Handcrafted by Gene K

One hundred for this holiday market season, and these are the last two standing. If you’ve had your eye on one, come on down now before it is too late!

I grew up overseas, and one of my favorite keepsakes is a giant mahogany elephant. My children and all their friends grew up sitting on him, and he sits proudly in the living room. He is well loved.

But I have two children, and only one elephant. So we have always joked that I need to make another.

Enter a giant Texas pecan stump, a chainsaw, and my angle grinder with shaping disc. You’ve probably heard the Michelangelo anecdote about sculpting the David—it wasn’t so hard, he just chipped away every bit of marble that didn’t look like David.

That’s my approach. With the mahogany elephant nearby, I cut away all of the stump that doesn’t look like an elephant. The first cuts were with my chainsaw. Cutting a 600 pound stump down to more like 200 pounds was a good start. But then I needed the precision of an angle grinder. Always budget conscious, I bought an inexpensive shaping disc. It caught on the wood and ripped itself out of my hand—I didn’t include the pictures, but suffice it to say there was blood and gore. Learned that lesson: I bought a couple of different blades because of their reputation for NOT biting and kicking along the way. What a difference! No more injuries, and I’ve been able to work on the important details of ear folds and toes. I haven’t gotten to the finer points of toenails and eyes yet, but I have a rotary burr waiting for me and I’m confident it is the right tool for the task.

Setting an elephant free from a 600 pound stump is a slow process, but he is looking a little better every week. And at some point, he and his brother will go to live with my kids. It will be up to them to make the next round. I will even let them use my tools.
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