Christmas notes from Wisconsin

Hello Folks! It is 2 days after Christmas. I had one of my grandsons help me unload the kiln and haul it home. It sure makes things easier. He is also learning to drive and I let him drive home with many loads of lumber. That was scary. There are some good stories about his driving but will save that for another blog. Needless to say, it is a good thing I have a bald head or I would lose all of my hair.

This unloading has some wonderful material with great history and stories. First up was one log set of yellow birch that has laid at the bottom of a river for over 150 years. This tree was over 300 years old when it was cut which would put it back in the 1500's, when it started to grow. These boards range from 8" wide to 16" wide and 11' long. The boards have the tightest grain I have ever seen in a hardwood log. Most of this is cut into 5/4 thicknesses. The wood has a much darker tone because the river has a high iron content. I would like to sell this whole log set as one. I can cut it into shorter lengths or leave it long for shipping. There is probably 200 board feet, roughly. Very unique, very historical material. I would be asking $2,500.00 for this whole set.

Next up is some of the nicest, most colorful spalted hard maple. There is varying grades. I have this in both 4/4 and 8/4. It is sound but very light in weight. Lots of checking on the ends. Some has some incredibly heavy birdseye figure. Some has heavy curly figure. Some is just plain spalted maple.
The figured material will run higher than the plain maple. The low grade material will be sold for $2.00 per board foot. By low grade, I mean center cuts of the log. This will include pith and checking in the middle of some boards. The plain spalted maple will be $4.00 board foot. I have not priced the birdseye and curl yet, as I am separating boards from the piles. The story behind all the spalted maple is this. These logs sat in a veneer yard in upper MI for over 7 years. They got covered in dirt and leaves. Why the yard owner did nothing with them I am not sure. A mill I deal with had these logs dropped off several years ago. They were sawed and stickered and then left for several years at the back of the mill yard. A year ago I was asked if I was interested in some old , crappy wood in the back. As I walked back towards the pile I could see the figure in some boards, some 200 ft. away.
Luckily they had thrown some tin over the stack so it wasn't completely out in the weather. There were some super weathered pieces on the very outside of the pile but for the most part it is very heavily spalted.

The rest of the wood from this load is some beautiful white birdseye and curly hard maple. If you are looking for anything in particular let me know. I am working with a new trucking company for pallet loads. I also have used Fed Ex for pallet loads. Very economical shipping to the west coast. Email me for shipping pallet loads of wood.

 yellow birch from the river. More photos are available.

 spalted maple

 another shot in the rough

This is what I saw from over 200 feet away. Heavy birdseye

 8/4 live edge spalted

4/4 spalted birdseye

October news from the shop

Hello folks.

I have been meaning to get something out sooner, but well, no excuses. Its been a busy fall. Lumber sales have slowed down over the summer, which is kind of normal. But I hope you are planing to be working in the shop soon.

 I have found a new way to ship. Bundles are getting really expensive. Shipping out west just is tough. Fed Ex has come up with a flat rate pallet. Depending on where you live from me, I can ship 1200# of wood for between 130 to 300$ to either a fed ex terminal where you pick it up or to a business with a loading dock and forklift. I can still do Fastenal as well, but not as far west. But if you can use material from 46 to 47" long, these pallets are a great cost saver. I think I can do 250 board ft in most of them.  Maybe a bit more. I have to include the weight of the box and pallet and stay under 1200#. If I plane the wood, that helps cut the weight. Fed ex truck terminals are around most cities. I even have one close to Seymour. Maybe work together with other woodworkers you know to fill a box. I have had several groups do this for pallets over the years. Shipping is always my biggest hurdle in selling online. I hate when shipping bundles when the freight is more then the wood. Any questions, let me know. It may take me a bit to get this down, but it seems to be pretty good.

Now that shipping is covered, I can speak about the wood. I have been selling more wide stock as of late. Also stuff for guitars and other music making pieces.  I sure don't understand much about that world, but I try. Those pieces do get pricey fast due to the demands for all white material.

Bark pocket maple in 4/4 and 8/4 stock is in. Lots to pick from. The 8/4 has some nice wide stuff. Also spalted maple in 4/4 material. I have a ton of spalted air drying right now. I also have a pile of 5/4 heavy curl that is stained but dried. Very cheap if you want the whole pile. I think there is about 250 ft. 

