No power tools allowed!

[formariz 11,987]

Yard work has been keeping me away but this flower bed is almost all blooming.

[Gregor 4,846]

I changed my mind. I want teak wood, with oak appliques. Hope you didn't start the walnut one yet.

Edited May 1, 2021 by Gregor

[ebinmaine 67,556]

Absolutely lovely Caz. 

[rjg854 11,377]

a literal work of art  

[formariz 11,987]

Thank you everyone for the kind words. Of everything I have done in woodworking( and it has been substantial) it is  building these that I enjoy the most. It is so because they are so very personal and such an important part of my culture and upbringing . Most likely I will be the last one doing so since right now I am the only one doing it. That saddens me. However one never knows. Perhaps one of the grandchildren will take it up. There seems to be some interest.

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by formariz

[Gregor 4,846]

Maybe this question is unanswerable, but, what how much would you sell one of the for?

[formariz 11,987]

7 hours ago, Gregor said:

Maybe this question is unanswerable, but, what how much would you sell one of the for?

Good question but you may be right. It may be unanswerable. I have never contemplated on making one to sell. I don't think I could ever part with one. I do buy ancient ones when the rare opportunity presents  itself. Oldest ones that show up are usually from the early 1900s some from the late 1800s. The last ones made for actual use are usually from the 1960s. The best ones without too much wear or damage can go for around one thousand .There are several different styles of them from different parts of the country, this particular style being unique to my birth place. They are the only ones carved in high relief front and back, and having this particular shape or style. Most of the others have only simple carvings. They were a status symbol for the owners, the more prosperous they were, the more intricately  carved they were. They were custom made to order usually having the owners initials carved on them.

With the exception of museums or real well off individuals that appreciate and value them, there really are no clients for them. I have never even attempted to figure out what I would charge for one, but from numbers thrown at me in the past  it would be several thousand. There is an incredible amount of work that goes into one. There are a few made for the tourism trade as sort of souvenirs but nothing like this. They could not even be really used since not only they are incorrectly sized, they are structurally unsound. They are decorated with just lots of drilled holes and simple gouge cuts  for carvings many made as coat racks.

A few details of a finished one below.

 

 

 

 

[formariz 11,987]

Almost there on this side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rjg854 11,377]

Looking great  

[formariz 11,987]

Been away from it a bit. Some progress today completed one half of wheat stalks.

 

[formariz 11,987]

Been away from it for a while. Hot weather got me back to it. Backside pretty much completed now with exception of some cleanup and a couple minor things.

 Moving on to the front next.

 

 

[formariz 11,987]

Now for the front. Blank canvas again.

[formariz 11,987]

Layout of face starts. Boundaries defined and  design traced onto transparent paper for transfer onto yoke. Got to be firm on it now since at this stage new ideas always come up. 
 

 

 

 

[formariz 11,987]

Dug out the old form to start thinking about arches “ collars”. It will be some insane bending.

 

[formariz 11,987]

Layout and final design completed. Time to start digging into It.

 

 

[rjg854 11,377]

will be eagerly waiting for the results Caz 

[Gregor 4,846]

5 hours ago, formariz said:

Layout and final design completed. Time to start digging into It.

 

If there were a rating better than excellent, I would give it, but I'm only allowed one click. Absolutely amazing work.

[formariz 11,987]

