Plank's Constant

Each flitch, each board, each
plank can have only one ideal use.

The woodworker, applying a
thousand skills, must find that
ideal use and then shape
the wood to realize
its true potential.
George Nakashima

A friend brought over his mill one day and we sliced up several of the trunks into boards. I had never done it before; it goes by pretty quick, but there’s a lot that’s happening during the process. I had cut the ends fresh so I could read the grains, but as we opened the logs with cuts, I saw how we chose to cut affected what grain patterns were produced on the planks.

At the time, I didn’t understand how the grains were running, but as I’ve studied, and look back at what boards were produced, and how they were used for various projects, I see so much opportunity. I’ve walked these trees for years, I know how they grew, when they grew well, what stresses were placed on them, and that becomes what the tree offers and what the wood can become. I understand how the boards were cut reflected how the tree grows, whether it’s common plain-sawn, the stable rift-sawn, or the appealing quarter-sawn, determines what board is made, and what can be made from those boards.

I’m so glad to be taking this journey from where the tree grew, to the final product that is made. It’s a lot of steps and it’s widely inefficient, but it brings depth to what I’m doing and all the things to learn. Here I have the mostly 4/4 plain-sawn boards (hey, did I know what I was doing?) drying with a little weight on top and some spacers. These boards were ready within 6 months with little warping to them. There was some softness (from poor storage) and twists (from the violent winds), but it turned into plenty of usable wood.

When titling this post, I thought about Planck’s constant, about Quantum Mechanics, about how something has infinite possibilities until one is realized. I reflected back on how my mine opened and wondered, “what is the purpose of these boards”, “what would be their best use?” Then, I think about my limited skills, and realize, well, there goes infinite possibilities, let’s talk about a few different options! It pushes me to understand the wood, to build my skills, to be with fellow makers, to understand what can be.