What Is Your Favorite Wood?

I am often asked “What is your favorite wood?” My answer is simple. Beautiful wood. Beauty can be many things, it can be color, figure, contrast. My job is to turn beautiful wood into a beautiful finished piece. To be beautiful, the piece has to have a pleasant shape, be proportional and be finished in a way that highlights the natural beauty.

This quilted maple platter is beautiful because of the quilt figure and because it has a pleasant shape. It is hard to appreciate it’s beauty in a “flat” picture. The figure is chatoyant, like a cats eye marble, it changes when you turn it in the light. The quilting looks three dimensional.

This cherry bowl has a beautiful shape. The curve looks continuous from edge to edge. The bowl appears to be floating above the table. The deep pink and orange color is highlighted by the dark bands in the growth rings.

This natural edge big leaf maple burl bowl has a balanced rim, a flowing curve and fantastic ray figure. The rays look like flames licking up the bowl.