2 Attachment(s)
Silky Oak ' The Maelstrom'
Havent posted any pieces for awhile. So here goes with a Silky Oak flat and hollow carved piece.
This one took me some time to work out how to do the blank justice and then how to layout the concept. It lay around on the shelf for over two years, I originally picked it up because of the figure and Silky Oak is also one of my favourites as it so is so easy to work. As for allergys to it etc It has no effect on me, although I do make any effort to keep the dust to a minimum when working Silky Oak.
Its 12"x 3" finished with DO, very dry it took many coats of DO before it stopped soaking. I think I was rubbing on the DO of over ten minutes before it showd any signs of slowing up. Stained the inside with a Mahogany finish to give contrast and to also underline concept of a maelstrom or powerful vortex in action here.
Its actually a member of the Grevillia family
The knot, I pondered about it but I wanted the max diameter. As to wood itself the figure is very fine but to it justice you really need a gloss finish and I havent decided if to give this one a gloss or not as yet.
Although its scarce as a timber, this does depend on the location. Where I get mine from theres is an abundance amd all of it is from road widening, dead falls, garden overhauls, storms etc.
This particular piece was an experiment and whilst it came out fine I am not a 100% happy with it, I will revisit this form again. The whole process was kicked off by looking at some of Doug Fishers work.
Silky Oak is a great carving wood soft with long straight grain and many of our wood are dark and wouldnt show the carving quite so well, so in some ways it was a bit of a trade off. As I have a whole lot of Silky Oak I will be doing a lot more and willpsot as I go along
But your comments are mush appreciated
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grevillea_robusta
http://www.mrpuzzle.com.au/webcontent94.htm