American Red Oak

everybody thinks they know oak everyone has a relationship an emotional and a physical relationship with oak what most people don't really take into account is there are many different kinds of oak so we sought to examine what it is that we as craftsmen value in the wood we use what are the characteristics that we'd like working with one of the characteristics that look good one of the characteristics that perform well I asked everybody in the workshop to use their collective experience but leave behind any prejudice they may have about the different species of oak or any preconceptions start with an open mind worked in open mind and let's seek to evaluate whether as craftsmen this is a good wood for us to use we all as craftsmen as woodworkers we really respond to our material every piece of wood is so different it demands a very individual response from the craftsman hand and eye what was exciting in this week was that each of those individual craftsmen who worked on the project got the chance to conduct their own experiments report their own experiments evaluate their own experiments and then collectively pull them and see what our collective wisdom came up with [Music] [Music] [Music] I've been surprised by what material does offer because I think my own preconceptions have been exposed somewhat to actually not be true I quietly always regarded it as something of a second-rate oak and when I look at the analysis and the collective feeling amongst the craftsmen they're not feeling a second rate so they've come into it fresh they've come into it enthusiastic and they're gonna go away and look forward to making things out of it and I think that surprised me I think I've exposed my own prejudice I wonder what we'll do with it next the end of the experiment Creek is only the beginning of the journey of making things out of it so I suppose the real excitement comes with actually what we're gonna make and how we use the information that we've learned to best advantage in what we will make in the future how we use those properties that we've discovered and how they will inform the designs or they'll inform the making techniques although inform the finished pieces out of the material

Channel: americanhardwood org

Views: 11,548

Keywords: american red oak, red oak, oak, sustainability, american hardwood, woodcraft, architecture, design

Id: WBP8sTtX9GA

Length: 4min 7sec (247 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2019