(click on pics to enlarge)
You can go back to blog entries from late 2006 to early 2007 and find my pics of my winged Soul partners, a brace of Red Tail hawks that frequented the edge of a nice little forest tucked between a YMCA and an interstate beltway. Many a day Mercy and I would go romp about and often catch the pair in one tree or another, surveying their domain for a meal...or curiously looking at an off-duty weatherman and his furry four-legged companion...
"Whatcha doin', Weatherman???"
And then, at the snap of a finger one day, the tree rippers were there and going at it whole hog. And I must say, in the greater scope of downing timber, this was one of the messiest harvests I've ever seen. Worst yet, it wasn't to make way for building of anything...apparently the landowner had some dispute with local authorities and did a "I'll-show-you" move to take the timber for quick cash. I cried, it was so ugly and so disrespectful of the environment...
February 5, 2007
Kind of a shocker to see it all happening - I walked in the now-clearing, anyway, that day over a year ago. Safe to say the hawks left and basically did not return. Oh, you see 'em once in a while, but it's fairly uncommon anymore. Copious weeds and shrubby growth have moved back in, making it a challenge to get through it on a walk, especially for Mercy.
March 7, 2007
The timber miners did their work in the course of just a few days...and the above is how it was left. By this time I was beyond sad...I was a bit angered. And not because I'm anti-development, but because the land was handled disrespectfully...and until we learn that we are intrinsically a part of All, we'll never 'get it' that what we do to the environment we do to ourselves. Chief Seattle was only one of many to say as much.
And so I had this idea to walk in and salvage some of the Eastern Red Cedar and, out of curiousity, some of the Dogwood...to take it home and let it cure. My plan was to use that wood in some of my flutes, so that what was once 'wasted' would be transformed into art and music that could beneficially add back positive energy to this weary planet we steadily beleaguer.
March 15, 2007
These are some of the Dogwood logs I cut and brought home. Had I the space, I would have collected more, but for the bigger pieces from which to hopefully make flutes, they'll need to dry 2-3 years. Many of the trees were cracked lengthwise from the massive tree cutting machines, and a few I cut up into shorter pieces for blocks, like the piece pictured below...
OK, I'll grant you a lot goes on from this point to the next photo set...I took the flat bottom and sketched a rough view of what I saw the block looking like from straight above - the outline. I first sanded off the bark to get to the woody core, which allowed me to draw my sketches of where I needed to cut as it looked from all angles.
No plans here, just going inside my head and playing it by ear as I went along. Band saw, scroll saw, Dremel tool, and orbital belt sander, using whatever was best for the step at hand. Oh yeah, and a whole lot of sitting and looking at it going "this is certainly new territory for me!"
And so just last Saturday I released my first Dogwood 'effort' to a new loving home. In honor of my hawks that moved to some other vacant area before it, too, gets ripped down, I kept with a 'stylized' hawk-in-flight motif for the flute's block. The choice was obvious.
I've already used the cedar a lot for blocks in other flutes, but the Dogwood was new. Never talked with anybody that used it, and so I began to experiment. In short, I'm now a huge Dogwood fan. It's quite light in color like Holly, and has a very tight, dense grain - works like a charm and this piece was far from fragile. I fell in love with the sturdy wood, though being hard it takes a while to sand out.
Technically, I first started using Dogwood on another flute for a friend who ordered another 'special' flute...you may remember the "Jonah and the Whale" flute I blogged about last year...same fellow. However, I'm attempting some really tricky things with his flute and Dogwood pieces, and this hawk block was much more 'straightforward' for my brain. Hang in there, Mike!!! It's a-comin', I promise!
Thanks for reading this lenghty entry...it means a lot to me. Always try to make lemonade from the lemons, friends. Makes life a bit more user-friendly!
