While working in the monastery, Mr. Bitar saw a withered lemon tree in the monastery’s courtyard. He cut it down and the colour of its core came to light. He found it to be yellow, like the colour of Amber.
Then he divided it into small pieces, and separated them into different sizes and shapes. Simultaneously, he carved a board out of dark-coloured walnut wood and inserted the lemon wood pieces into it, and they came together beautifully.
At the beginning of his innovation, he used to cut the lemon wood, piece by piece, and place it with his bare hands in the carved walnut wood. But, with his natural talent, he came up with making moulds of solid walnut wood, in which he carved shapes in the form of a ruler, 10 centimetres long with various thicknesses. Subsequently, he began sawing lemon or red apricot wood and placing it in the engraved walnut mould, then carving it tightly as if it were one piece.
