Apple - River Park South - 11"

Why this one exists

Apple is my absolute favourite wood to carve. This piece comes from a gnarled old tree that had a scar pattern running the whole way up one bough. Five pieces came off that bough; the other four have found their homes, and this is the last. I kept the scar. The shaped and sanded wood is incredibly smooth under your fingers, and then your hand crosses onto the rough scar tissue and the piece changes its voice. That contrast is the point of it. The things that hurt us leave texture, and the tree kept growing anyway, smooth and scarred in the same body. I cannot think of a better argument for carrying on. One more thing, a working note from the bench: apple smells absolutely fantastic while it is being carved. It is my favourite wood, and the smell is half the reason.

It stood here

In the spring of 2025 I posted in my neighbourhood Facebook group asking whether anyone had recently taken down an apple tree. Two people answered. This wood came from one of them: a gnarled apple in south St. Vital, just north of River Park South. Their address stays theirs, so the pin marks the area rather than the yard.

Every side of it