Turning with Meaning

[Ross Berning]

This weekend I was in the driveway getting some plywood out of my truck when a car on the street pulls across the driveway and stops. We’re near town enough to get traffic and the occasional car turning around, but this was unusual. The passenger rolls down the window and I warily approached close enough to talk loudly.

The man in the passenger seat introduces himself- he grew up and then lived in the house as an adult for many years, before it was completely remodeled. He was showing his girlfriend where he grew up. Clearly he was very sentimental about the place, saying if he wins the lottery he wants to buy it back.

We chatted a few minutes about the house then he asks about the hickory tree in the back yard. It was a giant shag bark that shaded the house for many years. He shared how it survived a tornado growing up. I shared it survived a tornado ten years ago, but was damaged by a storm when it was heavy with nuts. Then an overeager arborist cut it down and bucked it up while I was at a funeral, rather than trim it or at least leave the trunk to be sawed as discussed.

We both loved that tree. That tree got me into turning. I thought at least I could make something of what was left. Among a busy life with small children it took a couple of years to build the skill and tools but eventually I salvaged some small bowls from the deteriorating remnants. I told him ‘I have something for you’ and picked one of the bowls off the shelf and gave it to him so he could have a part of it too. He was very touched.

His girlfriend asked who is Colin, referring to a wooden sign on the shop wall. I shared it was the sign I made for my son’s grave to stand in for the permanent marker delayed by the pandemic. How we had gotten our offer accepted for the house the same day we got his diagnosis and how the house was just what he had needed.

We chatted a bit more about the house, they asked to walk around the yard, and eventually departed. We said goodbye, having clearly connected about a place and the special memories it had for each of us. That connection happened because of a tree and the desire to make more than a nice object but something that means a little more.

 

[Phil Hamel]

Nice story. Sorry for the loss of your son!

 

[Michael Anderson]

Touching story. Thank you for sharing. It’s a special thing to connect so deeply with a stranger.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Wow Ross, what a poignant story! We’ve had a similar experience with long ago now older adult child who grew up in our house slowly driving by. We invited them in and heard all about history that we knew nothing about. We’ve been in the house 40 years. House was built in 1932. Fortunately our only losses in the house have been a few four legged pets. My condolences to you on the loss of your son.

 

[Aaron Harris]

Thanks for sharing your heartfelt story, and as a father of two sons, I'm sorry for your loss.

If you're okay with others sharing similar meaningful turnings, when I was still a department head of a huge high school English department, there was a young woman who was one of the greatest teachers in my department, as well as a dear friend of mine; I mean she was almost like a daughter to me. We even co-created and sponsored the Dad-Rock club my last year of teaching; as she was such a huge groupie (in a totally innocent fan way) of all the 80's hair bands still touring, most of them knew her, so she was able to share numerous pics of her with her different favorite bands. But she struggled mightily with some personal and family issues. In response to her struggles, I turned her a beautiful small cedar bowl with no finish, wrote her a heartfelt encouraging note, and left it on her desk one day.

A bit later, we lost her to Hurricane Helene when a huge tree fell into her bedroom that morning. I have been turning wood from that hateful storm ever since trying to make sense of things, and to bring some beauty out of pain (which is so often its genesis). I never found out what became of that bowl, but I'm glad I shared something meaningful with her while I still could. You just never know. I always enjoy sharing a heartfelt piece with someone special just because, as I'm sure many of you do too.

 

[Darryn Achall]

My experience with visiting my childhood home was much different. Went by last summer after about 30 years away from the tiny town in the middle of nowhere. The yard and landscaping had been dug up and redone. What I remember as a beautiful strong apricot tree was old and rotten. House had been remodeled and a new porch added. It was painted yellow instead of white now. The entire property did not appear anything like what memories I had. The truckstop down the road that I worked at as a teenager had been completely removed and was a field of grass. I realized that the whole area had moved on to something new and what used to be there only existed in my head. For some reason this was comforting and made me appreciate even more where I'm at now. Today is a good day and it's what we all have.

 

[John Chalikian]

Ross, What a kind gesture to do for a stranger. I am sorry for your loss of your son.

 

[Brian Gustin]

I live in my childhood home... but yeah, great story, I have had a couple requests to make something out of a special tree or 35 year old maple branch (that was stored in barn rafters) a time or two

 

[Mark Haveman]

Beautiful memory

 

[Phil Hamel]

I'm lucky that my child hood home is only 2 miles away and my youngest brother purchased it from my parents. Pretty much still looks the same. I've made a bunch of stuff for people using wood from their own property.

 

[John K Jordan]

After we kids grew up and moved away, my parents sold our childhood home on the Monongahela river in PA to a coal company. I've been there and visited the coal piles!

It was actually a wonderful thing for my parents - getting up in years they could no longer keep up with the wood house (used to be the lockmaster's house long ago), maintenance, painting, the occasional flooding. They had found a perfect smaller low-maintenance single-story stone house quite close to the church were my dad was pastor but there were multiple buyers interested and my parents didn't have the money.

While they were sitting at the table talking and meditating on the the situation a man from the coal company knocked on the door - "We've bought the property on either side of you and wondered if you were possibly interested in selling this house." I think my dad could have gotten nearly any amount but he just stated the exact amount needed to buy the other house. The guy wrote out a check and they moved soon after. I have a lot of memories of growing up there but seeing them in a better home in their later years was more than wonderful!

