) tree. A Sequoia. (yawns)

      Washington grows the three biggest trees in the world, pilgrim. The Western Red Cedar, the Sitka Spruce and the Doug Fir. In huge and plentiful numbers. WA is pregnant with monster trees, and you cannot walk amongst them without having to go over or crawl under the growth.

      I’ll never forgive Cali for having the biggest one tree. It’s like besting a man in a card game for hours, and then he wins the pot on one lucky hand. It’s like soccer, where you wipe your opponent team out with a brilliant defensive game, and at the clock’s end he side-kicks one goal in the net. Grrr.