Out of the woods I am hearing about lack of good figure and how hard it is to find. One mill I buy from sawed several million feet this year with no figure showing up hardly at all. Birdseye is getting really hard to get in white material and heavy eye. Its a shame in my eyes more makers not using the colored material in their work. The figure is usually way better. I think the color adds to the piece as well. But to each their own said the man as he kissed his cow...
Yes its harder and harder to find exceptional material. But I do have a good amount of wide heavy figured curl and birdseye. Its not cheap, but if you need something for that one special piece, let me know. I also have a good amount of thick stock in curl and am working to get more 8/4 birdseye. I am getting some flame birch sawed as quarter sawn stock. I am waiting to see how it turns out. I do have plenty of 8/4 flame birch and some exceptional wide flame birch I am making my kitchen cabinets out of flame birch right now. Everyone says they are stunning. Charles Neil has been working on his Calista Anne out of flame birch. I know he can't wait to do more out of it.....not! Its hard and heavy as can be a complete bugger to work. But the results are stunning. I have some beautiful 5/4 and 6/4 in it as well. I will be getting some 4/4 curly walnut. It sounds like really nice material. I also have gotten some curly red oak. Nice wide material. Very reasonable as well.

I have a good amount of 5/4 and 6/4 birdseye too. Odd sizes that no one else carries.


I did put birdseye maple flooring in my home this year. Its stunning. I added a picture below. I can have this run for you if you are looking for something really different. No one has birdseye flooring like this. The fellow who installed it remarked that he had done several "birdseye" floors, but none of them had figure like mine. He said the typical "birdseye floor board has 3 or 4 "eyes".  He said most of the floors had less eyes in the whole floor then this had in a few pieces. I like good material. This flooring is. A lot of it is 8 feet long. almost unheard of in the flooring world. If you have questions, let me know. It does take time to get the material and have it run into flooring.

Lots of live edged curly maple in thicker stock sizes. The live edged material seems to be what folks are looking for lately. I do have 12/4 and 16/4 as well as 8/4 and 10/4 in live edge.

I am including a few pictures as well. One is the smaller of the 2 shipping pallets from fed ex. Gives you and idea of size. Some wood shots  of course.

Always glad to answer any building or finishing questions. I am one of the few if any wood sellers who actually make a living building and finishing with the material I sell. I have done a lot of weird things over the years, so if I can give you an answer, I will. Let me know how I can help.

Thanks again!
flat rate pallet

 23" wide 3 piece set of crotch walnut

 10/4 live edge curly maple

 spalted birch

 birdseye flooring

Heavy eye birdseye, curly bark pocket , tight curly maple and curly red oak all in one load

Just got done with 2 days of unloading , separating and piling wood. I have to say, its great exercise when the weather is nice.

Got about 4000 feet out of the kiln this time. I have one small load of curly red oak to get tomorrow. I am tired.

This load was a mix of stuff from both close by and from the great north woods. I love unpiling it and thinking what each board could make. The juices still run strong in making things. I see furniture and small pieces coming from each piece. Yes, I handle each board several times. That is why I know just how nice the figure is and what it can be used for. I am not like a cabinet shop where they make boxes and doors and drawers. I see log sets being made into outstanding pieces for someone's home. Each board in the set with rich heavy figure. This is all part of what I love to do. I don't have employees, just me and I do all the work. Again, no complaints, just allows me to see what is good, great or not so good. I have clients that like certain figures and I need to find and pull or at least sort so I know where it is.

I have a bunch of photos and will put some on here. This load had a little of everything.
Birdseye maple with some really heavy eye, some of the tightest soft curly maple I have ever seen and some beautiful tight curl hard maple that is just breathtaking. Last but not least, a nice selection of curly red oak, in 4/4, 6/4 and a little 8/4. A few hundred feet.  Lots of matching boards in the oak and also wide material. That came from a veneer factory that sorts out any figure. I am not a fan of red oak, but this material is stunning. Big wavy curl. Some on one side, some going across the whole width of the board.

If you would like to contact me to purchase any of this, check out my web site at
www.bobkloes.com or check me out on facebook here.
https://www.facebook.com/KloesCustomWoodwork/
I ship all over the country. There is stock for guitars,furniture,boxes,urns and most anything in many thicknesses up to 4" thick and 24" wide. I can help with questions on finish or construction of furniture. I think that makes me a little different from a lot of wood sellers.

Kiln unloading-March 2016

Hello folks.
It has been a pretty crazy few weeks. Lots to do and get done . I got the kiln unloaded this last week and thought you might like seeing what came out.

Mostly 4/4 birdseye, hard curly maple and flame birch and some bark pocket and odd stuff. Some 5/4 as well. Here are some pictures.
This is the bark pocket. Nice small bark inclusions in the boards. Curl and figure as well. All hard maple. 

 This is heavy white birdseye in the rough. The one piece on the right has some "color" in it.

 This is hard curly maple. There was lots of beautiful stuff in this batch. White and wide. And loads of intense curl.

