Wood you believe it?

by Gary Goren

Many, many, many years ago, since winning a school wood shop prize for a foot stool, I have enjoyed working with wood. I love the visual grain patterns, the smell of saw dust and the feel of a finished project.

Having done my apprenticeship on the lathe making cups, candlesticks, bowls, napkin rings, etc., I started turning “discs” in the late 1980s. They have progressed from 8″ to the present 27″ ones currently on display.

In 2003 I started constructing intricately designed framed installations with similar trompe l’oeil effects as my discs.

The large discs are completed in approximately 150 hours; the hanging installations take upwards of 250 hours to finish.

The discs were turned on a King-Seeley 9″ lathe, built in the mid 1930s, inherited from my mother-in-law, Catherine Webb, but that is another story.

The woods used in the pieces range from Ash to Zebra, and may include teak, mahogany, rosewood, oak, walnut, mesquite, palo blanco, ebony, and more. Of course, not all of the preceding are in each piece.

All of my wood work is with solid wood, ending up unstained and not thicker than approximately 3⁄8 inch. They are finished with either boiled linseed oil or wax or both.

Many of my meticulously crafted pieces are in private collections in San Francisco, California; Los Angeles, California; Spokane, Washington; Nixa, Missouri; and Tempe, Arizona.