Woodworking - Part I

RAVENWOOD STUDIOS

WOODWORKING

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I have been ruminating for a few months about sharing some of the woodwork I have created during the last 20 years. A couple of the folks who post on Knowledge is Power (http://www.sondrak.com/) have convinced me that it is time. My shop was called Ravenwood Studios. It provided a living for me and a creative outlet for the talents given me by a gracious God.

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(1) This Russian White Oak Dry Sink is as good a place to begin as any. While researching reclaimed Chestnut timbers, I found a company in Ohio who had purchased a whole warehouse of white oak in St. Petersburg, Russia. It had been locked up since before the 1917 revolution. I bought enough to run wainscoting, doors, casings, moldings, base and trim for a remodel job on Belvedere Island in San Francisco Bay. This "dry sink'' was an additional piece added by the designer to be used as a bathroom vanity.

It is 42'"wide X 24"deep X 36" high with full mortice and tenon joinery throughout. The doors are flush "tombstone" raised panel doors. A style that is usually reserved for tall clocks and fine pedestal desks. The carving is reminiscent of Slavic/Russian folk carving which was introduced to the Santa Fe/Taos artisans by the great Russian artist and founding member of the Taos Artist Society, Nicolai Fechin.

It was shipped unfinished and installed and site finished after the copper dry sink had been manufactured, patinated and installed. Sadly, I was never given pictures of the finished product.

(2) Provincial French Cherry six drawer COD (chest of drawers)

This replica of a french country chest is 65" wide X 26" deep X 36 " high. It is constructed using traditional joinery techniques. All the flat surfaces have been hand planed and distressed. The slipper feet, shell carving, center arch and moldings are all hand cut using traditional tools. The drawer fronts are hand raised and dovetailed to the pine interior. The piece was finished using caustic soda solution to oxidize the wood. Then a series of glazing stains were applied to approximate the aging process. Finally, several layers of shellac based polish were applied by hand and burnished with a wax top coat.

(3) Pine Side Tables in the Portugese style

These cabriolet legged tables were made as bedside tables. Each one is 24 " wide X 18" deep X 32" high. As with all my pieces, I used traditional construction techiques. In this case the sides, back and fronts were attached to the hand shaped legs by means of double mortice and tenon joints, pinned with wooden trunions to add to strength. The tops frame and panel with solid pine panels. The frames are molded to replicate a Pembroke game table. Oil stains and shellac polish were used as a base finish with a dark pine wax burnished in to replicate the aging process.

COLORADO'S "54"

Longs Peak's East Face

FOURTEEN THOUSAND FEET HIGH

Colorado's Rocky Mountain spine boasts 54 peaks which rise above 14 thousand feet in altitude.

The most well known is Pikes Peak, just west of Colorado Springs. It is one of two "14'ers" that have seasonal roadways to their summit and are open to the public.

However, when it comes to striking beauty and photo recognition, Longs Peak is in the top two or three. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longs_Peak)

Longs Peak and Mt. Meeker from the "Swiss Chalet", Highway 7

The Longs "massif" is made up of two major peaks. The unusual box top, diamond faced Longs Peak (14,259 ft.) and the traditional shape of Mt Meeker (13,865 ft.)

Meeker is actually more prominent, given its broad south-eastern facing face:

Mt. Meeker from Highway 7 at the Allenspark turnoff

"Chapel on the Rock", Camp St. Malo, highway 7 at the base of Mt.Meeker

Every year, regardless of season, technical climbers attempt to climb the "diamond face" on Longs Peak. Just getting to the base of the east face requires a two to three hour hike.Longs Peak, East "Diamond Face" in winter

Its not for the inexperienced climber. Each year, there is at least one death on Longs. Once a climber rises above tree line, about 12,000 ft altitude, there is nothing to protect him/her from the raging winds. Snow squalls or tumbling cloud banks can obsure the routes at any season. It is proposition that reqires detailed planning.

As the old Colorado Mountain Club member said:

"Above 12,000 feet, there are only two seasons - Winter and August."

Sunrise ~ Sunset

January

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Woke up this morning and this sunrise greeted me:

We ate a light breakfast of oats'an'eggs, put Nate-dog in his yard, fed and watered the felines, filled Caleb, the road warrior with petrochemicals and headed South for a birthday celebration.

My step-sister, Teryl turns 29 1/2 tomorrow...one...more...time!

It was a grand time. Swedes and Celts and Brits and Cornish/French all gathered for the first good feast since the death of our sister Carrie.

