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 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.

June wood letter

Well , here it is the end of June and I am getting the first wood letter out in a bit. Got some nice new stock in and also have a new price sheet available.

First off, I have found a new , less expensive way to ship larger amounts of stock. Fastenal, the hardware place , have really great rates. I can ship from store to store all over the country.  just sent 2 pallet loads to West Virgina for around a dollar a foot. That was over 600 ft on 2 pallets. You have to pick up at the store it goes to. It may not be as fast as a regular trucking company, but way less in shipping costs.

AS for the pictures , here we go.
The top 2 are pics of the 6/4 and 8/4 plain cherry I just got out of the kiln. Super nice stock, great color.

 This next picture is the WIDE birdseye maple 9/4 stock I just got from the kiln. All over 10" wide and 10 feet long. Some almost 15" wide.

 Quarter sawn white in 1" thick stock. All from northern Wisconsin. 3" to 8" wide, Nice tight grain and excellent color. Have about a 1000'

 Finally, a couple slab tops that I did a few years back. Walnut and tiger maple. I have stock like this on hand. All priced individually.

I have a new load of stuff going in the kiln. Should be ready in 2 months. Lots of birdseye and flame birch, 6/4 stock, 9/4 basswood for carving. Best basswood stock in the world.

I do have 16/4 butternut stock now. Its beautiful. I have it up to 13" wide.
I will be making birdseye maple flooring in the next month. That should be spectacular.
Also, got a call from the mill. I have about a 1000 ft of quarter sawn curly red oak coming. It will not be ready for a few months, but should be spectacular.
If you see this and want a price list, email me at
bob at bobkloes.com or call 920-833-7157. 

Lumber list for Febuary.

The first thing I want to show is what I mean when I talk about natural color. 

 natural color

 all white

Close up of natural color.

These are some pictures of some flame birch.Yellow birch is sorted by color. All white means it is all light colored. Red birch means it is all red or mostly red. Natural color means it has both red and white in it. With maples, like birdseye, you get heartwood , mineral streak, fleck, worm track and probably some other things. You can have it sorted to get all white with no defect. That gets very expensive. I sell most of my material as natural color. I don't have an issue with using stuff like this. Dyes can hide a lot. Or 1 side can be white. I am finding more and more folks like natural color in pieces with a clear finish. Hope that helps answer some questions. Now on to the wood.

First up is a piece of 6/4 birdseye. It is 7" to 10" wide on the narrow side and 10" to 12" wide on the back. It has 2 natural edges. It is 1 and 3/8" thick.

This is the front and back and sides. Its nice and white both sides .
Cost is 95$. It would make a nice hall table or sofa table  top. Great edges. I don't find much 6/4.

Next up is a bookmatched pair of flame birch.

I skim planed these to just over an inch thick. They are both 8' long and one is 11" wide and one is 11.75" wide. Beautiful figure and color. You can see the red heart in some of it.
Price is 97$ plus shipping.

Next up is a 2 piece book match of soft curly maple. These have a big heartwood color in them, but the figure is wonderful. They are 11" and 13" wide and 8' long.

Again these are skip planed. Nice wide curl that runs all accross the board. The heart is a light brownish color. 80$ plus shipping for the pair.

Last up is a piece of birdseye. 1" thick, just under 8' long. 1 natural edge. The best part of the board would yield a piece 12" wide and about 5' long. The bottom part of the board is ugly. The best part would make a great sofa or hall table.

Its all white on the best side. I took enough pictures to show all the defects. It is a beauty. 90$ plus shipping.

I will send out the newsletter and refer back to this blog. If you would like to be on the list, email me, bob@bobkloes.com
I will have some other things listed in the letter. Hope you are having a good time in the shop.