A stick and a slab

wireme · Jul 14, 2013

Anyone else like sticks? I am worse than my dog, always carrying sticks home. Here's one, a

tanuki stick. To tell the truth I'm not sure I ever will try to create tanukis but still when I come across a good tanuki stick I usually bring it home. I love the look of old weathered wood and i find that piece with nice form is pretty nice to look at all by itself.
Mp

wireme · Jul 14, 2013

When I was cutting the base flat for the above stick I wound up with a few nice slab pieces. This one has only had a quick pass over a belt sander and one coat of linseed oil. Finer sanding and more oiling would improve the finish and contrast quite a lot I'm sure. I think I will make some more slabs from this kind of wood, I like the weathered edge combined with the great grain and colour of this stuff. Also it smell strongly of hamsters.
Can anyone share their thought re: ideal thicknesses of display slabs?
Mp

0soyoung · Jul 14, 2013

That stick is a lovely dancer.

You must have a wealth of beautiful sticks if you are seriously thinking of using it for a tanuki.

wireme · Jul 14, 2013

0soyoung said:
That stick is a lovely dancer.

You must have a wealth of beautiful sticks if you are seriously thinking of using it for a tanuki.

Oh yes, more sticks than you can shake a stick at.

wireme · Jul 14, 2013

I just thought it might be worth mentioning that I think cool old wood like this contributes greatly to the natural beauty of the environment. I never bring sticks back from or near any public use areas. Just like any Yamadori I collect this wood is from very challenging and difficult to access terrain. Basically the only signs I see of people in these areas are of mineral exploration workers and rarely heli- dropped firefighters.

wireme · Jul 15, 2013

I had to take a couple more pics because the little rock planting got nicer today.

I just found this little stone a week ago during a whitewater kayaking trip and planted a few small wild pansies into it. Flowers already, cool. I hope it overwinters alright, once the moss and plants mature into the stone it'll just be better.
Mp

monza · Jul 15, 2013

Cool stone pot slab sticks

wireme · Aug 14, 2013

Thanks Monza, glad you think the stickpotstoneslabflowersticks are cool.
I sanded up another chunk of the juniper wood today, I like it.
Mp

daygan · Aug 14, 2013

I started reading backwards (latest post first) and was going to say that i really liked the flower in the rock, but then after reading everything I've decided that I must say those are some great "sticks" too! Makes me want to start playing around with stuff like this too. Thanks for posting them!

MrBojan9les · Aug 15, 2013

I also enjoy sticks.. dead ironwood (olneya) and native mesquite. I use them in terrariums, and have been messing around a bit grafting and using them as pots.

wireme · Aug 31, 2014

Thanks for those last couple comments that I didn't see till now.

A couple more plant on rock things to share, first one is a wild sedum and garden chives that flower purple in spring. The tall one a mix of wild plants including wild strawberry and shooting star that is super cool in spring, I had pics but lost them.

wireme · Aug 31, 2014

..............

Cadillactaste · Sep 1, 2014

Pretty cool sticks and rocks you have there. This tanukis is new to me...had to google it. Found it quite interesting. Also read briefly it's materials are not allowed in reputable bonsai shows. But...very interesting.

Something to research over these months where I have nothing to do. Lol (when the yard and trees need less care)

GrimLore · Sep 1, 2014

Nice work! This past Saturday I had a long conversation with Marty(armetisius) on the subject and covered a variety of plants/bushes/trees we may work on next season. The problem here is getting decent driftwood for me but I feel the real challenge is keeping them watered and maintained. Planned correctly they still need a lot of TLC. Thank you for sharing yours

Grimmy

edprocoat · Sep 1, 2014

A stick ? A long thin piece of wood generally fairly useless, unless you need to scratch your back or heat a marshmellow.

Definition of stick (n)

Bing Dictionary
stick
[ stik ]

1.thin branch: a thin branch or shoot cut or broken from a tree
2.piece of wood used for fuel: a piece of wood used as fuel or as construction material
3.specially shaped piece of wood: a long often cylindrical piece of wood or other material used for a particular purpose

What you have looks more like a piece of deadwood, some call them a snag while others call it driftwood ...

ed

Skinnygoomba · Sep 1, 2014

wireme said:
When I was cutting the base flat for the above stick I wound up with a few nice slab pieces. This one has only had a quick pass over a belt sander and one coat of linseed oil. Finer sanding and more oiling would improve the finish and contrast quite a lot I'm sure. I think I will make some more slabs from this kind of wood, I like the weathered edge combined with the great grain and colour of this stuff. Also it smell strongly of hamsters.
Can anyone share their thought re: ideal thicknesses of display slabs?
MpView attachment 38501 View attachment 38502 View attachment 38503

I would want a slab to be at 8/4, so after milling it would be down to 1.75 or 1.5".

wireme · Sep 1, 2014

edprocoat said:
A stick ? A long thin piece of wood generally fairly useless, unless you need to scratch your back or heat a marshmellow.

Definition of stick (n)

Bing Dictionary
stick
[ stik ]

1.thin branch: a thin branch or shoot cut or broken from a tree
2.piece of wood used for fuel: a piece of wood used as fuel or as construction material
3.specially shaped piece of wood: a long often cylindrical piece of wood or other material used for a particular purpose

What you have looks more like a piece of deadwood, some call them a snag while others call it driftwood ...

ed

What!?? My sticks are not sticks? Huh, what's next, rockplant thingys turn out to be kusamono?

edprocoat · Sep 1, 2014

wireme said:
What!?? My sticks are not sticks? Huh, what's next, rockplant thingys turn out to be kusamono?

This tickled me ! Pretty soon you'll have to start calling all them trees in little pots some fancy oriental name too ! ...

Whats a redneck to do ?

ed

wireme · Sep 1, 2014

GrimLore said:
Nice work! This past Saturday I had a long conversation with Marty(armetisius) on the subject and covered a variety of plants/bushes/trees we may work on next season. The problem here is getting decent driftwood for me but I feel the real challenge is keeping them watered and maintained. Planned correctly they still need a lot of TLC. Thank you for sharing yours

Grimmy

If you need some wood I could pick up a stick for you one day. Shipping the things is a bit of a bugger though, I made a trade a while back, sticks for pots we kind of wound up paying more for shipping than the item values.

As far as maintaining the little plants on rocks they just get incidentally watered along with the trees if they required special care they would not be alive today!

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