Thank you for the kind comments. They are sincerely appreciated.
Indulge me and allow  me to talk a little bit about it in order to explain what is going on with and on it. Design changed a bit on the front compared to what I had originally drawn. Reasons for that are various. One is that as I look at it more and more when I transfer design onto it, certain things just don’t “ flow” correctly as I look at it more and more.  There are no two identical yokes so there is no tried and true design. It’s all up to the individual’s taste ,intent and of course capability. Most of what is carved on them although obviously decorative in nature , more importantly has personal and cultural meanings specially in the yoke’s main focal areas. It is important to stick to that criteria and avoid introducing totally random foreign motifs into them. This one is a bit of a challenge. It will be totally unique compared to most. In honor of all that influenced me in this type of work I am trying to incorporate on it elements of design and style from several individuals. Not an easy task to make all different styles blend together in harmony keeping in mind that I also need to make it “mine”.  Lastly the wood itself has a lot of bearing on deciding what is carved on them. Hence the most important reason for me to do the backs first. One would reason that the front should be done first and then the less important back after. I think differently. Doing the back first allows me to learn what this piece of wood “allows”to be carved into it. Not all pieces of wood are conducive to carve anything into them. Depending on the grain some are more forgiving than others to certain details carved into them. Now that I am intimately familiar with it I know what I can get away with or not on front. That also prompted some of the changes. One needs to know exactly what one is working with or the results will be less than predictable. To my knowledge only two individuals ever carved the backs as throughly and intricately as the front ,I being one , the other long gone and the biggest and most important inspiration and influence in my work.

Making these to me is not work, but rather a totally relaxing almost meditating time as I work on them. It is a sort of right of passage and hopefully inspiration for some after me to continue it or in the very least tell the story behind them. 

[threepiece 6]

Your work and words have brought clarity to my otherwise scattered mind.

[71_Bronco 1,072]

Absolutely beautiful work 

[formariz 11,987]

Been busy with life in general but started “digging “ into it again. In need of a little therapy, and this is it.

[formariz 11,987]

Grounding work to free design is tedious difficult work . 
 

[formariz 11,987]

Some more progress

[tunahead72 2,423]

That's coming along beautifully!

 

I just tested my memory and powers of observation by going back to your first post on this thread, to confirm that this is indeed ash that you're working with.  We just unfortunately had to take down several nice ash trees in our back yard, because of damage from the infamous ash borer.  So I've been immersed in ash for the past month or so and become quite familiar with some of its characteristics.

 

I'm curious, how does ash carve compared to other woods you've worked with?

 

[formariz 11,987]

2 hours ago, tunahead72 said:

That's coming along beautifully!

 

I just tested my memory and powers of observation by going back to your first post on this thread, to confirm that this is indeed ash that you're working with.  We just unfortunately had to take down several nice ash trees in our back yard, because of damage from the infamous ash borer.  So I've been immersed in ash for the past month or so and become quite familiar with some of its characteristics.

 

I'm curious, how does ash carve compared to other woods you've worked with?

 

Thank you. I have to keep at it  everyday now. I started this thing one year ago. Life just tells us what to do not the other way around.

 

Yes around here every single ash has also  died. The problem is so severe that in many places it actually changed the landscape. Some of them were probably close to two hundred years old and absolutely majestic trees.

Ash carves relatively well. On some with fast growth the wood can be a bit brittle making it hard on small intricate details. The reasons for using it on the yokes are various. In my country it was the wood of choice, mainly because it was the only species that was large enough to provide boards this wide. Most other species would never grow to that size ( actually would not be allowed) and sort of started disappearing when Eucalyptus was introduced into the country. The introduction of the Eucalyptus was in itself a man made blight. That species overtakes everything growing extremely fast and stripping the soil of its nutrients. In addition it became a big money maker cultivated for pulp. Trees like specially Pines which were abundant  succumbed to the Eucalyptus. Takes about 50 years for a Pine to reach a size that will produce usable lumber. An Eucalyptus will do that in seven and sprout again from the stump unlike a Pine.

 Ash is also a strong  "springy" wood. It will take stress and load bending slightly but not breaking making it ideal for a yoke when one considers how the stress is applied on a yoke during use.

 Here lots of other woods would be available to make this type of yoke, but tradition dictates what to use. For anyone familiar with them it just would look odd made out of anything else.

Reading what I just wrote about the availability of wood in Europe, if you research a little about History you will learn that in Europe they basically decimated all the forests for lumber and to provide land for agriculture. It is a resource that they themselves destroyed . Big part of the reason for exploring other continents.When they arrived on this continent they essentially found the "mother load" as far as timber goes. Hopefully we have learned from history and will keep making that mistake.