Memorial Map of the Bend Golf Club

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Those of you who have come into my workshop over the past year have seen this project go from CAD to physical reality back to CAD and then again to physical reality. The Bend Golf Club came to me over a year ago to make a memorial map of their course as a way to reference the locations of trees and benches that have been dedicated to members’ loved ones.

When I was at Redmond High School in the 80’s, BGC was the only course in Bend and our Golf team played the course against Bend High and Mountain View. Back then, the fairways were heavily treed and super narrow. I have fond memories of playing the course, even I was a terrible golfer.

Thanks to Adam Mendel and Chris Neville for their help with the CAD portion and to my daughter Doris Nash for help with the painting of the fairway’s and greens. And many thanks to the BGC Grounds Committee for their patience.

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My Favorite Work of 2019

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I can’t believe how little I was able to post on my “bench notes” page, but this is an attempt to catch up. Nashwood did loads of projects this last year and the following is an almost complete sampling of the activity in the workshop in downtown Bend. Thanks to those clients that made these projects possible and for my friends and family that support my work. -Will Nash

Doug Fir and Juniper Stairway & Railing

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I believe this was constructed in 2005, on a project I was on with Lance Seaber and Joseph Johnson, Aaron Schmalz, Elean Meserve and Devin Hommell. This was in the “Garage”, which we all felt was more a “Great Hall”. The building was constructed out of AAC (autoclaved aerated concrete) on a monolithic slab. The old-growth Doug Fir was harvested out of the Jefferson Wilderness that same year and the juniper branch pickets were culled from the property, stripped and doweled in place.

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Djangolin Bracing & Shaping

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These braces were made of honduran mahogany; it was an experiement that worked. Normally, Sitka Spruce is the brace wood of choice, but with all the stress mandolins are under, I reasoned a dense, open-pored vertical grained mahogany would add a dimension of stiffness to this “flat-top” instrument. This mandolin has all the vocal range and projection of the famed archtop F-5.

English Walnut Coffee Table

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This table was constructed in 2016 from Northern California English Walnut that had been grafted to Claro Walnut and displays what I like so much about Walnut: it’s character in grain, color, spalting and figure. A beautiful representation of what Nakashima called “The Soul of the Tree”. It now resides at the Hong Residence in Southern California. The bow-tie is California Red Eucalyptus and is full-depth, entirely cut by hand.

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Mallet & Chisel Work

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Now for the hand-work. Probably my favorite part of sculpting, is chiseling away pieces and parts to create movement and fine-tune the shapes. Definitely helps to be able to lay the work down on its side and rotate it to get to challenging places. This piece will have a chiseled texture, heavier in some areas and more subdued in others. Best part of my day is when I can get lost with handwork.

An Ambrosia Maple Console

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This is one of two matching consoles for a family in Los Angeles. The pieces were done last Fall and I just received this image taken by the client in its final place. The species of Maple, Ambrosia, is so named because the Ambrosia Moth lays its eggs in the the tree bark and the larvae delve deep into the wood and discolor the wood in striking patterns and colors.

"Les Eric" after the Gibson "Les Paul"

Getting this electric archtop ready for finish

Getting this electric archtop ready for finish

This is a project that was designed and built by myself and Eric Faggin of Redwood City, CA. It’s inspired by the classic “Les Paul”, but it has some interesting design elements. The Honduran Mahogany body is one solid piece that has been routed out entirely, leaving a 1/2” rim all the way around it with thicker areas at the neck block and tail block locations. The back has been arched and graduated as well as the solid maple top. It is a true hollow-body electric. Excited to begin the finishing process and finally put it together and plug it in. w

Nakashima inspired Dining Table

This has been one of my favorite projects this year. The Oregon Walnut was harvested over 2 years ago from a friend’s property in Salem. I had seen the “yin-yang” overlapping of bookmatched slabs, and always wanted to do it. The planets aligne…

This has been one of my favorite projects this year. The Oregon Walnut was harvested over 2 years ago from a friend’s property in Salem. I had seen the “yin-yang” overlapping of bookmatched slabs, and always wanted to do it. The planets aligned with a client willing to give me some creative freedom and here is the result. We filled the void with an arrangement of mussel shell and clear epoxy.

The detail of the epoxy filled void. The mussel shells were gathered by the client on the oregon coast and I made them into a “tide pool” in the table.

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A new sculpture is forming — nashwood

love. adoration. intimacy.

love. adoration. intimacy.

This is by far the largest sculpture in any medium that I have attempted and although I have done some chainsaw roughing out of smaller sculptures this has given me a good window into the subtle and not-so-subtle art of working with a chainsaw. I’m now at the point of working with less aggressive tooling: hand tools rasps and chisels. Looking forward to seeing this polished and finished. w

It’s sometimes easier to work chisel and mallet by laying a sculpture down. Definitely nice to put down the chainsaw.

It’s sometimes easier to work chisel and mallet by laying a sculpture down. Definitely nice to put down the chainsaw.

Another Delicious Scribe at the Townsends!

Believe it or not, there is a street (well, really a gravel road) in Central Oregon named "Delicious" and it's where some clients built the first Pumice Crete home in the area with some contractors I have had the honor of learning from and building with over the years:  Lance Seaber, Earth Ship master;  Joseph Johnson of Coyote Carpentry, and Elean Meserve, the purposeful magician.   I was given the opportunity to create the cabinetry for the home and this was the very last piece to be installed.   Eastern Walnut.

Grand Candy gets a bridge element in the Shop

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This guitar is based after the Taylor Grand Auditorium and, though I did not launch too far into experimentation, the augment to the bridge (the little wing that swings off on the treble side) helps shape tone down the bar that resides underneath the top transmitting string vibration over the top, as well as adding a delightful visual element overall.   Great sounding instrument after I strung it up.