On the way out of Colorado Springs, I snapped a burned out pic of Pikes Peak, rising quickly to 14,500 feet altitude above the high plains.

We came home, rested, went to the grocery and returned home to this sunset:

In my wooly-pated brain, I came to one realization:

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When the cold, grey-brown earth lies dead,

Look to the skies, and lights and a beloved's smile.

There reside life's warmth and light.

The earth rests, waiting for the promised Spring.

The pulse of God reclaims the earth,

His breath and spirit calls us home.

Israeli Defense Forces

Women of the I.D.F.

The latest military skirmishes between the Hamas terrorist and the I.D.F. has sparked a renewed interest in the Israeli Military....and the women who serve in the defense of the Jewish homeland.

Irish Elk (http://mcns.blogspot.com/) posted some links featuring some of these young women. In turn, that prompted me to do some research on my own.

The following are images from that search which I post without commentary:

CHRISTMAS STAG

St. Hubert's Vision

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On the first Friday of December, 2008, my partner and I walked into the upper stretches of Sand Creek, south and west of Cheyenne Wells, CO. We spooked a large group of Plains Mule Deer. They took off west up and over a steep rise. It was our first day hunting the late rifle season for our game unit.

We had walked a couple of other long draws, closer to town and glassed along the fence lines between the cut corn and fallow fields. We had seen a few small groups, bu nothing like this! There had to have been 15/18 healthy deer bedded down in the midday warmth.

Mark and I scrabbled up the steep slope to see if the herd had stopped close in. Sometimes mule deer will do just that, giving the nimrod a second shot or at least a second look before they head out at a full run. Not today, no such luck for us. The whole herd was standing at least 5oo+ yards distant. That's a quarter mile. We hiked back to the truck and made plans to revisit the site right after first light Saturday morning.

The next morning, right at sunrise, we drove down and parked in a low swale about a mile from the fence leading to the dry creek. We crept in, keeping low and staying quiet. About 400 yards from the closest tree in the above picture is a ragged line of cottonwoods that more or less define the creek bed. If we had planned it right, the deer would be in the trees, grazing and resting, out of the direct sun.

It looked good. The wind had shifted and was blowing directly out of the west in our faces....That was a blessing.

Mark and I split about 25 yards apart and began to move forward slowly, stopping every 10 yards or so to glass the tree line. Once we reached the first large trees, I spotted the herd we had seen yesterday. I motioned to Mark and pointed. He moved ahead to a low rise of buckbrush and spotted a good size buck. I was behind a fallen cottonwood and could not find a clear shot.



The herd grew nervous. They were all standing and milling about. Mark had to take his shot. He shouldered his elderly Winchester .308 and touched off a round just before I zeroed in on a big doe. With his shot, the herd took off at a dead run and I missed my chance.


Mark did not miss. He dropped the big buck from a standing position, shooting offhand at close to 175 yards. Damn good shot!


We headed down into the dry wash and found his buck. It was a mature 4X4 that must have weighed 200/225 pounds. Mark had put his one shot low behind the shoulder right through the lungs and close to the heart, traumatizing the whole cardio/pulmonary cavity. That deer dropped like the proverbial sack of bricks.




We gutted the big boy where he lay. The bullet had gone completely through the chest cavity and was nowhere to be found. Then we drug the monster over under a friendly willow with a sturdy side branch about 8 1/2 feet off the ground and hung him on a gamble and winched him up to clean and skin him....About two hours later he was hanging fresh in the cooling breeze, field dressed and washed clean.


Big boy...Yep, Mark deserved him. He had been accumulating preference points for four years to draw this license.


We hunted all day Sunday. I did get another good shot. OH WELL!....That is why they call it hunting.

WHAT?!?!?!?...............................

OH, yes.....Who is the St. Hubert person?

St. Hubert was a 8th century French/Flemish bishop. He loved the hunt, particularly the chase of Stags. The myth reads that when his wife died, he devoted his whole life to the hunt. UNTIL....One Good Friday while he was out hunting alone with his dogs and stallion, he was confronted by a huge stag. A brilliant cross burned bright between the stag's shining antlers. He was thrown to his knees from his warhorse and the voice of Christ called him to give up his worldly life and serve God.


Hubert did just that and became a foundational leader in the structure of the Netherlands Catholic Church.

And that, beloved...is the story of the hunter turned saint. My guess is that Hubert still hunted after his conversion. The question arises:

"What prey did Hubert seek after he gave his life to God."