THE WORK
MATERIALS
The raw materials for most of my carvings are long-dead trees from the hills and valleys of Goat Hill. Our most common species are Ashe juniper, cedar elm, post oak, plateau live oak, Spanish oak, white shin oak, Mexican plum, and pecan. Oak wilt began to devastate our magnificent groves of oaks in the 1960s. To increase the grass available to our cattle, my father had most of the dead oaks bulldozed into piles, along with many of the large Ashe junipers growing in the valley. These piles were gradually attacked by fungi and insects, causing the trees’ sapwood to rot, but leaving much of their heartwood intact. Many of the pieces in the Collection were carved from the bases of these large oaks and junipers, left untouched and half-buried for decades.
A number of the sculptures and more utilitarian pieces are carved from black walnut. Though this species was doubtless present in Goat Hill’s native vegetation, it was harvested by early landowners, and not a single walnut remains on Goat Hill. Fortunately, my father discovered a large black walnut tree trunk that had washed onto the banks of the nearby Leon River during the Central Texas floods of 1957. He had the trunk sawn into planks that were used to build two solid walnut beds for my sister and me. Happily, he stored the remaining lumber, and 65 years later I continue to use it for the Goat Hill Collection.
PROCESS
Over the years I have developed a variety of methods to create my sculptures and other pieces. The first step is to select a dead tree or fallen limb. After gauging the degree of fungal and insect attack, I use a chain saw to remove a section of interest and then use an angle grinder with carving attachments to remove any rotten wood and extraneous limbs and roots.
Some pieces have little heart rot and can be shaped into a bowls or sculptures with smooth, polished sides revealing the beauty of the wood grain. Others have undergone more extensive deterioration and can be shaped into complex three-dimensional pieces revealing the effects of decades of insect and fungal attack. After preliminary shaping with an angle grinder, I often use a small rotating tool to clean small areas and insect tunnels. Finally, I sand the piece with an orbital sander and by hand with sandpapers of increasing fineness (up to 400-600 grit) to prepare the surface for finishing.
I finish most of my pieces with at least three coats of tung oil, which is absorbed by the wood and hardens over time to provide a soft non-glossy, non-toxic, food-safe finish. The piece can be periodically treated with furniture oil, citrus oil, or other non-hardening oil to enhance the sheen. If a piece is likely to be placed outdoors, I finish it with at least three coats of spar varnish, which protects the wood from both rain and UV rays.