December Wood Sale Info

I am trying something new. Hope you all like it. I am adding some pictures and descriptions of the wood I carry for sale. I hope this makes me add more of these, as I have been kind of lax. Sorry about that.
I am getting into the addition we started in the fall. Have one more garage door to go. Dang its cold out. It 15 below with the wind chill right now. Its about 20 in the addition, so its not bad. I am showing a couple log sets this time . I did not plane anything yet. If you are interested, I can do a board and show that to you on the blog or by email.

The first set is all hard curly or tiger maple, 1 " thick. They run 9" to 14" wide. A total of 46 board feet. There is some mineral stain on some of the boards. I am showing the front and back so you can see. The figure is very tight and pronounced. Great for guitars or furniture or other instruments. This came off an island in Michigan on a small lake. The birdseye is from the same island. 400$ plus shipping. I can cut to smaller lengths to save on shipping. I will also plane it to thickness if you want at no charge.

Next up is a set of birdseye maple boards. They all contain some mineral streaking. Both sides are shown. There is a total of 7 boards, all between 9" and 11" wide. 44 board feet. Very nice figure, but they do have color in them , mostly on the back sides.
350$ plus shipping. They can be planed at no charge and cut down to save on delivery cost.

Above is a pile of 4/4 birdseye maple, random widths, mostly white, but some contain some mineral streaks or a bit of heart.
90$ for 20 board feet, plus shipping

Above is some 8/4 soft curly or tiger maple. Some has some heart on the back side, but they all have excellent figure. 100$ for 20 board ft, plus shipping.

Here are a couple views of the addition. Lots of wood waiting to get in here and sorted out.  A couple other things, I have a small amount of 6/4 plain cherry. Very nice stock, wide, most is 10" plus.
5.75 board foot. I do have some 8/4 hard curly maple for the music guys. It starts at 7$ board foot and goes up for widths over 8" wide.
Perfect for the guitars and violins and banjos. Email me or feel free to call. 920-833-7157

Its fall in Wisconsin

Its fall now and its funny how the days can be so cold and then so pleasant. Got the small addition going up on the shop so I can have one place to store all the lumber. It will be really nice. Its just a steel addition , but I will be able to sort and stack all the lumber so I can find what I need sooner.With the help of family and friends, its coming together. Today was just beautiful. Almost t shirt weather. 50's and sunny.

Here is where I started

The steel is going on today, tomorrow I hope the roof goes on. The its finishing the trim and installing the overhead doors. Can't wait to start filling it.

I'll be able to start sorting all the birdseye , curly and flame and getting some stacks started. Have a good one!

Springtime in Wisconsin

 The picture above shows some mineral streak in the board on the left. The board on the right has bark inclusion in it. Mineral streak is what the tree gets out of the ground as it grows. Most hard maples have this in them. The figured ones seem worse then plain.

 This plank is birdseye, 4" thick and very heavy.The plank below is 16/4 hard tiger maple. Very tight curl and will probably go for music instruments. The bird poop is free...

Piles of birdseye and hard curly maple

The last 2 months have been busy. Got almost 4000' of birdseye and hard tiger maple stacked and stickered . Thank God for my friends and son in law. They haul and help me stack and sticker. Some of these planks of green maple weigh several hundred pounds each. I move each of these pieces 4 times by hand by myself and with help. You wonder why good wood costs money? Lots of dollars tied up for a long time drying. Gas and truck expenses and dry kiln expenses. Plus handling. Sure makes the price more reasonable when you think about it. It takes lots of care to make sure it dries right, without honey comb or checking. Can't do much about twist and warp, but we try.  This will stay like this for several months. Then slowly it gets kiln dried. The 4/4 stock[1"] takes the shortest. The 16/4[yes 4" thick birdseye and tiger maple] can take a year or more. Can't rush it. Its like wine. It has to be done correct or you get firewood. I was so happy to get 12/4 birdseye, now I even have some 16/4. Not much at all but what I have is wonderful. A lot of this came off an island in Upper Michigan. Nice slow growth and wide. Seems to have a lot of 10" and wider stock. Had to be some huge trees.

