Uber Old School

I’m making a longboard skateboard deck as my first experiment with forming elm into complex contours. I like thinking of the deck’s shape as continuing in the evolution of the morphology of weapons pictured above (not because they are weapons but because they have a common ancestor in the stick, or branch). My plan is […]

Wood of the Gods

Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara) “In the stands of Lodhra trees, Padmaka trees and in the woods of Devadaru, or Deodar trees, Ravana is to be searched there and there, together with Seetha. [4-43-13]” Nothing compares to the thrill of making the first passes with a sharp hand plane over freshly milled cedar to reveal the […]

Black Acacia Blooms

The rains have returned and the air on the way to town is sweetened by newly bursting blossoms of black acacia  (Acacia melanoxlyon). A relative of koa, wood from black acacia is dense and reddish-orange, with deep streaks of burgundy brown, and white sapwood. Properly cured, the wood is stable and resistant to rot and […]