18 Nov - John Adamson on Found Wood carving
John Adamson gave us all food for thought with a talk entitled, "Found Wood". He defined this as meaning wood in its natural state, warts and all, rather than machined timber. Suitable material can be found in any woodland area, and off-cut pieces, where there has been tree-surgery, often provide great opportunities. Such pieces need to be studied carefully, sometimes over a period, to ensure that extraneous features, such as knots, forks, burrs, bark, or grain texture are incorporated in the design, rather than being removed. The type of finish applied to this type of work must match the quality of the wood, so a tooled finish is usually preferable to high gloss, sand-papered effect. John showed us a wide selection of his own pieces, to demonstrate this principle, and even better, he brought along a stock of found wood, so that members could choose a piece to get started. All-in all, a very interesting alternative approach!"
Richard Colbran
