As craftsmen, artists and gardeners, hand tool users who take joy in creation, we stand in reasonable shape to pass on our treasures to our grandchildren and even to strangers unknown who may marvel at the care and thought of those ancient hand craftsmen in the 21st century. This thought comforts me. This thought has been a comfort to wise men long before I struggled with understanding life’s complexities. Solomon considered this as well. Proverbs 22, a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children. Ancient wisdom here.
Here is a website produced by a man that considers this thought quite deeply. I have great respect for him, though he does not comfort me at all, Climate Denial Crock of the Week
This is where he regularly presents such features such as this one;
I have a few odd blocks of truffula wood that have been given to me as gifts. These treasures conflict me. I don’t plan to ever publish any of my works with them, as I don’t want to encourage the destruction of more truffula trees. I don’t want to just leave them as block to be used as doorstops and then thrown away by another generation. So I will try to use them in as graceful a manner as I can, label them as best I can, and then show that more renewable and locally available materials can do as well or better.
I will confess that the rare and exotic do hold the odd lure to me, I am not a purist. So when I want some, desperately, desperately. I look for a place where the plant is being managed well, by people who are managing it as a multgenerational treasure. That or I plant it myself, in hopes that with enough nurture, I may have some to work with some day. But then, I find I often love the tree too much to part with it for the simple wood.
This is the crux of the matter. All of this, quite literally is as ash if we do not find ways to live more gracefully and with better impact on this world. My saving a tree is nothing if the land it is on cannot reasonably be expected to support a tree in a hundred years. The traditions we pass on, to beloved children, beloved friends and even beloved strangers, are as dust if stewardship is not a strong part of those traditions.
Bob
A page Dedicated to My Writing
A very different look to your site Bob, very different – but I like it! I really enjoyed your comment on the “Denial Crock of the Week” site that refuted the previous negative comment quite well. I can’t think of a thing or a reference you left unsaid there. What a jerk that guy is!
And the link to the truffla wood/Lorax story is a winner. A very good woodworking reference to your main theme here. As you well know, I am a great believer in harvesting local urban timber, particularly trees that would otherwise go to the chipper, burn pile or landfill. I am looking forward to my cedar project, and expect to work on some mesquite after that.
And also utilizing previously used lumber, cleaning out the nails and knots, and gluing up the pieces into a stabilized lumber assembly. I am currently taking some white oak old pallet boards and riving them into handle blanks for chisels.
Maybe it’s time for a “Harvesting Urban Timber” article???
Skip
It’s always time for a “Harvesting Urban Timber” article, Skip!
The new arrangement gives me a lot more options and better use of the screen, I prefer my links to have a bit more data, but have not gotten around to figuring out how to fix it yet. Currently you have to hover over a link to get a bit more information. Having the name alone, does not give enough data to help those looking for their particular interests, to find what they are looking for.
My old configuration had issues with some anti-spam protocols so I was motivated to make the change.
When I saw the Lorax on the bottom left of http://tomfidgen.blogspot.com/ , Tom Fidgen’s blog, It was obvious that he had put the perfect symbol for thoughtful woodworking on his page. Now I want to belong to the Truffla Trust, the organization that encourages responsible wood harvesting. Sadly it does not yet exist as far as I know.
Bob