River Teeth Carving

[oregoncarver]

We have a house on the Oregon coast where I often walk the streams and beaches looking for what are called River Teeth in the NW. Best described is an article by
David James Duncan[/font]
River Teeth: An introduction[/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] When an ancient streamside tree finally falls into its bordering river, it drowns as would a human, and begins to disintegrate with surprising speed. On the Northwest streams I know best, the breakdown of even a five-or six-hundred-year-old tree takes only a few decades. Tough as logs are, the grinding of sand, water and ice are relentless; the wood turns punk, grows waterlogged, breaks into filaments, then gray mush; the mush becomes mud, washes downriver, comes to rest in side channels which fill and gradually close; new trees sprout from the fertile muck.

There are, however, parts of every drowned tree that refuse this cycle. There is in every log a series of cross-grained, pitch-hardened masses where branches once joined the tree's trunk. "Knots," they're called in a piece of lumber. But in the bed of a river, where the rest of the tree has been stripped and washed away, these knots take on a very different appearance, and so deserve a different name. "River teeth," we called them as kids, because that's what they look like. Like enormous fangs, ending in cross-grained root that once tapped all the way into the tree's very heartwood. [/font]

They're amazing objects. A river tooth's pitch content is so high that some, sawed in half, look more like glass than wood. Too dense to float, many collect in deep pools and sandbars, and many more migrate along the river bottom, collecting by the thousand in coastal estuaries. The oldest teeth, after years of being shaped by the river, look like objects intelligently worked, not just worn: sculptures of fantastic mammals, perhaps, or Neolithic hand tools. And they all defy time. I have found spruce river teeth, barnacle-festooned in the estuaries, that have outlasted the tree they came from by centuries.[



That is the story of River Teeth, I recently collected about 40 of these ranging in size from 3" dia by 12", these weight as much as 3 lbs each so you can only guess what the ones 12" dia 48" tall can weigh. I care these with a chainsaw and a reciprocating tool and finish with hand chisel’s. These things are so full of pitch I have to clean my carving burr several times when carving.
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Has anyone else carved something like this? And if so what are they called in your area.[/font]

Sorry about the long posting.[/font]

Arthur

[oregoncarver]

Here is a picture of my latest River Tooth carving.

Arthur

[Irishman]

It sounds like the wood would be very dense to carve so I would assume you would have to use a mallet or dremel. I've only carved found wood the one time...drift wood. Not near as old or with as much character as this wood your showing here. Nice carving by the way.
Patrick

[oregoncarver]

Patrick;
I use a foredom with carbide burrs and for the larger ones I use arbortech and chainsaw equipment. Have to keep stopping to clean tools of the pitch. I finish off the carving with knives and a mallet

Arthur

[Eddy-Smiles]

Basically, you're talking about a pine knot?

[davidinsarasota]

This type of branch connection is exactly what we try to encourage in nursery grown and urban forestry trees. In forests it happens as a result of neighboring trees competing for sunshine.

The increased pitch in this area is how the tree heals and seals broken and cut branches quickly.

Dr. Ed Gilman has done most of the research on this. Link below if you are interested.

http://www.sactree.com/assets/files/...ngComplete.pdf

[markken5889]

Hey Arthur,

thanks for sharing the story and the picture. I'd never heard of them. Great work on the piece!

Mark

[arttimes]

That was a nice explanation. Your carving looks great! You get the benefit of 2 things here, being outdoors collecting your material and then carving it, and you can say you were working all the time .

[Mottles]

Fasinating story and your carving is just great. I really enjoyed the read.
Kathy

[Thor]

Thanks for posting this thread. I have another carver friend who has a river tooth in his "personal carved collection" that he did while living in the wild for 3 months alone. The piece is so heavy that it is far beyond a pine knot, and is so resin filled that it has a different look and feel from any other wood we've seen. He pulled it from a river bend where it was underwater.

We just talked about the piece a few days before I saw your post, and I copied it and forwarded it to him. The term "river teeth" will stick I'm sure.

Great story, thanks for sharing it.
Christina