Cool waters are the perfect environment to preserve wood for hundreds of years. Throughout the Southeast during the 1800s and early 1900s, cypress and pine trees were cut, tied together, and floated to sawmills downriver. Occasionally some logs would break free, become waterlogged and sink to the river floor. When removed, dried, and milled, these logs yield unparalleled patinas. Much of the cypress called "Sinker Cypress" used to create this piece was recovered from the floor of the Withlacoochee River in Central Florida. The lower bill of the sawfish is made of claro walnut from Northern California, the top piece of the bill recovered from a share-cropper house in Madison County, Florida. I felt it appropriate, given the logging heritage of the lumber, to loosely represent the creature's bill as a chainsaw with patinated copper teeth.