Wood Art

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Peanut

Awesome Friend
Neighbor
HCL Supporter
Joined
Dec 16, 2017
Messages
19,945
Location
Bama
I was down at my neighbor’s house tonight (Mr. L). He’s been a logger and artist his whole life. His woodwork is beautiful. I’ve seen several pieces he’s done in the past. His tools are crude. He cuts everything out freehand with a chain saw and then he uses a handheld wood plane. That’s it, the only two metal tools he uses.

The last table of his I saw was out of huge popular log… a work of art, incredible, gave it to his daughter.

Tonight I saw a table he had cut out of one piece of white oak. It’s sort of hard to see but look at the left end of the table in the first two pics. You will see something unusual in the grain. The 3rd pic shows it a little better but it’s a bad pic.

What happened… long ago a white oak tree began to grow. After about 10 or 15 years another white oak began to grow inches away. The first oak surrounded and swallowed the younger oak. 80 or 100 years later they were one tree.

You can see grains running in two different directions at the left end of the table. The two different grains melded together somehow. Astonishing!

The table base is a badly deformed pine stump.

His work is truly art!

The beams holding up his carport… the long ones are 60ft, again, done with a chainsaw freehand and a hand plane. Funny thing about the upper beams in that roof. When he gets time he jacks up the rafters and tin then works on the beams in place… He then lowers the rafters until the next time he has an afternoon to work on them… Who am I to question the way an artist works! o_O

The next time I’m down there I’ll get better pics of those beams during the day. This should be soon… His family has a foundation in honor of his father and to help the poor in the community. Tonight he asked me to teach some winter classes on herbal medicine at their community center.

I will gladly do it in honor of his father (Mr. J)… I loved that man from when I was little, Mr. J and my uncle were best friends. Of course Uncle N. was my favorite uncle. He and Mr. J would take me fishing... let me hang out with them in summer.

I’ve posted pictures of a horse I have a few times… He was the last horse born on Mr. J’s farm. Mr. J gave me the foal and its mare not long before he died.

History and family, it still means something in rural america.

Funny twist… the main reason I went down there tonight. I knew Mr. J’s father, Mr. T. I was talking to one of his other sons several years ago. He told me Mr. T had a secret place he harvested yellowroot and gave me the approximate location. It took me two years to find it.

Today I harvested a bucket of yellowroot from Mr. T’s secret spot. I thought his grandson, my neighbor and artist would enjoy seeing yellowroot from his grandfathers secret spot. https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/whats-everybody-doing-today.474/page-391#post-194476


Table Oak (1)_v1.jpg
Table Oak (2)_v1.jpg
Table Oak (3)_v1.jpg
W Beams (1)_v1.jpg
W Beams (3)_v1.jpg
 
Last edited:
@Peanut, finding that yellowroot after two years must have thrilled you to no end. I'll bet the grandson was touched that you brought some of his grandfather's prized plants for him to see...
 
@Peanut, finding that yellowroot after two years must have thrilled you to no end. I'll bet the grandson was touched that you brought some of his grandfather's prized plants for him to see...

Almost one of those "meant to be" things... I had the right creek all along but didn't know it. You can't see any yellowroot from the road. One day I went down a steep hill on a gravel road and saw Maryland black snake root (was in US pharmacopia until the 1950's for hard to get rid off bronchial pneumonia).

Anyway, I pulled off to the side to take a photo. When I got out of my truck I was standing in a big patch of yellowroot.:D I did a triple take... I was so close and knew it.

The little stream was a tributary of the big beautiful creek. I walked straight down the little steam, at one point I went through some guys yard. I wasn't stopping.

About a half mile down I found myself standing in the big creek surrounded by yellowroot. Funny, I knew who's land it was on... I had helped him the year before with poke tincture for arthritis.

