The Sentinel

 When Bob retired from his long time career as a physicist, he had it in his mind to fix up his workshop in his retirement.  He’d not had time in his busy life to spend much time there.  Starting mostly with tools from his father and the time they worked helping to build the addition on our house in the early 1980’s, he began to build up his tool collection—saws, a lathe, drill press, a grinder or two and much much more.  Over the years, he has built up a fabulous workshop that serves his almost every desire.  After he got all the woodworking tools in place, he began to develop an interest in metalworking.  For many years, he spent time building ever more creative pieces from used horseshoes he’d collect at nearby horse barns.  This work led him to become a skilled welder.  At first he used his father’s old welder, then he needed to have other kinds of welders.  He’s gotten two more so he now has three welders.  Over the years, he has come to be a regular “Mr Fixit” able to fix anything that is broken, from a broken rake to a broken mixer whip.   His creations have changed and become more and more artistic over the years.  

About a month ago, he accepted the challenge to make a heron sculpture for a friend.  She wanted it as a tangible monument for her dear friend who had died.  She and Bob went back and forth, finally settling on an elegant simple design.  I found it fascinating to watch him work.  He spent a really long time getting the design pattern exactly right, then enlarging it on graph paper to be four times bigger, marking the lengths of the pieces and the precise angles of the curves.  Then he began to plan the jigs he’d need.  A jig is a specially created tool that helps one do a specific job,  in this case  to make bends in the metal.  It took him a very long time to make the jigs he’d need.  Finally he began to cut the 3/8” square steel metal pieces into the required lengths.  Then he bent the pieces to the exact curves needed.  Finally he began to weld the pieces together—-first the head (the hardest part), then the long neck then the body.  The legs presented a question in which I was consulted.  Were they long enough?  We decided the first ones he’d made weren’t long enough so he made another longer set of legs.   Finally, he finished the piece, grinding off the excess metal of the welds so the pieces were smooth and shiny.  And it was ready to go with just one more addition, the pieces that would hold it in place.  He welded on two 10” stakes, connected by a crosspiece that go into the ground.  We invited over friend over to view the piece which Bob had placed in my garden.  At first she couldn’t see it and then she did and her face lit up with joy and delight!  She was so very happy with Bob’s beautiful artistic heron creation.  We took it to her garden and helped her install the piece.  She calls it “The Sentinel.”  Bob is now not just a most talented craftsman but truly an artist.  He’s already working on his next piece, a 3-D rotating double helix.  I can’t wait to see it.