jobs you wish you didn't have to do

[lucian]

But you do them any how. I'm sure it happens in every profession or trade. You get the call, and out of  gratitude , or because of the situation you plow through it, come hell or high water.
In my case, as a life long woodworker, I have occasionally been called upon by family and friends to complete  unique pieces of work in a very short time frame. I usually only have three or four days to complete one. I actually consider it an honor to be asked to do these and try my best to personalize each one . I hope I don't have to do too many more as they always seem to take an emotional toll.
I recently completed two more and thought so many of the talented folks here would have similar experiences to share.
Here are some of my funeral urns.
This one for my good friends twin sister who just passed in a house fire last week. It was made from tiger maple which we found in her fathers barn who was a lifelong cabinet maker and shop teacher.



 
This one I just completed for my Mom who is 92 and in an Alzheimer care facility, she is still with us but this one I avoided the rush job. Made from spaulted maple which is from the same piece of wood as the urn I did for my dad 12 years ago.








This one was for my religious mother in law,she was the sweetest woman that ever lived.   rock maple overlaid with mahogany



head or tails simulator


Here is my dads, I cried like a baby the whole time but I got through it. Spaulted maple







My grandmother on my Mom's side, cherry overlaid with white pine,she was 103



6 sided dice roll generator


And this one for a close friends sister who was killed in a murder suicide, she was 21 and a twin, apple wood





free online randomizer

 

[Ncdan]

Completed by a masters hand👍

[Unkept]

Your work, and the reason for it is truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing, and carrying that burden.

-Joe

[Sheepdog]

Beautiful work Lucian. Obviously, it is a labor of love.

As I've aged, I become better adjusted to tedious or repetitive tasks. I no longer mind doing tire changes, or transplanting trees, or building fences. I don't seek these jobs out, but when they become needful I often get the call and go about it best I can.

[oldbike54]

 Very moving , beautiful work 

 Dusty

[DougG]

Hello Lucian,

As a fellow woodworker of 42 years, I respect your skill (your jointery looks flawless), choice of wood (a live medium) and all the decisions you made to produce a lasting piece of art and personal expression.  Nice job, Dave.  You've made somethings that will outlast us all.


Be well,

DougG

[Darren Williams]

Different people morn in different ways. A craftsman lovingly plying his skill in a work of art donated to the one he has lost is as good as it can get, in my opinion.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Different people morn in different ways. A craftsman lovingly plying his skill in a work of art donated to the one he has lost is as good as it can get, in my opinion.

True. a craftsman is considered by many to "just" be a laborer. I respectfully disagree..

[lucian]

Thank you all for the kind comments. I am always conscious of how fortunate I am to be the one making the urn instead of being the one needing it.
I would love to hear other stories from those of you who are put upon by circumstance and pull out the stops to get through it.

[twowheeladdict]

Oop.  Responded based on the title alone.

deleted.

[John A]

Thanks, cheers me up to see a job well done!

[Tennmoto]

Beautiful work! We have quite a craft culture in this area of Tn. Very inspirational going to shows and displays

[cliffrod]

Thanks for posting your work, Lucian- I really appreciate & like seeing what you do and can do.   Very cool.  My woodworking skills are improving.  I've carved wood my entire life but not much refined joinery work like your work & I've never done an urn. 

It can be frustrating to work in end-of-life-tangent field and projects, because many people steer clear before it is needed and then are in an uncomfortable position to address it afterwards.   Being able to do good works for such a significant purpose is the best thing a person can do with their gifts and talents.  There's nothing I would rather do.

My sculpture career has been mostly in memorials and mostly in granite, but includes marble, limestone, bronze and other media when it sells.  I apprenticed under Masters in VT, including my mother's cousin.   There's not many of us left in the USA and china/india competition is killing the work here.

One of the most special jobs was for my parents (Ma's not dead yet).  Years before he got sick, Dad helped pick out the block of  Barre Gray (VT) granite, composed the text as biographical/genealogical covering the paternal family's work in dairy farming and had me develop the overall composition including portrait work of one of our prize Jerseys plus floral work.   It's nearly impossible to sell this Shell Rock Pitch style of job because almost no one in the world does it anymore, so it was a huge project for me and my portfolio to highlight what I can do.  I did everything on this one except actual sandblasting of the lettering.   It is installed in our hometown in VT.  video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-O7ID5QH1o




This was done a few years ago for a biker friend called Mule.  His father had a scrap yard here in town, used to hang out and do car & bike stuff around the flow of characters bringing in cans and scrap.  He died young and told his family he wanted a "Good Gargoyle guarding his Cross" They commissioned me & let me do what I could for an original project in GA Blue Granite.  They said he would have loved it. video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oi_8I040-U




I just finished this one last fall for the old guru from the bike shop.  Dog lived a storied biker life as a Marine & then as a patched Outlaw before accepting Christ and settling down, but he was our sage until the very end.  All GA Blue Granite and my original composition.  This will be installed a few miles up the road once the rains subside.  Video isn't done yet.