I went back and got my truck... Went to mr. D's house. He followed me down there and I showed him a couple of dozen medicinals growing on his land down the creek... He gave me permission on the spot to hunt plants anytime I wanted. I see mr. D from time to time... saw him a WM a few weeks ago... I've known him most of my life too! :)
 
Almost one of those "meant to be" things... I had the right creek all along but didn't know it. You can't see any yellowroot from the road. One day I went down a steep hill on a gravel road and saw Maryland black snake root (was in US pharmacopia until the 1950's for hard to get rid off bronchial pneumonia).

Anyway, I pulled off to the side to take a photo. When I got out of my truck I was standing in a big patch of yellowroot.:D I did a triple take... I was so close and knew it.

The little stream was a tributary of the big beautiful creek. I walked straight down the little steam, at one point I went through some guys yard. I wasn't stopping.

About a half mile down I found myself standing in the big creek surrounded by yellowroot. Funny, I knew who's land it was on... I had helped him the year before with poke tincture for arthritis.

I went back and got my truck... Went to mr. D's house. He followed me down there and I showed him a couple of dozen medicinals growing on his land down the creek... He gave me permission on the spot to hunt plants anytime I wanted. I see mr. D from time to time... saw him a WM a few weeks ago... I've known him most of my life too! :)

Foxfire books, move over! Here comes the 'bama bunch!!!

Love it!
 
@Peanut , I don't have a clue about plants ,and which ones to use.

If I take pictures of plants ,( you got me looking ) and post some, would you help me identify them ?

I have a creek like that that runs across my property and always considered it a PIA ,because it has flooded , and I have spent lots of money to get across it onto my property. But now I am looking at it as maybe a asset.
I'm just mellowing in my old age I suppose.:confused::D

Don't know when I can get out there and get pics.

Jim
 
@phideaux You can take pics now but this time of year the ones that stand out you probably already know. Still, I'll try to id any you are curious about even in winter. Learning to id dead plants is tough, still working on this one. I'm happy if I get in the general ball park this time of year.

Basic primer on taking pics to id plants... google any terms I don't explain.
1. Need pics of the leaves to show
a. are the leaves "alternate or opposite" each other on the stem.
b. general leaf shape, smooth or toothed edges.

2. Height of plant

3. Seeds (tricky) they can be within husks, pods, alone... sometimes it's hard to even find the actual seeds.

4. Blooms, anytime of the year. Blooms are the give away on id

Check this site... they are asking you for basic input data that I would need also http://www.southeasternflora.com/SearchForm.php If you don't know all the input data it's okay... just get what you know. Lots of university data bases are set up this way. Enter the bloom, leaf arrangement, hit enter, and the site will display 40 or 50 plant species to choose from.

I always check the stem shape... Is it square or round? Sounds silly I know but this little tidbit of info will speak volumes sometimes.

Remember this expression... All mints have square stems but not all square stemmed plants are mints...

26,000 species of mints world wide, less than 4000 in the eastern US, if a plant has a square stem you've just ruled out a few hundred thousand other possibilities. Talk about narrowing down an id!

Also, another little secret here in the eastern us... the other plants that have square stems here are all in the Verbena family. So, just knowing if a plant has a square stem you have narrowed the possibilities down to "relative" handful.

5. Size reference. Keep a regular old cheap bic pen in you pocket... a playing card... bic lighter... clip a clothes pin on the stem... anything people easily recognize the size of. Lay it in the photo with your plant.

I'll add to this list as I think of a few others...

I prefer to teach in the spring and summer... It's far easier to learn plants as they bloom and easier to remember them. Oh, green is a color, lots of plants have green blooms. Ragweed has green blooms!

Starting next spring pick the section of that creek you want to learn. Walk it once or twice a week. Photo every plant that blooms and post them.
 
I promised I'd post back. I've been down to my friends many times, either forgot my camera or it was dark.

Here are photos of the beams he is using for his carport. You can see in one photo he's using the same wood for shutters around his windows, Tulip Poplar I believe, Liriodendron tulipifera.


Porch (1) sm.JPG
Porch (2) sm.JPG
Porch (3) sm.JPG
 
Back
Top