Why Do I Bother?

Well I am beginning to get back on my feet again after open heart surgery. They were pretty invasive this time seeing that I had no options. I would like to sometime tell about what Transmyocardial Revascularization is. All I really know for sure is that they punched 30 holes in the front of my heart. They think this will encourage the growth of a new capilary system to feed that part of my heart that is blood starved.

I’m walking on my hind legs again. I got approval to work in my shop again and to drive my car. What else could possibly matter? I finished my first work “P.S.” (post surgery) and I am sending along a picture to share.

There has been some other exciting news on the career front. Last week I attended a small exhibition for the local city club of a nearby city. There were several artist represented and lots of beautiful works. I had no idea how it would be accepted. At the end of a long and too full agenda the city club members were offered an opportunity to look at the exhibitor’s stuff.

I was approached, not by a city club member, but by a gallery owner. He came to my table and inquired… did you do all this work. I averred that I had. He asked “Why isn’t it my gallery?” I agreed to visit his gallery and discuss the fit.

John Hawk is a prominent artist in his own right and is in fact an important Native American artist. I was impressed that a man of his stature would include my work in his gallery. On Friday I took my work to his store. I took just three pieces. I took two of my segmented pots that have significant indian motifs and one simple pot that I have not exhibited anywhere thinking that it was too plain. I went back on Saturday to sit as long as I could on the cities “Art Walk” day. All of the galleries were open and featuring special artists. Within thirty minutes of opening guess what sold. It was that simple pot and at a price I could not have estimated. Go figure.

I am feeling anxious to have my sons working with me in my shop again. There are both so busy with there own active lives but some how it seems important to pass on what I know before it is too late.

I haven’t got my pots on the website yet but will be doing so in the next few days. Check it out at www.heirloompens.com

This one is hard maple and jatoba wood with two spirals made of the jatoba. It is the tallest I have made so far at 10 1/2 inches and 7 inches diameter. It pushed the limits of my small lathe but it made me feel good to be able to work again after surgery.

Richard Benham
Heirloom Woodworking
check out my website at
http://www.heirloompens.com

Technorati Tags: open heart surgery, heart, shop, surgery, exhibition, exhibitor, gallery, John Hawk, Native American, pot, Art, artist, lathe, Woodworking, wood working

Tags: Dad's Shop, Features by Jeffrey
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Here is dad’s latest contribution to my blog:

Well, here it is, Saturday night at 10:15. I had many goals this week and accomplished so few. I wanted my shop to be clean before I went into the hospital on Monday. I don’t think that is going to happen. I have a pot on the lathe that is absorbing my fascination. It wants to be something I am not sure I am prepared to let it be.

It seems to want to be a mixed medium pot. It seemed to beg me today to get some very fine copper wire to use in completing the project. I, weakly, ordered the materials.

I did complete a vessel, though, that speaks to me when I hold it in my hands. Wood has a way of doing that if you listen closely. It speaks words of comfort to me. It is so smooth that it feels soft. It fits in the hands so well and would be seen as beautiful even by a person without sight.

Am I bragging? I don’t think so. I think I am just reporting the truth that can only be found in wood. Wood is alive I think. It loves the tender use of sharp chisels and the prudent use of sandpaper and proper finishes. It rewards me when I put forth the co-effort that only a team can perform.

I am feeling very philosophical today. I am a little frightened about entering the hospital on Monday. I don’t think I like having this much time to think about my impending surgery on Tuesday. The pain is too much though and the surgery gives me some hope of relief.

I wonder what the surgeon feels when he holds my heart in his hands. I wonder if he feels the same response that wood gives me when I master it.

It will be some weeks before I am able to return to my shop for any serious work. I hope to finish the turning of this mixed medium tyrant on the lathe right now. It will be tomorrow before I can get to it.

There is a quote I have used often when doing therapy with the youth I served. It is “Wherever you are, be there.” When you are inside the prison walls don’t imagine yourself outside the walls because you waste the gift that today has for you. I am struggling with being where I am as opposed to where I would rather be.

Enjoy looking at my new pot. Imagine holding it and feeling it in your hands. It loves to be held and caressed. So do I.

Since my shop is not cleaned up I guess I have to come back from the hospital and do it, right? If I have more work to do I have to come back to do it, right? I will write again soon. I have several pots available to good homes where caressing is encouraged.

Richard Benham
Heirloom Woodworking
check out my website at
http://www.heirloompens.com

Technorati Tags: shop, hospital, lathe, Wood, chisel, sandpaper, finish, frightened, surgeon, pot, Heirloom Woodworking

Tags: Dad's Shop, Family, Features, Health by Jeffrey
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Here’s dad’s latest contribution to my blog. To visit his site go to www.heirloompens.com.

“Today was a productive day for me. I finished another segmented vessel. It turned out to be quite beautiful if I do say so myself. It is made with myrtle wood that my sister brought back from a recent trip to the Oregon coast and with Macassar Ebony and Honduras Mahogany. The top rim and the base are made from one piece of Ebony Gaboon. It is such a satisfying experience to piece it all together and turn it into something like this. I love to hold it in my hands and roll it about. Feeling the texture of the wood and the smoothness of the finish seems to give life to the piece and to the builder.

