Wooden see

Once I talked to a woodcrafter. His name was Eric Lenner. He was in his mid forties with thin graying hair and a large built. His forearms had very defined muscle lines and thick veins crawled from his hands to the elbow. For a man in his forties, he was really fit. He was wearing a goggle too big for his face and holding a chisel on his right hand and a small hammer on the left when I approached his shop.

What made me approach the shop was a particular wood statue. The beauty of it caught my attention. It was a fish leaping out of the water but froze in mid motion, as such, the tail was still in the water but the head was out. The water was also frozen in a splashing motion around the fish. It looked so life like as if it would start moving at any moment.

The shop was split into two. One side was all the woodcraft being displayed with price tag attached. The other side was a work area. Tools hung on the walls and on top of a big dusty workbench.

Eric was working on a piece of wood at the work area when I entered but how this story started was when I noticed the thing he was working on. It was a six feet tall human-sized log and it was rotten. Moss was growing all around it; Barks were peeling; many parts of it were black and there was some kind of sticky liquid all over it, making it appear wet. I’m sure it wasn’t water. There was an unpleasant smell too.

I remembered clearly what he said when he saw the disgust in my face, “Boy, don’t pass your judgment yet. This large piece of wood may be unsightly now but I do not see it as it is, I see what it would become.”

“You see what it would become? Can this even become anything good?” I said with amusement.

He turned away from his work and looked me in the eye through his work goggles and with a very serious tone said, “Yes, what it would become. I do not see things the way you see it. You can only see the present state of the wood which is disgusting and maybe even a little horrifying. Me, I see a beautiful work of art that it would turn into, that is, after all the hammering and chipping. I can see the potential of a piece of wood, and this wood has potential.”

Eric gave me a wink and got back to work. I nearly made a little laugh when he winked because of how cliquey it was. I continued into the shop and took a closer look at the fish wood piece and at the rest of the woodcraft in his shop.

I was on my way out when Eric started on the log. With strength, he hammered the chisel into the surface of the log in an angle and a big chunk of wood came loose from the body. He turned the chisel sideways and off came the chunk.

“Hey be careful!” I did not even know why I was telling a professional woodcrafter to be careful but I felt the sudden urge to say it after seeing how rough he was in treating the log.

“HA! Don’t worry! I know how much force each wood can take. I will not exceed the amount of force that it can’t take.” said Eric without turning to me or stopping his work. “Found anything that interests you?”

“No, just looking around.” And I left.

Now, you might be wondering how I know his name without even asking for it.

Three years after the meeting, I was at an art exhibition and I was admiring this five and a half foot tall woodcraft of a man holding the earth in his hands. Seventy seven thousand was the bidding price for it. The photograph of the artist who crafted it was printed at the side of the panel that describes the origins and meaning of the piece. It was the face of the woodcrafter I met three years ago. Below the picture was written:

Protecting Hands
Mr. Eric Lenner

That was what became of the disgusting and maybe even a little horrifying log I saw that day.

This wood has potential.