December 1, 2008
what I did for thanksgiving vacation
My parents have 80 acres in north Texas. We spent Saturday walking the land, looking for fallen trees. I cut sections of water oak, red cedar, honey locust, and bois d’arc. The plan is to have it milled, let it air dry, and make some furniture out of it. Maybe pictures would do the wood justice. The water oak, deep red at the heart, with some ivory around the edges. This limb fell from a tree four or five hundred years old. It would take three adults at least to hold their arms around it. The cedar is pink and corral, neon almost when we first cut it. It smelled great in the Jeep on the way back. The locust is white with warm heart wood, shots of brown and yellow. The bois d’arc is vibrant, a shocking yellow that works toward green, the rings tainted white. Beautiful lumber, from fallen trees, cut with the help of my father, Amy, and niece and nephew. I’m thankful for that.
comments
I hope you had a chainsaw for the bois d’arc. I tried chopping one down with an axe once and that was an exercise in frustration. It’s such a soft wood.
Patrick, I wondered the same thing. They don’t make house posts out of bois d’arc for nothin’. It’s like cutting through rock.
Here’s what you need, Deron:
http://www.portablesawmill.com/
I actually wanted one of these for a long time. I wanted to make outdoor benches of great slabs of wood–cut from storm-downed hardwoods. Now I think I would just like to sit in a lawn chair and watch somebody else do it. But it sure does smell good, like you say. And I like the idea of something being done to honor the fallen tree rather than just burning it.
Wonderful story.
Deron – I never thought talk of ‘wood’ could be so – well, engaging! Shit I was practically mouthing the words. Perhaps I need to get a life but hell – I thought it was only talk of exotic (erotic) gins that got me in that state!
Seriously, you totally had me there – not unlike your furniture. I eagerly await the drying process. I guess I didn’t ought to hold my breath?
Great (and productive) visit. Cool.
Do you need to tell the non-Texans that bois d’arc is pronounced bo-dark down here, or is that common knowledge?
Hey, Deron cut the tip off his right index finger with his table saw this afternoon. We’ve been in the ER all day and he’s actually still there getting sewn up. I’m back home to feed the animals, then I’m heading back. Pictures to follow…
And here I was mouthing my East Coast, elitist bwah-dark. I guess I’ll go back to reading the New Yorker now.
HOLY SHIT.
There goes the banjo pickin.
Actually–I hope everything’s okay. Don’t forget to use a push stick when you rip!
I’m just back. I think Amy undersold it a little.
By “undersold,” do you mean it’s worse than suggested? Jesus man, you’ve got typing to think about too! You can smell the wood while somebody else is cutting it.
yeah. it’s better than it could have been. but still, the predominant emotion is disappointment. this is something I love so much and I spend a lot of time thinking about how to be safe with it. I know now what happened / what I did / what went wrong but I’m really pissed I didn’t see it coming. I know now, but that’s what kills me. I lost the first knuckle on the index finger of my right hand, almost lost the ring finger, and have tendon damage, skin grafts, and a chunk of bone lost. I went to the shop a minute ago because if there is something in there I want to find it on my terms, not stumble upon it.
goddammit.
HOLY SHIT!!
I don’t really know what else to say.
I’m sorry.
I’m so sorry, Deron. And I’m soryy I was sort of making light of it; I thought it was just a tip of the finger thing, like a flap that you tape up and it grows back. But at least doctors are much better with the micro surgery these days than they used to be. Can they fix the knuckle? I have heard of people with arthritis having knuckles replaced–can they do that? I hope they gave you some good painkillers my friend….
thank you both. Daryl, my frustration wasn’t with you. I’m still dealing with the emotion of this. I love you guys.
Oh, Deron.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Deron, I’m sorry to hear about the injury and I hope you’re doing better now and that they have given you some good painkillers. If there’s anything Maggie and I can do, please let me know. Especially if you want me to plug a couple of slugs into that table saw, the crazy bitch.
Deron, my friend. Don’t allow what you realize in retrospect to gnaw away at you. I know, easy for me to say in this particular instance; still, fight the self-recrimination. It’s toxic.
That much said, I’m sorry it happened.
There are a lot of us who really care for you and Amy.
Phew. I wish you well. It sounds like a huge huge shock. My boyfriend, who is a multi-instrumentalist musician, had a similar accident, most of the top of his index finger was sliced off, but there was some incredibly good surgeon who sewed it back on, a hand specialist. But what really helped was the months and months of physical therapy he had afterwards. It took a long time, but he got there. God bless.
Fuck. I don’t know what to say. Shit.
o hell Deron, that sounds awful, and hands, hands are the worst things to injure, hope it heals fast
Fucking A, Deron. Can’t I leave you people alone for a goddamn minute?
That sucks.
Holy cow. Don’t worry about anything but taking care of yourself.
Thinking of you – all I can say.
Shit Deron, I just woke to this. It made me feel sick in the pit of my stomach for you. Truly terrible for all the non physical reasons.
Take care and here’s to a speedy recovery in all ways.
Saying “it could have been worse” is lame as hell but if we’re talking about woodwooking accidents it is true enough.
Concentrate on your recovery and let the feelings of loss and frustration pass.
Everything you make from now on will be even more beautiful.
Woke up this morning thinking about your hand.
And I’m wondering this, if it’s not too trivial: Do you remember what you said/yelled/exclaimed when it happened?
Oh, Deron, I so wish this hadn’t happened to you.
The only thing I can offer is knowledge of some good hand surgeons and access to reliable medical information. If at any point you and Amy need something, don’t hesitate to ask.
The good news is that a lot of progress has been made in this area, so with a good surgeon and a lot of (unfortunately painful–but worth it) physical therapy, you have a good chance of regaining function.
Don’t beat yourself up over this. MGS is exactly right–what you make in the future will be more beautiful because of this.
This is all my fault Deron. I was trying to describe your liquor cabinet project to someone just last night and doing a poor job.
I guess my mother was right – you shouldn’t talk about someone behind their back.
Anyway – Here’s wishing you a speedy recovery from afar.
Deron! I am, of course, very sorry to hear that. Do let us know if there’s anything we can do. I put a wood carving knife through my hand last year and had a table saw kick back wood at me pretty bad one time, but nothing like this of course. Hope you heal well.
thanks, y’all. whatever they gave me for pain IS NOT WORKING. here’s hoping the next round will do the trick. I think Amy is going to post some pictures.
Man, that sucks. Sorry to hear. My brother (a carpenter) is missing a few digits and knuckles (from two separate occasions), he acts like they’re expendable, but I can think of a lot of other things I’d rather lose…
Deron, I’ve got some percocet left over from when I had my wisdom teeth out a couple of weeks ago.
[...] oak (bottom right), the red cedar above it, some pecan to the left (I forgot to mention it in my original post), and honey locust below that. The crazy bois d’arc can be seen in the mosaic photo [...]