System of Wood

When I first started this project I had a hard time finding inspiration for my system idea.  So on the first weekend we got the project I decided to just go down to the wood shop and start getting use to the tools. So when I went down to the shop Tommy and I started practicing with some of the tools and seeing how they worked.  I discovered quickly I did not like the bandsaw because I did not like how it would not cut  in a straight line.  So I decided to use the table saw and the pull saw for my first practice model.  By the time I was done working with the saws I had several different models from using different saws on different settings.  I started by cutting the two by four in half and practicing on one half with the saws on one setting and then cutting the other half I cut using different settings on the saws.  With one half of the two by four I cut if from both sides shown in the picture below but then sadly it made the wood fragile and it snapped as shown in the second picture below.

1st half of the 2x4 (whole)

1st half of the 2x4 after it snapped

With the second half of the two by four I cut grooves in the wood shown in the first picture below and then sliced the wood into sections like the lower picture.

2nd half of 2x4 before

2nd half of 2x4 after

Then with another second of the second half I cut groove into it in a different way shown in the picture below but it too was too fragile and snapped in half straight down the center.

2nd section of 2nd half of the 2x4

The last practice model that made that day was another piece of two by four that I combined several of the different cuts that I made in the other pieces all in one piece.  I noticed as I was making it that the saw was too strong for some of the more delicate pieces and they kept snapping off but I liked the effect that it had so then I also broke off some of them on purpose to add to that effect.  When I was finished with this piece I realized that it looked like computer code to me so that is where I found my inspiration and I built on that idea for my later models.

Final practice piece (inspiration)

Final practice piece (inspiration)

Final practice piece (inspiration)

Computer code image

Then later on I thought that maybe I would add a frame around the outside of the first piece using some of the other pieces that I had cut.  However later on I decided to do something other than an exact frame in my later models because I did not like how the outer frame hid the detail along the sides because I felt that was one of the most intriguing parts of my system.

Final practice piece plus frame

Once I had completed the section for my center piece of my system then I just had to find a way to incorporate the longer cut off pieces that I shaved from the sides and I tried several different ways like putting one down each side but then I still had two more pieces but I did not want to put a long piece between each row of remaining cut out rectangles so instead I moved on to another idea. 

Two pieces framing each side

Later I came up with the idea to cut down two of the long skinny pieces that I had framing the sides so that then I could put the other two pieces along the top of the center piece to create the sense of containment without actually having a frame to it.  Although the saw took off a few of the center pieces I also broke off some of them on purpose to give it a more purposeful look.  Then I took the extra pieces that I cut from the end on the "frame" pieces and incorporated them back into the center part of the system to unify where the amount of missing pieces changed. 

Final System from front standing upright

Final System from bottom

Final System showing side detail

Final System from bottom showing side and center detail

Final System from the front standing upright

Final System from bottom laying down

Final System showing side detail

There were also the left over pieces that were either broken off by the saw or that I broke off on purpose that I tried to incorporate back into my system but then it just made it look scattered so I decided to count them as saw dust because I felt it looked cleaner without them.

Left over pieces/saw dust