turey...you mentioned sometime ago that you were looking for a lathe. Might that mean that you are knocking out some crafted pieces (like wooden bowls) or furniture (spindles and legs...)?
If so, are you setting up a studio to sell work locally...any photos of your craft you'd like to share?

In the meanwhile, for deliberation, here are some original, "intuitive", free-form objects crafted by the Nicely family from Gayle in St Mary which appear to highly respect "fallen/uprooted/drifted wood"...love of the Natural forms.

Gleaner Link:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130428/arts/arts1.html

Video Interview with Master Woodcrafter Gilbert Nicely
Part 1:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4hY6FTFU5w
Part 2:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL7_gfE-u_o

Hi Z. Good tools being key in craftwork, we were fortunate to have a Jamaican blacksmith spend a while demonstrating hardening, tempering and shaping steel tools. Recently a neighbour came over beaming with pride and showed me a digging bit he made from an old iron pipe and a truck spring. Oil tempered and properly formed, he breaks any hard limestone in the way of a posthole.

We were shown how to form wood chisels from high quality recycled steel, attach hardened orange wood handles and budding wood carvers encouraged to use recycled woods.

Collecting seeds for the tree nursery is easy, keeping the seedlings alive in the midst of goats and my three sluts* is challenging.

Let me know when you're in TB.

*An archaic form used for a female dog still used in TB and not Turey Gone Wild....

turey...I don't want to sound, exactly, like a Charlie Chan movie (you're possibly too young to remember them, except streamed or on cable), but Confucius really did say:
The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.
(by the bye & bye, one of my favourite Charlie Chan aphorisms: "Accidents can happen, if planned that way" (from Dark Alibi)

It was enlightening to hear you tell about J'can blacksmiths forging tools to fit the hand...to fit the purpose of crafting in an era when catalogs, digital & otherwise, of industrial manufactures abound. Archetypically, like picking up a shell on the beach, and considering it as an ancestor's scraping tool.

And then there follows the "what & the what for" of any particular craft. Is it the "form follows function" adage that is primarily at the forefront of the product?
The maturing of sustainability issues in design was sure address "beauty" in the objective-natural world.

You may wish to follow a thread of reasoning in the architect, Lance Hosey's book, The Shape of Green: Aesthetics- Ecology-Design, which purports to outline a clear set of principles for the aesthetics of sustainable design...arguing that beauty is inherent to sustainability, for how things look and feel is as important as how they’re made.

Form and image can enhance conservation, comfort, and community at every scale of design, from products to buildings to cities. Aesthetic attraction isn’t a superficial concern—it’s an environmental imperative. Beauty could save the planet.

Hosey's mentor, the architect, William McDonough, who enjoys some credibility in the field of Sustainable Design principles blurbs this about the author's task:
Design has the power to create a world that can be economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed. In The Shape of Green, Lance Hosey explores the critically important but too rarely discussed dimensions of this goal—elegance, joy, and beauty.


Snippets of Lance Hosey's observations on our "natural" world...including any tree roots, driftwood from Back Seaside and other wood specimens hanging around some backyard waiting to be pedestals for a table of feasts!

Certain patterns also have universal appeal. Natural fractals — irregular, self-similar geometry — occur virtually everywhere in nature: in coastlines and riverways, in snowflakes and leaf veins, even in our own lungs.
In recent years, physicists have found that people invariably prefer a certain mathematical density of fractals — not too thick, not too sparse. The theory is that this particular pattern echoes the shapes of trees, specifically the acacia, (our cassha tree) on the African savanna, the place stored in our genetic memory from the cradle of the human race. To paraphrase one biologist, beauty is in the genes of the beholder — home is where the genome is.

NY Times Link: Why We Love Beautiful Things
www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/why-we-love-beautiful-things.html?_r=1 &

Tree Hugger: How Design is Shaped by Purpose:
www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/how-design-shaped-purpose.html


An architect's most useful tools are an eraser at the drafting board, and a wrecking bar at the site.
--Frank Lloyd Wright

I'm a post war baby Z but always enjoyed Charlie Chan when he was on.

Design has the power to create a world that can be economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed. Posted above and by William McDonough, is my approach to chisels, shelters, gardens etc.

Economy.

Equity.

Ecology.

Elegant

Vs

Waste

Poverty

Destruction

Ugly

It`s not the money, it`s the overstanding.

turey...don't chafe if I look to an old-timey cinematic detect-ive, Charlie Chan, for wise-acre's delights:

Charlie Chan say:
• Good tools shorten labor. (Charlie Chan at the Circus)

• Front seldom tell truth. To know occupants of house, always look in back yard. (Charlie Chan in London)

• Foolish to seek fortune when real treasure hiding under nose. (Charlie Chan at the Race Track)

• Expert is merely man who make quick decision - and is sometimes right. (The Chinese Cat)

• Levity is a great cure-all. (The Trap)

• He who takes whatever gods send with smile has learned life's hardest lesson. (Docks of New Orleans)

• Most fortunate gift to be able to cross bridge to dwelling place of honorable ancestors before arriving. (Charlie Chan's Secret)

• Very old Chinese wise man once say, "Madness twin brother of genius because each live in world created by own ego. One sometime mistaken for other." (Charlie Chan at the Opera)

And for those with some spunky over-standing:
• Fresh weed better than wilted rose. (Murder Over New York)

• Journey of life like feather on stream - must continue with current. (Charlie Chan in Egypt)

• Honorable grandmother always say, "Do not think of future - it come too soon." (Dark Alibi)

Wonder if some modern day sage composed them for the script or are they taken from Lao Tzu, Confucius or other?

Great disguise for a wiseman though, honorable inscrutable detective know street and uptown runnings.