User:Spaviews475/sandbox

Randy DeGraw Randy DeGraw, wood artisan, reveals a passion for solid, enduring art forms in timber. He describes his work with humour - "All I do is make sawdust - by removing all the timber which isn't part of the design." I'm American-born, from a family of Michigan timber millers who, from the 1700s, milled the region's trees - great pines, oaks, hickory and cherry. A scar from a boyhood accident is a reminder of the dangers of one of my tools of trade - the chain saw. My first foray into recycled timber was in 1970 when, salvaging timber from old barns, I came across a hand-hewn beam of oak at least 130 years old and decided to set a clock into it. I then fashioned the Roman numerals from old lath nails (collected from a house demolition). That clock was the starting point although woodworking had to remain on the side while I pursued a career as an electronic technician. It was not until my move to Australia in 1982 (when I worked as a Telecom technician) that a stack of Fraser Island satinay beams from the old Maryborough Wharf galvanised me into action. "My big workbench is made from those magnificent beams. One day I'll pull it apart and make something out of it." That was the beginning of my search for old timber earmarked for destruction - and my vision to turn it into fine furniture. Creations in Time, was born out of a wall sculpture which won the Art Award at Bundaberg Capricorn Building Society in 1985. Commissions soon followed - a boardroom table and other items commissioned in 1993 for the Forestry Protection Society of Canberra are certified collectibles - the timber used was from the last tree logged on Fraser Island. In Queensland, when I first made furniture from recycled and salvaged timber, I was considered something of an oddity but, within a decade of giving up my Telecom job to become a full-time artist, I was fortunate to gain clients from Melbourne to Cairns and a growing reputation for "useable art" in the form of burl tables, large wall clocks, conference tables, desks, free-form sculpture and Wall Units. These days I produce works to order as well as for display in our gallery. My client base, I am delighted to say, extends around the globe. "It is always a joy to create a project for a client who shares my love for the enduring beauty of these magnificent timbers."