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Ex-Capitol trees to be art
BOISE, (AP) - The Idaho Statehouse lawn may have lost its trees as part of the Capitol remodel/wings project. But the state isn't losing the wood, nor, hopefully, its history. Woodworkers from around the state are being asked to transform the salvaged lumber from the Northern red oak planted in 1971 by the Sons and Daughters of Idaho Pioneers, from the maple planted by Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 and all the other trees into objects for display in the remodeled Capitol.
The wood, which took about six weeks to cut into pieces, is drying in storage in Eagle, Boise GOP Rep. Max Black said. He's a legislator and a woodworker overseeing the salvage project. Close to 100 woodworkers from around the state proposed projects for the Statehouse wood. There's enough to go around, and even a little more, if more woodworkers have ideas to pitch.
Idahoans have proposed making a range of objects to donate to the state, including desks, walking sticks, windsor chairs and pens, Black said. He's even contributing his own talents.
He plans to use pieces from the three trees planted by presidents, an Ohio buckeye planted in 1911 by William Howard Taft, a water oak planted by Benjamin Harrison in 1891 and the Roosevelt rock sugar maple, to make a miniature steam engine. ''All three of the presidents who planted trees on the grounds would have arrived in Idaho in such an engine,'' he said.
Black expects all the wood to be dry and in the hands of woodworkers by the end of the year. In certain cases, a long drying process wasn't necessary. The Roosevelt tree blew down years ago and had been curing on its own in a closet under the Statehouse steps ever since.
The Taft tree was technically alive, but barely. Most of its limbs and trunk were hollow, Black said. The wood was dry even before the tree came down. Paulette Shelledy, a woodworker in Rigby, is waiting for her wood to make walking sticks, one for Idaho and one for her daughter, Vhiana, 5.
''I'm using pieces from the Martin Luther King tree,'' said Shelledy, about the tree planted in the 1980s on the Capitol grounds by the NAACP. It means a lot to the family to have a piece of this tree because of Vhiana's mixed-race heritage. Shelledy plans to decorate both walking sticks with hand-beaded African symbols.
Boisean Steve Young is one of the few woodworkers who started on his project already. He's making an urn-shaped vessel out of the Taft tree - he likes the patterns on a buckeye. In his fastidious home shop, the 26-year Army veteran is working on a lathe. The elegant urn he's creating started out as a 35-pound hunk of wood.
Sharon Becker, who works at Woodcraft in Boise, fell in love with an odd piece of wood, a natural, flat ring cut out of a piece of scrap wood, when Max Black brought it into the shop. She liked the unusual grain of the wood. Black gave the piece to her when he saw how much she liked it. The wood is still ''speaking'' to her, she said, but so far her ideas include a carved trout jumping from the center of the ring.
She partners with Young sometimes. He turns the bowls and she burns designs into them. ''We call it the turn and burn,''' said Becker. They plan to partner again for the Capitol project. In addition to the urn-shaped vessel, Young will create a bowl. Becker will burn in the designs: the state flower syringa, and state bird mountain bluebird. Black said the salvaged wood added up to about 4,000 ''board feet.'' To put that in perspective, a desk requires around 150 board feet. He has received donations from Idaho Power Co., United Heritage insurance Co. in Meridian and the Idaho Loggers Association, but still needs help with some of the costs for drying and distributing wood around the state. ''We've gone through $500 worth of sawblades alone,'' Black said. Donations are tax-deductible. If you're feeling inspired to craft something for the Gem State, small pieces of wood and larger pieces that can be turned in a lathe are still available. Black invites aspiring woodworkers to call him. Article RatingReader CommentsSubmit a CommentCommenting RulesWe encourage your feedback and dialog. All comments are subject to deletion by our Web staff.
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