Our most recent feature project is a small leaf-shaped keepsake box, to be offered as a milestone birthday gift. The lid is made with zebra wood, and a thin piece of black walnut trim. The body is from an old barn beam, likely oak. Hopefully, at just eight inches, what the piece lacks in stature it makes up for with curb appeal. Selecting materials for the lid was easy - very few wood varieties present the distinctive wood grain of zebra wood for mimicking the texture of a leaf. Gluing it all together was another matter, but a total deep dive into that is not integral to the telling of this account. Suffice to say that after a router table shoots a nearly completed exotic wood box lid half-way across the shop, what appears to be two pieces of zebra wood in a glue-up may indeed be three. But, as all woodworkers know, what can't be pointed out does not require explanation. The material for the box body was a shot in the dark. Salvaged from the razing of a century old barn in Iowa, the beam section is UV damaged, checked and bows from 100 years of hard work. On its own it displays almost 80 growth rings. It was perfect. There are different attributions we can assign to it. Call it luck, providence, or even deliverance. One can dedicate a life to being the biggest, bad-assed beam in the barn. Holding up a structure that was vital for generations. But eventually the farm needs steel. And after that something else. For now, I am glad to put part of the beam back to work. It is holing up something hoped to be held dear for a long time. |
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