You’ve probably seen them in our display cabinet and wondered what they are. Well here’s the scoop.
These amazing wood pieces are called Wood-Henges, A Wood-Henge is a unique, finely crafted EDC (Every Day Carry) wood piece created from the most beautiful hardwoods available.
Wood-Henges are highly polished wood pieces using sandpaper and micro mesh pads from 400 grit to 12,000 grit. Many have a great deal of chatoyancy. They have no finish on them. Your natural oils, enfused with your DNA, maintain the pieces and polish them even more unlike a worry stone, which remains static. Rub them for relaxation – (you can rub both sides), or use them as a fidget item by flipping them through your fingers like a pen or a coin. The curves on both sides of your Wood-Henge perfectly fit the curve of your thumb. It also makes it very easy to rotate them through your fingers as you would a pencil or a coin.
Also used as a meditation tool and to help improve agility and control of your fingers. Musicians find them very helpful.
“The Wood-Henge idea came as a result of making my own “knucklebone” out of beautiful hardwoods used by pen makers,” said Rick Gilbert. “A Knucklebone is a dumbbell shaped, weighted item made of metal or acrylic used to develop agility in your fingers as you flip it through them like you would a pen or a coin. I purchased one and then thought that maybe I could make one out of hardwood. So I did make several using tools on hand – a grinder, lots of sandpaper and lots and lots of elbow grease. They turned out to be quite beautiful and I eventually made other pieces for friends and family. I called them “ChickenBones.”
“When I held a chicken-bone in my hand, I would unconsciously rub the stem like you would a worry stone and as a result the stem got very glossy showing off the beautiful grain in the wood. A light bulb went off! If I could create from a piece with a larger surface area with a shape that would better fit a thumb it would work much better. Also, it would have to be more discrete to be popular as EDC (every day carry) item. It should fit easily in your pocket or purse and not be obvious. After a lot of experimentation, the Wood-Henge was created. Not only was it a great piece to rub, but also the ability of this design to flip easily through your fingers became obvious as the shape was perfect – far better and easier than using commonly used items like a coin or a pen.”
Each takes approximately 3 hours to create. All pieces are carefully hand shaped from beautiful hardwoods from Africa and Central America using a stationary belt sander and then drum sanders.
Then there is the final 8 stage polishing process all done by hand using the same polishing pads used by luxury pen manufacturers. This stage gives these pieces their unbelievable shine and smoothness, often bringing out an iridescence (chatoyancy) not normally seen in wood. I use no coatings (ie shellac, varnish, linseed oil) of any kind. The hand rubbing of Wood-Henges by new owners may increase their shine even more and it infuses to it your own oils and DNA.
Wood-Henges have become popular as an EDC item and as an art form in of itself. People not only buy single pieces just to keep one in their pocket or purse, but also numerous pieces to display in a stand from an art point of view.
