Here we are in one of  our unproductive phases!  I'm answering the phone and most likely talking to some armature builder who is having a problem and they want me to walk them through their particular situation.  Since I have made the books and videos that encouraging them to do their own work I get to  learn how they put that encouragement  to work. I also get to learn some creative solutions to problems that I hadn't thought of!  Garrett is using his camera new zoom lens to take a close up of Kelly's outside stem.  We all know how long it takes a photographer to set up for an "art" shot!  Peter is just observing and wondering how he got stuck doing all the work!

   Here is the picture of the side of the whit oak outside stem that Garrett was taking a picture of.  the curved grain is the "ray" in the wood.  the rays are perpendicular to the growth rings of the wood.  all wood has rays but they are very pronounced in the white oak.  The rays  can make for very interesting character in the finish of the wood.