I’m building a tool cabinet right now for the final semester project at my Hand Tool School. I was going through a stack of rough sawn Cherry, matching color and grain and assigning each piece to a part of my build. I came across a 10″ by 50″ board that had a small knot right in the middle about 2/3 of the way down the length. Not really a big deal. It would make hand planing the board a little more difficult but I figured I was up to the challenge.
I flipped the board over and that little knot had bloomed into a canyon on the opposite face. Probably a branch formed at this point on the tree and then had broken off leaving this chasm. What to do here? The grain around the knot of course begins to swirl like water down a drain and in order to cut out the knot and leave straight grain that would match with the rest of my piece, I would need to sacrifice quite a bit of material leaving me with two much shorter pieces around 26 and 12″ long. These two pieces would fit within the dimension I need for parts in my build and I could move on happily without the defect.
Maybe this “defect” is really just an opportunity. I think that there is a way to embrace this knot hole and make it a feature in a table top. Imagine creating a spot for a built in Ikebana style flower arrangement growing right out of the top. Or fill the hole with clear resin and encase something within it. The swirling grain around the knot makes me think of a Zen rock garden so I have visions of turning the knot into a tiny Koi pond and highlighting the grain around it. Even just leaving the knot open and planing the board until you get a through hole would make for a real point of interest in a top while making it clear to the casual observer that this piece came from a tree. You could use this as a door panel that provides a sneak peek of what is inside the cabinet. Maybe I have been reading Nakashima too much lately, but I’m really excited by the opportunity presented by this “defect”.
I say use it in a project but open up the hole to hold something. I was reading Roy Underhill’s Working Wood with Wedge and Edge and he was writing about a cant hook where the handle had a knot that was bored out and the iron hook was inserted there. I thought that a very cool idea. The wood around the knot was very strong.
So if you use it tool cabinet maybe the hole holds your favorite chisel or something.
Filling it with resin or epoxy would make for a really interesting effect, however it might be difficult to remove the air bubbles since the texture of the knot is so rough. That said, I really do like the idea of making the knot into a feature of the piece.
I like to keep these cut-offs for other projects, like for memory box lid. Or use them as drawer fronts. The knot is a built in drawer pull.
I like the Koi pond idea. Sugest you add a frog whith eyes that will follow you around no matter where you are looking from.
Looks like you need to cut out that section of the board and create something unique from it. Tool cabinet wood, you can get more of that easily, but this is a gift.
I like the idea of encasing something in the void. Something meaningful to you. Really small brass dividers, or a small brass R.