Imperfections

[Webb]

Richard Raffan says life is too short to turn crappy wood. I agree. I appreciate those that can overlook and woohoo about a piece but I am not one of them.

You can tell I strive to avoid what I consider “uglies” in finished furniture and turned pieces. I do my best to match grains so glue-ups hide board joints.

I’m not a fan of cracks, holes, pith, knots, pin knots, bark intrusions, and sapwood in flatwork. I probably have more waste than average but it is minimal due to careful selection of how the rough wood will be used.

I made this wattled walnut headboard for my brother. Since the nature of this wood has things I didn’t like, I had to suck it up. He was thrilled. I was happy he was thrilled. I wasn’t happy working with wood with so many imperfections.

 

[Mike1950]

Nice work. Perfection is alright to strive for just as long as you realize you cannot attain it. Gramps words 60+ years ago still ring true in my ears.
I getvwhat you are saying though, I am as bad or worse.

 

[Webb]

Thanks Mike. This was an interesting thing to make. It’s king size yet had to fit in a car. The panels float and all the frame was mortise and tenon and at time of assembly once it arrived got a few drops of glue and draw pins pulled it together.

As I tell my children, perfection is the enemy of excellence and better is the enemy of good enough.

 

[Mike1950]

I love making large M&T joints

 

[Nature Man]

Richard Raffan says life is too short to turn crappy wood. I agree. I appreciate those that can overlook and woohoo about a piece but I am not one of them.

You can tell I strive to avoid what I consider “uglies” in finished furniture and turned pieces. I do my best to match grains so glue-ups hide board joints.

I’m not a fan of cracks, holes, pith, knots, pin knots, bark intrusions, and sapwood in flatwork. I probably have more waste than average but it is minimal due to careful selection of how the rough wood will be used.

I made this wattled walnut headboard for my brother. Since the nature of this wood has things I didn’t like, I had to suck it up. He was thrilled. I was happy he was thrilled. I wasn’t happy working with wood with so many imperfections.

View attachment 290529

I can identify with striving for perfection. My production in the workshop is less than I would like, just because I get wrapped up in the process. Chuck

 

[Firewood Potter]

Richard Raffan says life is too short to turn crappy wood.

And I say plain grain can be boring. Life is too short to live it as a bore. Turn wood with character. Wormholes, knots, bark inclusions, crotch, half rotten, the stuff most people burn in their heater, "crappy wood".

 

[trc65]

With furniture, I am in complete agreement with you Webb. I strive for the best I can do, and avoid what you call uglies. Striving to highlight uglies, mismatched grain, etc bothers my sensibilities on furniture and IMO takes away from the beauty of the furnitures design. Gets too busy on too large an area and makes things look disjointed in a room.

On the other hand, I occasionally use and enjoy turnings from "ugly pieces of wood. I have turned a few pieces that are more air than wood, and most of them are not my favorites. I don't care much for endless cracks, filled or otherwise. What I do really like are forms that are beautifully shaped but have elements like live edges (without bark), rot where portions of the form is missing, mineral staining, bug holes, etc. Above all though it must be an attractive form and the defect used to enhance the appearance rather than being the focus of all the attention.

Here are a few pictures of my projects to illustrate my point.

First is a hackberry form. Nice form, but too busy with missing pieces, spalting, etc. Its OK, but far from a favorite.



This is a walnut form with an unusual live edge opening. Really like this one. Not a perfect piece of wood, but shows some of the nature of the wood.



Another piece of walnut with quite a bit missing. Lots of angles to look at but I've only attached one photo. Plenty openings, all caused by natural decay of portions of the wood.



This last is one of a series of walnut forms that had this pattern of decay through the shoulder/neck area on all of them. Nice form and IMO, the decay and grain patterns enhance the beauty and interest of the piece.



In summary, all the walnut forms above I really like, but the hackberry annoys me. It was a good exercise in turning air, but don't really like the resulting form.

Could go on and on, but there is no correct answer, we all have varying tastes. Hope others join in the discussion and also post examples of likes/dislikes with discussion.

Thanks Webb for starting this thread, discussions on design are some of the best ones in the site.

 

[daniscool]

While in “flat woodworking” I agree with you (especially as I only use handtools and bandsaw) but when it comes to artistic turning or carving, my favourite pieces are the ones that have character. Also, by your definition, burl wood would be ugly. Rolls royce and Porsche disagree with you. Their expensive models have high end burl veneer dashboards.