 This is the flame birch. You can see the "barber pole" effect in the side grain. Some of this goes into my kitchen.......sometime.

There was only about 2500 ft this time. Next load will be about 4500 ft. not sure where it will all fit. But I sure love seeing it come out.
Thanks for following along.Email me or call if you need really nice figured wood. I am not always fast, but I keep trying. Look at my web site for contact info.
www.bobkloes.com
Almost forgot the curly red oak. Its some nice wide materiel and runs 4.50 board foot. Has a big crescent moon curl in it.

its winter, no global warming in site

Hi folks.
Yep its winter. Being a born and raised Wisconsinite[not sure if that is correct], I am used to snow and cold. So, I am not complaining about this winter. I think its been kind of mild. But my logging friends are not to happy. We had a very mild December and the snow and cold really never came. Then we got 12" of snow  and the ground never froze. Had some good cold temps after that, but the ground was covered and never froze. So, here it is, prime logging weather and its really hard to get into the woods.

Kind of like how anything can make gas prices rise, when loggers can't log, prices can rise. I have seen soft maple jump again. Its about the same as hard maple here. That is weird for us. Hard maple is always a premium product.

I have a full shop of wood. Got some really cool stuff.
Curly red oak, wide boards and super nice curl. I have some here now and hope to get more next month out of the kiln. A lot of this came from a veneer factory. They hate curl. I am not a huge red oak fan, but this is sweet stuff. I also have some really nice spalted maple and bark inclusion maple. Some has all kinds of unusual figure. I am showing a spoon I made out of a cut off end. It has spots like a spotted dog. The cutting board was done in 2 end cutoffs that were narrow and crappy. It sold for over 200$.

Let me know if you are looking for something special. I am sure I can help. Email or call, I am usually around.

First load from the kiln for the new year

Brought the first load home today from the kiln.  It was all thick curly [tiger] maple. Most soft red maple. 16/4 [4" thick], 12/4[3" thick] and some 10/4[2.5" thick]. I do believe this will be the only 16/4 and maybe 12/4 for the year. I only have small amounts and its really well figured. It take so long to dry I just can't afford to have it sitting around. If you are looking for some spectacular stock for slab tops or something else, let me know soon. I can't say how long this will last as its only a few hundred feet of each.  It does  contain some color. Moving this stuff lets me know how old I am. Some planks are over 200# each. It was worse when we got them green though. I will be getting a big load of 8/4 material of flame birch, curly [tiger] maple and birdseye maple out on this load as well.

Bowl turners, this has some real nice width to it. Some are nice and wide. Not much isn't under 10". The price on this batch of 16/4 is 20$ board foot. You have to take the whole piece. They are 8 feet long. The 12/4 is 15$ foot for the wide stock and 12$ foot for bed post stock.

 16/4 tiger maple

 16/4 tiger maple

 16/4 tiger maple

10/4 and 12/4 tiger maple

I know I have 1 piece of 16/4 hard maple. Tight curl. Its beautiful. Email me off my web site.Or call. The info is all on the web site.
www.bobkloes.com

Just a note before Christmas

Hello folks.

Its been busy here at the shop. Had several furniture pieces to get done and I am almost finished with had to be done before Christmas. That is a good feeling.

The lumber has been coming in and slowly been getting dried. Just can not hurry the process. I have gotten a few loads of 4/4, 5/4 and 6/4 material in this past year. My storage area is getting pretty full. Some beautiful white birdseye and some wide, heavy figure flame birch and curly maple. Got a few log sets of some stuff. I have not pulled as many log sets this time. I will be getting a big load of thick stock in the next week or two out of the kiln. Lots of 8/4, 12/4 and some 16/4 in most of the figured stuff. Flame birch, curly maple and birdseye. Some great turning stock or bed post material. I am having some more 12/4 flame birch cut. I only got enough for 1 bed and have several guys who want it. The problem is , it can take a few years to get the material dry. Thick stock is a bugger.

I also have talked with one of the mills I buy from about cutting some high quality birdseye veneer stock for guitar makers. The only size I know of is 5/4 material. If you are an instrument maker and want something cut, let me know. I can't promise anything, but will see what I can do. Veneer logs are a whole special thing. I would have 1000's of dollars just in the logs. I want to make sure folks will buy what they say. I do get a lot of 8/4 material that would work for bodies. The 5/4 is for necks. The specs are very tight and huge eyes with all white material.

I am still selling 20 ft packs, single planks with natural or live edges , turning stock ,etc. I can ship via Fastenal where possible on pallet loads or fed ex freight. Spee dee is a service I use for the upper midwest. If you need something special, let me know. If you can pass my info on to someone, I would greatly appreciate it.

