Wood, Wires, and Widgets

We lost a beautiful maple tree to a mistletoe infestation earlier this year, so we had to cut it down. I saved four logs from it for carving totems, tiki sculptures, and so on. I finally finished peeling the bark on them, so now it’s time to let them dry – probably for about a year.

Before comments start rolling in: yes, I know that Western red cedar is the preferred medium for totem carving. It’s relatively lightweight and easy to work.

So I’ll just point out that while Western red cedar is relatively easy to find in the Pacific Northwest, it’s not quite as common in my home state of Florida. And it is 100% unavailable among the trees on my property. So: maple is what I have, and maple is what I’ll carve.

Maple has a fine, tight grain, so hopefully I’ll just have to keep my chisels good and sharp.