 

[Webb]

While in “flat woodworking” I agree with you (especially as I only use handtools and bandsaw) but when it comes to artistic turning or carving, my favourite pieces are the ones that have character. Also, by your definition, burl wood would be ugly. Rolls royce and Porsche disagree with you. Their expensive models have high end burl veneer dashboards.

I think Rolls agrees with me. The veneer used is defect free and by definition, doesn’t contain what I consider to be ugly. I consider defect free burl handsome.

This Koa veneer is sublime.

 

[daniscool]

I think Rolls agrees with me. The veneer used is defect free and by definition, doesn’t contain what I consider to be ugly. I consider defect free burl handsome.

This Koa veneer is sublime.

View attachment 290557

Okay. You got a point. I still think that defects have their place in woodworking. Check out @scoutdogs work. Almost all of it is made from defunct wood. And almost all of it is amazing.

 

[DLJeffs]

Another negative factor associated with that level of "perfection" is the amount of waste. Companies like Jaguar will buy large lots of veneer and after their inspectors get done sorting it, a large per centage is rejected. And that's a shame because I wager most of that veneer was pretty amazing stuff and could easily be saved. It's the same in guitar building. I'm pretty sure at least one set of sides and back on one of my guitars was a "second" from Thompson Guitars. They wouldn't bother using it because it would require some extra personal attention to get it where they wanted and in that world they couldn't charge a few thousand dollars for that guitar. But any faults anybody can claim to find are all subjective and based on one's personal opinion of what's high quality wood and what isn't.

 

[Mike1950]

And I say plain grain can be boring. Life is too short to live it as a bore. Turn wood with character. Wormholes, knots, bark inclusions, crotch, half rotten, the stuff most people burn in their heater, "crappy wood".

Turners are crazy though- talented but some of what you and others turn amaze me.

 

[Mike1950]

Most here know i am addicted to figured wood. But like to build with combo of straight and figured. All figure gets cluttered in my eye, except my coved boxes. Usually all figure. Nice thing about it, nobody is wrong or right, it is apersonal opinion. @trc65 does not like the hackberry, I do, both of us are right. I love the walnut ones also. Still makes him a bit crazed for turning all that air.
Spalted maple box was insane. It took so much CA and then finish. It was like working with air.. or a sponge.
Maple burl box is almost perfect. You do not see flawless maple burl often. But my kiln just happens to be full of it at moment. It has taken me almost 20 years to figure out where the best big leaf burl and quilt grows, just about when I am too old to chase it...

 

[Sprung]

Nice headboard! Really like the design. And the wood. I think the use of imperfections depends on the piece. I think it works in that piece, since it's the entire piece.

But the use of imperfections in a piece really depends on the piece, IMO. A lot of pieces need wood without imperfections. But sometimes an imperfect piece fits the bill. The plant stands I recently built my wife were, I think, a great place to use imperfect pieces for the top. They're functional pieces, but in the way that they're holding pots that are sitting on trays and plates, so it was a "so what if it's not perfect" and I'd really have to lost a lot of wood to cut those top pieces up into perfect pieces to use them in other ways.

Filling knots and cracks and bug holes in furniture? Frustrating and annoying and usually takes away from the finished look. Doing it to a piece of wood that I was using to build a ladder for the bunk beds in our camper? Worked out well - and most of what I had to fill in is on the backside, only to be seen by whoever is occupying the bottom bunk. (And allowed me to use a piece of 8/4 cherry that had too much going on with cracks and bug holes to use for furniture.)

That said, I'm glad you sucked it up for that headboard, Webb. I think the imperfections of that wood really work for that piece. Probably wouldn't work for a lot of other pieces. But it does look really nice. I also really like the design. I showed the picture to my wife and she really likes it as well. I just might have to "borrow" it (and expand upon it to add a footboard and rails) for hopefully finally getting to the bed build my wife and I have been talking about - and I've had the cherry for - for about 8 years now.

 

[Webb]

Okay. You got a point. I still think that defects have their place in woodworking. Check out @scoutdogs work. Almost all of it is made from defunct wood. And almost all of it is amazing.

I agree that funky wood has its place. Just not in my wood shop. Perhaps one day when I turn for artistry, but for now I turn for functionality.

Remember it was once said a long time ago, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Or as Mom used to say "to each their own as the old woman kissed the cow".

 

[Webb]

Matt, glad you like it and it's an easy build, especially since draw pins are used for assembly. If I were doing it over again, only the panels would be wattled. all rails would have been straight grained.