I wish each and every one of the folks I deal with a very merry Christmas and a great new year ahead.

What I see when I look at rough sawn lumber

I have been asked many many times how I pick the lumber I do. I guess I have looked at so much over the years I think I know what will be good or not. Its not a perfect system by any means. The mill is the first ones to pull the wood. I have met with the owners and have also taken time to meet with the graders and sawyers.Believe me when I say, its all about trust and communications.

I take time to educate everyone that will be picking wood for me. Its only in their and my best interests to be forthright and honest. Once we are on the same page, it goes very smooth. You get some hiccups once in a while, but nothing that can't be worked out.

I go by the National hardwood graders rules on all my lumber. They are well explained and there are sources on the web to read them. I am not a certified grader. I go by what they tell me is what I am wanting. I usually don't mind color on 1 side of a board. By color, I mean heartwood or mineral streak. I can pull all white if the client wants that. Its just adds to the cost. On many of the pieces i have built over the last 35 years, I rarely needed both sides of a piece to show. And with using dyes to color the wood, it barely ever makes any difference. 

Instrument makers are the hardest to work with. I do sell to a few. Many are just asking for the moon and then do not want to pay the cost. I will work with anyone and try and be honest and fair. But you can't ask to buy the cream of the crop and then complain about the cost. The very top 10% of the wood is the easiest to sell. It is also the most expensive. 25$ to 50$ foot is not hard to get at all.
Whats hard is selling bulk. I get , what I consider , to be some very high grade material. It is easy to say I sell only the very best, but I do get a lot of wood and there is stuff that does not make the highest grade. By that, I mean some curly maple has some heartwood, or some birdseye has some color or wane [barky edges]. Never has it stopped me from using it in my work. But some folks are under the impression that God only makes pure white, heavy eye birdseye and they want 30" wide boards 5 feet long and all clear. For 17$....I have had that question asked, more then once. I guess what I am saying is , the wood is all cut to my specs at the mills. I have had very few issues with bad material. 

I try and sell only what will work for a project to folks. I ask questions about what they are building. Its a whole lot easier to help if I know what you are going to be cutting the boards into. I know in many of my pieces, I rarely use boards more then 4 or 5 feet long. Many times is 18 inches to 36 inches long. I never worry much about cup and twist in figured woods. It happens and always will. I wish I could dry it all in a vacuum kiln. But I can't afford to buy one. My wood is done the old fashion way. Air dried , then in a dehumidification kiln. It works well. But the figured woods all tend to twist and cup and God knows what. The wood is all sawn to inch and one either for 4/4 stock. I can cut the material I need and by jointing 1 side flat and then planing it, I still can get 7/8" to 13/16" for the pieces. If you think you can by 1 inch stock and resaw it to get two 1/2" pieces, it will not happen. At best you may get two pieces that are 3/8".

A piece of really heavy figured curl or birdseye can be dead flat or it can be twisted like a pretzel. I just have to figure out how to use it the best way. I will not toss and badly twisted piece. I'll figure out something can be made from it. its up to me to figure out.

I probably shouldn't say this, but for the pieces I have made in my home, I used the worst stuff no one would buy. It all worked.

Here are some pictures of wood in the rough and then some of it planed. I see the figure in the rough. Its the one way I tell the mills what I want. If I can't see the figure in the rough, I don't want the wood. The figure is not heavy enough. Many of my clients will say, "you just pick it out, because I know, you know what it will look like."I hope that folks will trust me to always give them great material. My word means something and if you don't like what I have picked, I will gladly take it back. The only way I
can't is if you have colored it or chopped into small pieces. In all the years selling wood, I only had 1 order refunded. Being a 1 person business, I am trying hard to gain and keep my customers.

 hard curly maple before and after planing

 Flame birch before planing

 after planing

 Weird figure maple before planing

bark pocket maple after planing

Birdseye maple after planing

Birdseye maple before planing

I hope this helps show what I see. Any questions, please email me or call. Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend.

New load from the kiln

Its been very nice so far in Wisconsin this spring. Wet and warm at times, but no complaining from the peanut gallery.

Just got several new loads from the kiln. Some stunning material. Flame birch in 5/4 , 6/4 and 8/4 and the same in birdseye maple and tiger maple. Even got a few pieces of 12/4 birdseye and curl mix. Those will make someone a stunning pencil post bed or turned bowls.

The wood business has been doing ok. I have had several new customers and they all seem to be happy with the material. I seem to be sending out more pallets lately as well. Had to buy more new pallets. Longer so it was easier for Fastenal and other trucking companies to haul them.

