American Traditional - 7/8" Stall Handmade Tree of Life

  Most of y'all are no stranger to the popular Lincoln-style or "T-Handle". Just by doing a minimal search of a collector's arrangement, you're guaranteed to see one in there. My "Tree of Life" design just takes the Lincoln a bit further. When I draw these out by hand, I make sure that there is NO AREA left straight; only continual radius' live here.

 Let me go on by saying, that before this I have never made a Tree of Life with 7/8" finger stalls. Sure, I've created countless customs for multiple people over the years, from "user" to collector, but NEVER a ToL with smaller stalls.

  This Tree of Life was 100% handmade from 1/2" thick solid brass. From drawing it out on brass bar, to cutting out the finger stalls, roughing things in on a bandsaw, and fine shaping (the little in-between area where things are finally ready to rock).

  As mentioned above, the finger stalls were cut at a 7/8" diameter. While this is ONLY 1/8" smaller than that of the industry standard 1", this makes the entire piece much smaller overall; From the height to the length... and obviously the stalls.

  After freehand grinding a chamfer around the entirety in order to create what will be the border, the finger stalls were hand filed... If you're familiar with my handmade work, you know to expect a hand filed contouring that reaches from face to face. In fact, I'm comfortable saying that my finger stalls literally seat the fingers... kinda like a La-Z-Boy for the hand.

  The outer edges and borders were fully ground, further rounding over any area that could potentially create a hotspot. The freehand grinding leaves a crazy rough an uneven surface, so the fix to that is MORE hand filing. Every single edge and border was filed, smoothing over and giving a final outer shape that rests beautifully in the hand.

  I didn't stop there. After shaping with a file, I used another (think crazy small) file to hit all of the outer borders, with the exception of the inside radius. This left not only a COOL aesthetic, but a micro texture, and a TON of character!

  Looking at this small Tree of Life and the work that had been done, I pictured a piece that could be carried by a man or woman alike. I saw handwork that represented not only an old school vibe, but a clean modern look. That's where the Skull & Rose come from. To me, this had kind of a "Sailor Jerry" vibe... American Traditional. And with that, I added an old English type font at the bottom of each side.

  As the stalls taper down into the "trunk", the palm brace reaches outwards in order to span the inner hand in a way that will add to the overall comfort. If you look at the bottom of the brace, you'll find the 2026 year marking (upside down Horseshoe with Clover).

  This piece was given a special wash, double blackened, and hand rubbed to a distressed look. Odie's Oil was applied and set, followed by Renaissance Wax to really hold the finish.

  This will NOT BE A STANDARD OFFERING during custom book openings. The amount of work involved and the size of tools that I have, limit the ability to create a piece like this in a reasonable amount of time.

• 1st Ever 7/8" Tree of Life
• 100% Handmade from drawing to final finish
• American Traditional Skull & Rose marking
• Hand filed/textured borders and edges
• Firefighter made in USA