You can go back to blog entries from late 2006 to early 2007 and find my pics of my winged Soul partners, a brace of Red Tail hawks that frequented the edge of a nice little forest tucked between a YMCA and an interstate beltway. Many a day Mercy and I would go romp about and often catch the pair in one tree or another, surveying their domain for a meal...or curiously looking at an off-duty weatherman and his furry four-legged companion...
"Whatcha doin', Weatherman???"And then, at the snap of a finger one day, the tree rippers were there and going at it whole hog. And I must say, in the greater scope of downing timber, this was one of the messiest harvests I've ever seen. Worst yet, it wasn't to make way for building of anything...apparently the landowner had some dispute with local authorities and did a "I'll-show-you" move to take the timber for quick cash. I cried, it was so ugly and so disrespectful of the environment...
February 5, 2007Kind of a shocker to see it all happening - I walked in the now-clearing, anyway, that day over a year ago. Safe to say the hawks left and basically did not return. Oh, you see 'em once in a while, but it's fairly uncommon anymore. Copious weeds and shrubby growth have moved back in, making it a challenge to get through it on a walk, especially for Mercy.
March 7, 2007The timber miners did their work in the course of just a few days...and the above is how it was left. By this time I was beyond sad...I was a bit angered. And not because I'm anti-development, but because the land was handled disrespectfully...and until we learn that we are intrinsically a part of All, we'll never 'get it' that what we do to the environment we do to ourselves. Chief Seattle was only one of many to say as much.
And so I had this idea to walk in and salvage some of the Eastern Red Cedar and, out of curiousity, some of the Dogwood...to take it home and let it cure. My plan was to use that wood in some of my flutes, so that what was once 'wasted' would be transformed into art and music that could beneficially add back positive energy to this weary planet we steadily beleaguer.
March 15, 2007These are some of the Dogwood logs I cut and brought home. Had I the space, I would have collected more, but for the bigger pieces from which to hopefully make flutes, they'll need to dry 2-3 years. Many of the trees were cracked lengthwise from the massive tree cutting machines, and a few I cut up into shorter pieces for blocks, like the piece pictured below...
OK, I'll grant you a lot goes on from this point to the next photo set...I took the flat bottom and sketched a rough view of what I saw the block looking like from straight above - the outline. I first sanded off the bark to get to the woody core, which allowed me to draw my sketches of where I needed to cut as it looked from all angles. No plans here, just going inside my head and playing it by ear as I went along. Band saw, scroll saw, Dremel tool, and orbital belt sander, using whatever was best for the step at hand. Oh yeah, and a whole lot of sitting and looking at it going "this is certainly new territory for me!"
And so just last Saturday I released my first Dogwood 'effort' to a new loving home. In honor of my hawks that moved to some other vacant area before it, too, gets ripped down, I kept with a 'stylized' hawk-in-flight motif for the flute's block. The choice was obvious.I've already used the cedar a lot for blocks in other flutes, but the Dogwood was new. Never talked with anybody that used it, and so I began to experiment. In short, I'm now a huge Dogwood fan. It's quite light in color like Holly, and has a very tight, dense grain - works like a charm and this piece was far from fragile. I fell in love with the sturdy wood, though being hard it takes a while to sand out.
Technically, I first started using Dogwood on another flute for a friend who ordered another 'special' flute...you may remember the "Jonah and the Whale" flute I blogged about last year...same fellow. However, I'm attempting some really tricky things with his flute and Dogwood pieces, and this hawk block was much more 'straightforward' for my brain. Hang in there, Mike!!! It's a-comin', I promise!Thanks for reading this lenghty entry...it means a lot to me. Always try to make lemonade from the lemons, friends. Makes life a bit more user-friendly!
2 comments:
Very nice Bob. Always good to see someone take a negative and make it a positive. The mathematics of life. Good read too.
Will
Thanks, Will. My hope is that each day more and more people will start paying attention to their actions and 'higher realm' thought, and start making wiser choices for the 'greater good'. Hope your new young 'un is doing well!
bob
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