JKJ

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

Lots of emotions reading that.

 

[Webb Willmott]

Very touching. It also would be a great script for a movie.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Very touching stories.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Just a few weeks ago, I needed copies of 4 imaging files (mri, ct, myelogram, x-rays) to load them to a server for another medical opinion. The hospital is local to me, but part of a very large organization. I had some of the images done at one of their larger hospitals and had initially called them about a copy. They could do it, and it would be ~$6. When asked they said the local hospital should be able to do it, which would save me a 2 hr round trip drive.

Many times when working with large organizations you get treated nonchalantly by the staff. Susan, in the medical records area, was very nice, pleasant, quick, and helpful, and they didn’t charge. I got the disc and started to load the files, and found all of the 973 files for all 4 tests were in one file, and I needed them separated.

I called Susan and explained my dilemma. Rather than shirking me off ( as I’ve experienced in with large organizations especially), she said she couldn’t think of how to ID the files, but would talk with the Dir of records and find a way to do it. It occurred to me that putting each image file set on a separate disc would solve my issue. The next day I called Susan, made my suggestion, and she eagerly agreed to make the discs, calling me 1/2hr later to tell me they were done.

It was clear Susan was a very nice person with a big heart, doing whatever she could to meet my needs, and I wanted to reward that type of behavior, as it tends to be uncommon today. I had some ~13” NE heart bowls from walnut sitting in my “finished” turning stuff.

When I went to pick the discs up, I had the receptionist ask that Susan bring them. Susan’s face just lit up when I presented the bowl to her, and she said she just loves such work, and continued to comment on the bowl. It’s great to truly surprise someone and make their day.

 

[Tim Pollock]

Wonderful stories guys, thanks for sharing. I've had the opportunity to turn a few pieces for folks from trees that were lost on their property and it's a great feeling to be able to gift someone something with so much meaning. Actually the 18" walnut bowl in my profile photo was a gift for my neighbors from a tree they had to have taken down.

 

[Lowell Fuher]

Wonderful story. Lives are brought together in many beautiful ways, and this is another heart-warming example. Thank you for sharing.

I have two beautiful bowls on my counter I finished this week for two different people who have had tree losses last year, where I was able to retrieve the wood for creative work. A decorative Cherry and an old Ash tree. I love giving back memories.

 

[Scott Luallin]

Thank you for starting this post - I love your story, I even had my wife read it. For me, I want more experiences like this for myself in this hobby.

Since we all seem to be sharing...

A neighbor who walks his dog by my house daily stopped and chatted me up. He has a piece of black walnut (I think?) that he's been carrying around with him for 50+ years. Him, his father, and his brother cut the tree down decades ago. This gentleman has been carrying this chunk around for decades. To old and afraid of lathes, he's never done anything with it. He asked me if I would.

I have been turning 8 months. I told him that. I still ruin stuff. But I also make some really NICE stuff. He understood - "if it blows up, it blows up. I just want to see if something good could come from it."

Here is the piece:



Pretty thin. Rot at your 2 o'clock. Most of the tip at 5 o'clock is too thin to turn. I decided to make a bowl from the 9 o'clock section, and see what I could do with the middle part.

9 o'clock bowl in progress... I kept it simple, on the beefy side. Utilitarian. Not so elegant. I wanted something that his grandkids and THEIR grandkids can use and drop and dent for generations. I hope that in a hundred years it has some nice family patina. I still have some really fine sanding left, and this picture does not do the wood justice. as it is dusty and has no finish But with mineral spirits, it's almost... holographic? Just an amazing chunk of wood with a ton of character:




I decide to try to salvage as much of the middle section as possible. What I liked: Bark that remained on the piece for 50+ years. Chainsaw marks from Dad. The rot, that after I turned away some bark, has a really cool hidden branch/bark inclusion, which I wanted to keep. So, I decided to make a tri-wing bowl to try to keep all of these features.

Hear me out. I am NOT a fan of this form. I would never make a tri-wing bowl for myself. But I figured, I can start here, and the next time he walks by, I can bounce it off him. If he is also not on board, I will turn it into a bowl, and epoxy the void that will be in the side of the bowl. So this piece is on HOLD until I get feedback.

Bottom of the bowl, with bark. The outside of that rot is directly at 9 o'clock.



Here is the top of the bowl. Up front, you can see the unnatural edge from the chainsaw kerf, which I lightly sanded and kept to preserve the pirces history:




It has been fun to have a little more "on the line" with this piece, and to think about preserving someone's history. I am still a hack, but I hope he appreciates what I feel like is some reasonable thoughtfulness and respect for his family memory.

--Scott

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Many homes burned this year in Altadena, California. My son-in-law gave me a burned piece of pine from a woman’s yard. I turned this bowl for her. She was quite touched when she received it. It’s now one of her few mementoes. It almost looks like flames.

 

[Lowell Fuher]

Here's the ash bowl that I gave yesterday to my neighbor, sorry for the crappy pictures (not staged), but he and his wife were thrilled! They wanted to know how I kept the shape with the bark on the bowl. Took a while to explain. The finish is Varnish - wanted to keep/glue the bark on. The grain is beautiful, I knew it would be since there were several small limbs coming out of the back side of the piece. Very carefully turned.
Happy Trails. Lowell