Do wood grain and figure inspire you?
You can generally divide woodworkers into two categories: one group is inspired by the grain of the wood and allows that to drive their designs; the other group designs first, then selects the wood to suit. I don’t think either group is right or wrong. Both approaches can yield beautiful furniture and woodwork that will be cherished by generations. Having said that, I do much prefer the second approach; starting with the design, then finding the right materials for the piece. More often than not, the vast majority of the wood I use has fairly straight grain, in hopes the wood doesn’t detract from the overall design.
Chose a side
I think makers on both sides are proud to be a part of their group. My experience tells me they often have a fairly strong preference for their side, too. I know I do. To me, the design of a piece of furniture is paramount. Wood, no matter how beautiful and awe-inspiring, should be secondary to the design. In fact, even if you built the exact same design with a completely different material, like metal or plastic, that was uniform in colour, figure and grain, you would still end up with a good-looking piece of furniture.
Canadian Quotes column
It was one of our first “Canadian Quotes” feature artists, Reed Hansuld, who said, “I like looking at incredible boards as much as the next guy, but all too often it seems figured wood is used as a crutch, kind of like a comedian that swears.” I’d have to agree with Reed’s opinion.
Speaking of our regular “Canadian Quotes” column, which appears in our printed magazines, one of my favourite questions I ask makers is, “Do you prefer figured wood or straight grain?” I’d have to go back over 12 years of columns to get a more exact number, but I’d guess the answers are about 50/50. You can read the column on Hansuld here.
Don't take the easy way out
I think some makers feel that if you include a beautifully figured piece of wood in a piece of furniture, the design is well on its way to being timeless, gorgeous and impressive. To me, that’s generally taking the easy way out. It’s true that it’s possible to make a beautiful piece of furniture that includes figured wood. Some of the nicest pieces I’ve ever seen include figured wood, but all too often, I’ve seen poorly designed pieces dressed up in figured wood. To me, that’s nature doing all the design work and the maker not adding much of anything to the piece.
To be clear, if you have no design sense, and just want to make a piece of furniture with some figured wood in it, I’m very much in support of this approach. Not everyone can hit a home run when designing each piece they make; I know I can’t, that’s for sure. I’m also not putting down anyone who uses figured wood in their work. I can understand how figured wood is such a draw, as Mother Nature provides us with some truly stunning materials to work with. I just think if the figured wood were removed from a design, and replaced with a piece of straight-grained wood, the piece should still look pleasing to the eye. This is the true test of the design of a piece of furniture that includes figured wood.
Working with the grain, for a change
I’m currently in the shop, making a bunch of serving boards, bowls and other miscellaneous food-related objects that will hopefully be sold and wrapped as Christmas presents in a month’s time. I’m just getting creative as I work, and not following any plans. Most of the pieces have simple grain that allows the overall shape of the piece, coupled with some texture or pyrography, to be the focal point. For some of the serving platters I’ve made I’ve actually ripped flat cut wood into narrow strips, rotated them 90° and glued them back together to leave me with surfaces with much straighter grain. This allows the details to shine through and the grain to take a backseat.
In one of the pieces, I noticed the grain was curving outwards at one end. Rather than ignore it (as I often do), or cut it into strips to completely remove the curvy grain, I decided to lean into it and accentuate the grain by shaping one edge of the serving board parallel to the grain lines. I then added three recessed, textured areas to house nuts, olives or other small food items, each with one edge shaped to match the grain. I felt like I was going down a whole new path, and maybe even growing as a maker. There was no figured grain in this piece of wood, but I was paying keen attention to the grain, nonetheless. I wish the board had been a bit wider so I could have included a bit more outward swoop to the wider end, further accentuating the play of grain and shape, but such is life.
Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?! Having said that, none of the boards I’m working with have anything resembling figured grain, so I’m not pushing outside of my boundaries too far.
Are you strongly in one of these two camps? Or maybe you straddle the middle ground? Let me know in the comments section.
Inspired By the Grain
This serving board took me in a different direction than usual. The far edge is shaped so it runs parallel with the grain lines. You'll notice the edge near the upper corner of this photo runs in towards the grain lines. If this board were wider, I would have shaped the edge wider towards this end.
Rob is a studio furniture maker and the editor at Canadian Woodworking & Home Improvement. Instagram at @RobBrownTeaches
