Knots,wormholes, and such. Are they blemishes or beautiful?

[Clarence Miller]

Are the knots and worm holes in your wood rejects to cut around or do you consider them to be part of the inherent beauty of the wood?

[Maurice Ungaro]

I voted "If stable, it is beauty", but the caveat is that it works with your design. If you are going for a classic piece to be finished with mirror like French polish, I don't know if it would work. On the other hand, if it enhances the piece overall, go for it. I've made some rustic furniture that utilizes live edges and knot holes to very satisfying success.

[Joe Angrisani]

I think you need to add "Only if it works with the overall design" to the poll choices. Otherwise it's junk.

[Gary Venable]

I think you need to add "Only if it works with the overall design" to the poll choices. Otherwise it's junk.
Agreed, It has to work with the piece. I am finishing some shelves made from tiger maple and I went our of my way to use pieces that had some interesting bark inclusions in them. But that works in the contemporary style the shelves are in. Though I would not call blemished pieces junk, it would just be saved for a later project where it can be used appropriately.

-Gary

[Maurice Ungaro]

And what about wormy chestnut? Certainly nobody would pitch it into the fire simply for the holes.

[Mike Cruz]

Always pretty...even if unstable. That said, if it is unstable, I don't know that I would use it...:rolleyes:

[Jeff Duncan]

As others have eluded to....BOTH. Just depends on what your doing.

JeffD

[Van Huskey]

Usually beautiful, I have seen some defects that looked like garbage to me. I would not toss out the wood but using it depends on the design allowing it. You wouldn't want a knotty piece of wood on the front of a Newport Bonnet-Top Highboy but there are plenty of designs where it works.

[Tim Johnson]

The best example I have of this is a bookshelf I built utilizing the solid knot hole patterns in some boards to give the ends of the shelves a "face" like appearance. Everyone really likes the look, although I can see that it may not be for everyone. I typically like to include some character in my pieces, it helps with the "hand-build" appearance that is lacking in todays furniture.

[Don Morris]

Depends: size, shape, etc. I've seen some that add to the overall look and some that wouldn't. One blemish in an otherwise perfect board would be a distraction. A pattern of them might be attractive. i.e. birdseye maple

[David Helm]

I voted always beautiful with the same caveat as others have mentioned. Unstable knot holes can be stabilized with epoxy.

[Biff Johnson]

It depends. If it keeps the eye away from my shoddy joinery, then they're beautiful!!!

[Larry Edgerton]

In the first photo on the end frames you can see some natural defects that have been filled with epoxy and with this piece it is a nice detail that adds to the whole as David has suggested.223461223462

On the second photo, a piece like this would demand that the wood be pristeen with nothing to distract us from the natural beauty of the grain and all of the detail in the piece itself.

So I agree with most that it is dependant on what you are doing. woodworking is an art, but even art has boundries so you just have do do what you believe is right and hope that the rest of the world shares your viewpoint. Or, in my case, my customers viewpoint;)......

[Paul DeCarlo]

Are you familiar with Hank Gilpin's work? His take on wood usage is very refreshing, I've had similar ideas for a long time; there is no bad wood:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/24206/hank-gilpin-exploring-the-american-forest

-Paul

[David Helm]

Are you familiar with Hank Gilpin's work? His take on wood usage is very refreshing, I've had similar ideas for a long time; there is no bad wood:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/24206/hank-gilpin-exploring-the-american-forest

-Paul

Wow! Great link! I had previously seen some of Gilpin's work, but the important thing for me was his philosophy of wood. Matches mine, but I'm nowhere near as good a woodworker as he is.

[Larry Edgerton]

Ditto. Thanks for the link.

Larry

[ken gibbs]

I always charge more for an order that I make from stock with worm holes. I did a fireplace mantle for a friend of mine from some very old sugar maple. Three weeks later she called me in a panic. I seems that one of the little worms was still alive and eating that sugar maple. So I had to go back and kill the worm to calm the customer. I told her that made it authentic & she did not demand her money back.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Real wood has imperfections.
Isn't the whole point of working with wood dealing with those imperfections?

If I want "perfection", I can always just go out and buy IKEA.

[Jim Underwood]

Hey... I'm a wood turner. They're always beautiful...:D

We're always making drop dead beautiful stuff out of firewood and pure-D junk wood. Obviously I voted "Always beautiful".

But it really depends. If you're making something to set on the shelf to look at, then it doesn't matter so much. If you're making a useful item that will be heavily used? Well, it really needs to be stable...

I'm sorry to say, but I think you're poll is won't give you the information you're looking for - it's the discussion on this thread that's really valuable...