Over thirty years ago I cut down an apple tree that was dying because it was buried in the woods of my home in Vermont.
Shortly after that I began carving marble.
I made 3 major moves over the years and always carried that apple wood and some Brazilian rosewood with me. It ended up in Virginia and sat in a temperature controlled basement for 20 years until I made the move to CT. I figured I’d carve wood again someday and this wood was now beautifully cured.
I started carving this piece several months ago and was shocked at how dense and hard it had become. I know it takes millions of years to become petrified but it sure felt like this piece was on the way.
At lot of other things were going on as I adapted to my last move so I only worked on it occasionally until I “found” the piece last month. Lately I have been working on it fairly regularly and it is finishing slower than a piece of stone. This is one hard piece of wood.
After playing with the curves and details for a few weeks I finally reached the point where I felt it was done.
Today I sealed the piece and the color came out. WOW!
The warmth of that old piece of Apple finally came alive again.
23″x7″x8.5″
Evidently wood can be just a little harder to carve than you remembered. Still beautiful when you finish. Lilll