Its getting full in the shop. I am fortunate to have my grandson come help me a couple days a week.
Lots of unloading , stacking, measuring and checking figure. I wish at times it was easier, but I have to lift each and every board several times from when it starts air drying to when its finally put away. I probably touch each piece 6 or 8 times in the process. I guess I am not into "lean" processes.
I will be offering a veneer slicing service. I have contacted a company that slices veneer from boards. They steam it and slice it, anywhere from 1/42" to 1/16". If this is something you are looking for, let me know. Its not inexpensive, but if you want to work a lot of surface, it can be done. This is not something for 1 or 2 boards though.

These are a log set of wide 6/4 flame birch. All natural edges, just some stunning material. Some of these will be used in a class by Charles Neil this fall. I have some really sweet 8/4 material as well.

Let me know what you are looking for. I only sell figured lumber from Wisconsin, the UP , Iowa and Indiana. Best stuff in the world as far as I know.

Springtime, 2015

Not a lot of pictures this time. The weather has seemed to finally have warmed a bit. Than again, its Wisconsin, so who knows?

The amount of stock that came out this winter is down from past years. I was up by the mill last week and talked with the owner. I always have known figured wood is rare. How rare is a matter from folks to debate. I can only pass on what I am told by the guys who saw it.
He sawed 75,000 board feet of yellow birch last week. I got 60 feet to bring home. Does that tell you anything?

This winter has been one of the best logging winters in several years. The weather was very cold and not a lot of snow, so the loggers could get into lots of areas that had been hard to get to for several years. The mill yard is full and its been a very slow winter to get figured wood. They have been sawing like mad, but there has been little stock that has been pulled. I have gotten about the equivalent of 2 full loads this winter. I normally run 7 to 10 loads.

Now this spring can still be good, but I am just in a holding pattern. I am getting a small load in today.
But I have gotten some really nice stuff this winter. It will be a year or so before the 4/4 and 5/4 stock is ready. 8/4 and thicker takes years. Just can't rush it.

I have gotten some wonderful birdseye, flame and curly. Like I sad, not a lot of pictures this time, but then again, I do have a few. Let me know if I can help with any of your needs.I always have material in all thicknesses. Just got a nice load of 6/4 birdseye and tiger maple out of the kiln. It is pretty.

 rough sawn birdseye, you know its good figure when you see it in the rough.

 Piles of thick birdseye, 8/4 and 12/4.

 A nice crotch piece of cherry, I have a few like this. All 8/4.

Walnut crotches. Really nice book matched sets.

Birdseye maple flooring, it took a year to get the material and have it made, but it turned out beautiful!

Just in tme for the start of winter

 The pictures above are a couple bookmatched sets of walnut slabs. The taller of the two is 7' tall and the the smaller set is a little over 5' tall. Nice crotch figure in both sets. The bottom picture is a crotch piece of mulberry. Its 30" wide and about 54" long. The color is wonderful. It will turn to a reddish brown over time. This one is only about an inch thick. Nice and flat. The edges are wonderful. I do have a thicker one that matches this as well. Email me for more info if you want. I have lots of other slabs as well. A pair of pretty curly cherry ones and lots of tiger maple and walnut ones as well.

This is a shot of "paint grade" tiger maple. It got stained while drying. The figure is really nice and some will clean up  to be white. I cannot say what the stain would do for coloring this. Some has a spalted look to it. The stock is all 5/4 and the figure is really nice. I will list the price in the wood letter. It way under the price of spalted maple and curly [tiger] maple. Its even under the price of plain soft maple.

 The picture above does not do justice to the figure, but its a pile of 12/4, 8/4 and 6/4 birdseye maple. Thick stock takes so long to dry. If you hurry it, it can have all sorts of issues. The 8/4 stock and thicker can take several years to dry right. That is why some looks so gray. It weathers, but cleans up just fine. I even have some 16/4 stock.

This is a cart of pieces left over from a job I did for an aircraft company. Its all 8/4 birdseye. Enough to fill a pallet. There is 1 piece of walnut and I think some tiger on there too. Email me if you want a great deal on this pile. Seeing as 8/4 birdseye sells for 12$ board foot, there is well over a grand worth of material on here.

Next is the pile of 4/4, 6/4 and 8/4 flame birch. Its just stunning stuff. If you follow Charles Neil, you have seen his use of some of this material. I have made several pieces over the years from it. I plan yo use it for my kitchen cabinets when I get time to make them.

This was a tavern table I made from some of it a few years back.

The flame figure is just plain stunning.
Please email me for any information you are looking for. I ship all over the country.

I wish each of you a blessed Christmas season and a great new year.