The paint colors tell me what mills they come from. The end grain gets sealed at the kiln. I know folks say you can use latex paint or oil paint to seal end grain. Talk to any mill or kiln, they only use anchor seal. Its wax based and seals perfect. Best stuff out there. I will not cut corners drying wood. It is like building furniture. Do the best you can with the best material and you have no regrets.

Birdseye heaven

Just got back from a trip to the mill to get a trailer load of green stock. I had asked for some 12/4 birdseye and flame birch for bed post material. I know this is super scarce. Drying takes forever and finding big logs is never easy. Plus you are going against the veneer companies to purchase those. Well, I hit the motherload. My son in law picked me up and we stated out about 6:30 am. It was a wonderful drive. Sunny and pleasant. We made good time and even stopped for breakfast. When I got to the mill, it was real quite. They work 4 10 hour days and Friday was an off day. The loader guy was working thankfully. I was told I didn't have much to pickup. I was told wrong....

The loader guy was picking up bundles and bringing them to the truck. He came with 3 bundles and told us there were more. Not on this load...The wood was all frozen together. Took some pounding with sledge hammers to get it apart. I was speechless. There were planks, 3" and 17" wide. Beautiful white birdseye. The whole trailer got filled quick. We had to hand load some to get the most on without being overloaded. We had almost 6000# on the trailer. The roads were a bit lumpy to say the least, so we strapped it down and headed out.

Unloading was no fun. Had to beat it more with sledges. Stacking and stickering was a chore. Heavy wet and icy. Some of the big planks weighed several hundred pounds. Made for some exciting stacking to say the least. No smashed fingers thankfully. Wet cold hands, but those are fixable. Hope you enjoy the pics. It was a great day to say the least. Hope to be going back in the next month for some flame birch. I hope to have this dried and ready to sell by the end of this year. Thick stock is always a slow process. This will make some great turning stock, bedposts or tables. I have never in my life seen this thick and wide of birdseye. All great figure too.

Boxes, lots O' boxes

Doing a run of dovetailed candle boxes. I pull bits of boards aside over time and then just try and use them for small work. This is mostly maple with some flame beech ones also. I had too many and never did get any curly cherry or flame birch ones started. I have 25 going right now with a couple of new sized ones in the works. I get some real different maple at times. It doesn't fit any figure I have seen before. Its all hard maple, but I don't know what to even call the figure. I do have birdseye and curly tiger maple in this bunch, but also some other.

 this is some bark inclusion

 This stuff looks exactly like the bark on a white birch tree. Never saw anything like it.

 Another shot

 spalted hard maple

birdseye maple.

Hope to get these done in the next couple weeks. I am working on a bigger size for a jewelry box with a tray inside. Same sliding lid. Just wider. They will be dovetailed also. None of these have finish on yet. I will do another blog when I get these done. Some will be dyed, some clear finished. They do take a lot of work. I made these with Charles Neil and they are available in a dvd set. I was fatter then. If you see me in that dvd set, I am about 70# less now.
Thanks for reading.

Winter and wood

Thought it best to get a new post up and maybe some pictures. Its early February, the super bowl is done. Got a load out of the kiln last month and have another cooking as I write this.

Furniture sales have picked up and so have inquiries about new work. That is always a good thing. Its been a number of tough years and I enjoy having a backlog again. I applied to a number of fine art shows. Now comes the waiting to see if I am good enough to get in. The art show business is interesting to say the least. I was not juried into one show so far. I looked at who was in it last year and I thought I brought something completely different to the table for this show. But it wasn't meant to be I guess. Lots more to pick from.

I have gotten some great figured maple in the last few loads along with some great flame birch. Some nice log sets and just nice stock.I still laugh when I open the kiln and see twisted curled boards in the stacks. The dry kiln owner is so upset when something like that happens. I always tell him, its not his fault. Had one in the last load that was one of the worst I have ever seen. Cut it into small pieces and gopt enough out of it for some drawers. I try and waste nothing.

I am working on 2 sugar chests/ wine storage cases. I will post some pictures when they are done.

Cold snowy weather this winter. Had rain , thunderstorms and snow and below zero temps all within 3 days last week. Hope that doesn't continue.
Guess I have talked enough for now. I will leave a few pictures. Hope you enjoy. bob