Do good works.

[tris]

True. a craftsman is considered by many to "just" be a laborer. I respectfully disagree..

Plus 1

I used to work in a shipyard building warships and our joiners could do work as skillful as Lucian (and Cliffrod) can and were considered by many to be the best tradesmen in the yard

I always thought that the platers bending plate in 3 dimensions to build the bulbous bow, or the electricians running miles of cable to be equally skilled - just less visible.

I can do lots of hand crafts but I'd never have the temerity to call myself skilled and I have tremendous respect for those who are

Bravo Chaps and Chapessess 

[Muzz]

Nice work you guys do.

Being an ex carpenter and a Guzzi owner (cheap is good, free is better) I have been thinking of knocking up an urn out of a bit of old pallet wood.  Get the cheapest wood possible, knock up a coffin, into the furnace and any family around can do what they want with the ashes.

[Guzzistajohn]

You may not *want* to do this work guys, but you do beautiful work that can be considered an honor and a privelidge. Good job!

[lucian]

Cliffrod, I am in awe at the precision, detail, and scale of your works. I can Imagine that your medium ,( stone), is very rewarding in its permanence, and it's challenges. I would guess it can be similar to woods in the respect that ,IT, often dictates what can be done to it because of it's inherent flaws and grains ect. I was actually thinking of you when I posted this and hoped you would chime in . Thank's for taking the time to do so, and thank you for sharing the video's and photos. I have enjoyed your previous posts as well and please share with us your future works. I am glad your beautiful sculptures will be here for people to witness long after we are all gone . In the case of these wooden urns, they have all been placed in a cement burial vaults and buried at the cemetery. They are only viewed for the short period of the wake and funeral. That part never bothered me as I firmly believe that they will be received and viewed  when they reach the other side. It is a great privilege for me to be able to offer my craft to help families in mourning, as with you.
You have raised the bar for what is conceivable next time I find myself tasked with one of these.  Life isn't all motorcycles after all.
Thank's again everyone,  Dave

[cliffrod]

Dave, I was reluctant to post because I didn't want to hijack your thread. So I'm glad you're cool with everything.  Seeing work like yours really raises the bar for me as well.  Doesn't really matter what the specifics are- What I can do is easy for me; what I can't do or haven't done yet pushes me.  You know what I mean? 

I simply like seeing what people make with tools and a workbench- build machines, cut dovetails & miter joints, serious cooking, sculpting granite, sewing, whatever.  It may be a different result but It's all the same craftsmanship.  I grew up in VT carving wood scraps from the sawdust bin & woodshed on the family farm about 15 miles from the studio where I apprenticed as a granite sculptor years later.  Dad's family were dairy farmers. Ma's family cut granite.   That was my normal view of the world.

Comparing the various media- wood & granite have a similar determinant grain that can be exploited. other stones are not the same.   I always like carving maple and cherry & I prefer to finish the surface with a cutting tool, not abrasives. Quality granite (like VT's famous Barre Gray granite ) is virtually flawless, which is a huge asset.    Stone and ice are very similar in the way they break based upon their crystalline structure.  Much cheaper & readily available ice demands fast work done carefully.  I never anticipated my years of ice carving as a chef had prepared me for commercial stone work.   The biggest difference for me between wood and stone is the size.  Imagine working a single piece of flawless hard maple that was as big as a refrigerator (or several of them) that would never move or split later..  No kilns, jointing, glue up, no screws or dowels, just one monolithic piece that weighs tons.  Imagine what you could do with it. That's what you can do in stone.

I keep doing more wood, but I'm not close to what you do.  Maybe someday.  Curves and shapes are easy.  It's hard to fake Straight lines and square corners. carving is my thing..

 just got some decent pieces of boxwood to carve- sure is nice and glossy when you cut it.

After I posted, I thought about the thread title.  I don't mind doing stones.  Right now I'm installing a wheelchair lift & deck for my mother & uncle next door.  We've been settling estates, emptying houses & selling properties in far away places (just sold the family farm in VT last month) and doing the endless medical stuff for years.  Just finished her new gardening bench this morning as part of the lift install/carport revamp.   The long slow decline is much worse than the actual death, imho.

All of that is a lot less enjoyable than cutting a stone.  To us, stones are very special.  Nowadays, life doesn't place as much value on memorialization as some did years ago.

[JJ]

Fabulous work...and a labor of love...