“It was a day of mixed blessings. I thought all day how good it would be to have one or both of my sons with me in the shop. Over the past few months both of them have built projects while I tried to show them what I know about the craft. It seems important to me these days to leave something with them for their pleasure and joy.

“My father was not a patient teacher. He expected his three sons to somehow pick up the skills of woodworking genetically. He seldom shared a secret of skill or a technique to help in the process. He was quite harsh in his criticism of our efforts. All three of us (my brothers and I) set up woodworking shops after dad’s death. There was never anything spoken about the meaning of this but somehow I know that avoiding criticism was a motivator in this.

“Knowing that my sons want to learn these skills blesses me. Neither of them will make a living at the trade. I don’t make a living at it anymore. In graduate school I used my skills to support my family but other than that it has been a hobby and a passion.

“Sharing that passion with my sons is something I would love to do. They both have such busy lives that it is difficult to fit it in.

“Today I learned that my health is worse than I thought. End stage coronary artery disease sounds so much more final than simply needing a heart transplant to live. The time seems much more precious. I debated today how to divide my tools with my sons. In their hearts they both want the skills and they will undoubtedly pursue them with the same passion of their father and mine.

“Watching them stage by stage in their projects recently assured me that the skill will live on to another generation. As each of them stepped back from their projects and admired the progress I could see their souls smiling. That is where woodworking really resides you know…in the soul of a man or woman. It is too deep to just be hands and fingers and tools and wood.

“I trust my sons will meet me in the shop again soon. I would be happy for it to become a family ritual and a spiritual communion.”

Richard

Technorati Tags: dad, segmented vessel, myrtle wood, Ebony, Mahogany, Ebony Gaboon, wood, sons, father, woodworking, coronary artery disease, communion

Tags: Dad's Shop, Family, Features, Health by Jeffrey
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I’ve added a new semi-regular feature to my site. I got a few comments and questions about Dad’s work and I have invited him to contribute an article or two when he has time. If you find his words interesting, leave him a comment here … or better yet, visit his site to support his habit at www.heirloompens.com. Here’s his first contribution:

"When I was about 8 or 10 years old my dad would take me with him to his shop in the evening when Mom wasn’t home to watch me. I don’t think dad much liked the experience but it kept me from stealing cars at night. I would watch over his shoulder as he turned wood on his lathe. Sometimes it was things he made for fun and other times it was something he needed for his finish carpentry business.

He often made pool cues on his lathe. Hand turned cues are a rare commodity anymore if you can find them at all. He had such skills that he could turn a cue straight and true every time. In those days, as now, cues had two colors of wood. The tip end was made of Maple and the butt end was made of a darker wood like Walnut. He was able to join the wood and turn it so close to perfect that all of the points in the joinery were even. He would show me and brag. He liked approval. So do I.

I have started to focus on bowl making over the past few months. Recently I have started working on segmented bowls and pots. These are a great challenge but, if done well, they result in great satisfaction. Over the next few weeks I will try to describe the process of making a segmented bowl or vessel. Such vessels rarely have any practical use except perhaps for sealing pre-adolescent boys in until they turn 24. That’s a whole different story, forget I said it.

Every vessel begins with a drawing. You must know before you begin what you want to finish with. One of the benefits of segmented turning is economy of wood. One of the disadvantages is the amount of time consumed cutting each segment.

A segmented bowl is built in layers or rows. A row can be made up of any number of segments. The vessels I have made have had anywhere from 4 segments to 28 segments per row. The size of the segment is determined by the diameter of the vessel at that particular point and must take into account the size of the rows above and below. This is why a detailed drawing is so important. Jeff was kind enough to let me write an occasional article about wood turning and over the next few weeks I will try to provide explanation and pictures of the process.

Thank you for reading this far. I appreciate your attention and interest. If you have questions feel free to email me at rbenham@heirloompens.com If you haven’t read this far I guess this paragraph is wasted. If you didn’t read this far, tell me where you quit reading if you will. Richard"

Tags: Announcements, Dad's Shop, Features by Potman
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Dad sent me these pictures of his latest creations. I wanted to share them with you because they are so incredible. Over the years I have really enjoyed learning from dad in his wood shop. I would like to think that I do pretty well myself, but looking at these pots I see how much I still have to learn.

If you would like to see some of dad’s other work and maybe support his habit a bit, go to his web site at www.heirloompens.com.

Here’s the email dad sent me:

Here is the most recent pot and then the one I made after that. The bigger one is made of Caauri from New Zealand, Padauk, the red stuff that you made your entertainment center out of and Peruvian Walnut which is dark brown and smooth as chocolate.

The smaller one is made of Ambrosia Maple. This wood is so named becase of the Ambrosia beetle which ruins the wood but somehow makes it more beautiful in the process. The center feature band is bloodwood and maple and the top and bottom are made of pink ivory.

Hope you like em’.

I am planning to be juried for inclusion in the Real Mother Goose as an exhibitor/seller.

Dad

Richard Benham
Heirloom Woodworking
check out my website at
http://www.heirloompens.com

Tags: Dad's Shop, Family, Features by Jeffrey
3 Comments »