I had a few glue ups lying around.  The one that was to become a potato had first become a round column.  Before that it was sort of a rectangular block.  It sat as a column for some time, making me think of things that columns can be, like the stele upon which Hammurabi wrote the laws gifted to him from above.  It was a black diorite index finger with the the laws written on it, and the nail depicting the Sun god Shamash, apparently also charged with justice, handing authority to Hammurabi.  Funny how the gods favored the kings in those days.  Anyway, this wood may have pined for such a stellar destiny (forgive me) but such was not to be.

As I was saying, it sat as a column for a while until for some reason ‘egg’ it was saying.  Egg?  Yes, egg.  Make me an egg.  To eat?  No, make me into an egg.  Really.  So down to the workshop we went, where there is no lathe, no turning tools.  Calipers, yes.  Eggs have radial symmetry.  With enough persistence and no turning tools one could make an egg shape by hand.  However, along the way to such compelling (dare I say fearful?) symmetry it became more and more clear that until it reached that point it would be a potato.

The details, well, it’s a red gum eucalyptus (I think) then cedar then butternut then that eucalyptus again then sassafras then mahogany then that eucalyptus again potato.  Really a nonesuch and not at all disappointed not to have gotten to the sublime state of the egg.  Sanding to it’s potato shape was an olfactory delight, the sassafras (smells like root beer) and the cedar (smells like cedar) blending into quite a unique smell.

One potato.