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

Wood in July

Well, it hot here in Wisconsin. But its July and it should be. Sorry, I don't believe in that global warming stuff.

But enough of that. Got a kiln load of wood to pile and sort. Got started with some really nice white hard maple that comes from a veneer mill. They hate figure. Thank you Jesus! What I get are pure white boards that have light birdseye and curl. Its usually not heavy enough figure for me, so I sell this for 4.50 board foot. Makes beautiful drawer sides or whatever you want. It runs from 6" wide to over 12" wide. 8 feet long with a little 10 foot stock. If you can use a few hundred feet or more, I can give you a bit of a discount. This costs me more then regular hard maple as it is all FAS and better.

Another thing this time is 8/4 bark pocket hard maple. I only have about 130 bd ft, so there is not much. But is it pretty. And some are 12" wide. Its all 10 feet long.   I have some 4/4 in the same thing, but with deep curl in it. I have maybe 500 ft of the 4/4.

Curly red oak is in stock. Wide and heavy curl for the most part. Again, this comes from the veneer mill. So the stock is all top shelf. A lot of wide  stock and also some 6/4 and 8/4 available. For red oak, it is nice!

Some crazy heavy curl in hard maple is here. It is one the hardest woods to get. But the curl is stunning. I have both 4/4, 5/4,6/4 and 8/4. I have a good supply of the 4/4, but the rest is much smaller amounts. If you want something pretty and breathtaking, the hard curl is it. Most is white one side at least and a lot of the 4/4 is white both sides. I love the heartweood, but some only want white. I do try and make surete curl goes all the way through.

One last thing. I get boards of neat stuff, but only a couple boards. This stuff is usually all hard maple with burl clusters, wierd colors, all sorts of stuff. If you want to make some cool boxes or smaller projects, this works great. It comes and goes, but I rarely get more then 4 or 5 pieces of one tree. I also get boards that have defects. Birdseye and curl mostly. The mineral streaks can cause cracks in hard maple boards. So I pull these and only charge for the sound material. Right now I have some wide boards , but you only pay like 25$ , as I only figure on the good stuff andcharge way less per board foot.
Got sa few photos for you this time. Let me know how I can help. I will help with advice on woodworking or finishing to anyone who buys from me. Its almost 40 years experience working with this wood and building custom pieces. Not many wood sellers can offer that. Check me out on facebook and instagram as well. Lots more pictures. My instagram is bobkloes456.

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.

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.

Walnut and Cherry crotches just out of the kiln.

I always hesitate before writing the title to this blog. Not sure if I like the word crotches in the title, but then again, that is what they are called.

Just unloaded the solar kiln after almost a year. I had it loaded with walnut and cherry crotches. Got a big skid full that are ready to go. All 8/4 [2" thick]. Some matched sets, some singles. Only 5 cherry ones in the whole bunch. Great feather figure in most all of them . Some checking is always in these, but for the most part, its not bad. I dried these really slow. Would make great turning stock as well as resawing. Sizes are , what I think , is very large. Some are close to 18" wide and up to 48" long. I also have a 3 piece set of 1" thick walnut that is 23" wide and 69" long.

I will be unloading another load of green stock tomorrow. it has picked up from the mill as of late. Mostly all birdseye, heavy figure, 5/4, 6/4 and i am hoping for 8/4 tomorrow.

Also have a new delivery service for parts of the mid west. SpeeDee is the company. They are about 30 to 40% less then fed ex. They do Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa and parts of Missouri and North Dakota. Look them up online and you can see what zips they all deliver to. Pallets will still go Fastenal, but I will also check other prices.Email me or call. Always glad to help with questions.

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!