The Arizona Wood Splinter Group

Back the 10th of October, 2023, we unexpectedly lost our good friend and longtime Wood Splinter Group member, Bruce Righi. He was 69 years old at the time.

Bruce’s brother Doug came out to Arizona to be with the family, and while here attended our October meeting. That meeting was a tool exchange, and Bruce had made a tool for it which Doug brought to the meeting. Raul Ramirez offered to keep and display Bruce’s offering at the Southwest School of Woodworking so it could be seen and appreciated by all.

Doug also asked if our group, which Bruce was very proud to be part of, could make an urn for Bruce’s ashes. This we did. Kip Merritt took the lead, and had this to say about the group effort:

“It has been a very rewarding project. I like the concept of each piece of wood representing individual friends now standing together as one, surrounding our friend, Bruce. The wood, with its many colors, grains, thick and thin is such a neat way to represent Bruce’s diverse pals.

This was definitely a collaborative project. Thank you to all who donated wood. Special thanks to Tom Osterday for gathering the wood, to Kerry Vesper for early brainstorming, and a huge shout out to Steve Bannon for suggestions and design decisions, and for completing the urn with an exquisite hand rubbed oil finish.

I am grateful to have been a part of it.” — Kip Merritt

The completed urn was sent to Doug Righi recently, for which he was very appreciative and had this to say:

“I got Bruce’s urn yesterday, and have been admiring it from every angle ever since. As a work of art, it is magnificent. It is, however, so much more. I don’t feel the need to to express my feelings, because I only need to look at it to know how you must have felt creating it. Bruce would have loved it, and would have taken great pleasure in explaining to me every nuance of workmanship and type of wood! I will leave it to you to express my great appreciation to the other ‘Splinters’ for their contributions. This piece will always occupy a place of honor because of its contents, and because of the way the people whose friendship he cherished and admired. Hopefully, sometime when I’m in Phoenix, we can get together and thank you in person. Till that day…” — Doug Righi

To see full-size images of the urn, follow this link to an album in Google Photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PmAXWVdX5vBsNC6J8

Here are some downsized versions:

Left: Various bits of wood donated by Splinter members make up the body of the box.
Right: Bruce Righi