George walked me back on the side of his garage to a covered lean-to extending approximately 30 feet. Among the dirt and scraps was a neatly stacked and stickered pile of cherry and walnut ranging from 4/4 to 12/4 thickness and anywhere from 4’-10’ in length. A pocket knife to the edges confirmed a beautiful mix of chocolate brown and rich reds of the two species. Slightly disappointed in the amount he had shown, I thought this was the extent of his supply. I was wrong.
Behind his garage was a pile 4’ x 6’ x 24’ covered in a black tarp. Again, more cherry, poplar, walnut, oak, heavily weathered to a uniform dull grey, hiding the true beauty underneath. Two additional piles only slightly smaller revealed over 1000 bd/ft of 8/4 walnut some over 12” wide. Jackpot.
George told me that I shouldn’t expect him to give it away for less than what was fair. But was more than happy to pull out anything I was interested in considering for purchase. As a widower, George seemed happy to spend his time talking about where the wood came from, and how old some of it was. He recalled the pile of walnut I had my eye on being close to 10 years old, nice and stable. A majority of the wood he has came from his Woodmizer sawmill purchased years ago. Local tree services, municipality contacts and opportunistic finds of a fallen tree serve as his network of raw materials. Many simply dump 6’-8’ logs in his back yard as they drive past his house, so sometimes, he finds a surprise waiting for him. He’s also happy to take his sawmill to a location for a fee of $65/hr.
With no minimum to purchase, I picked a few boards for George to pull from the middle of the pile over the following week by marking them with a piece of sidewalk chalk. I thought it would be a good idea to run them through my planer to check the overall quality, but George was sure that most of it was very clear of knots and sapwood. Frankly, I like the contrasts of sapwood in Walnut. Although it is a stark contrast when first finished, the differences seem to blend over time to a warm caramel brown.
Return Visit
Block plane in hand, I made a few passes over the surface to see what lay underneath 10 years of seasoning. So far so good. I then selected X boards of the walnut and X boards of cherry to bring home to check the overall quality. Sure enough, a few passes of the planer revealed a rich, clean surface ready to become my next project. Paying less than half the price for equal quality lumber seemed like a no brainer to me. George has enough just from his supply to keep me out of the retail stores for the next 20 years, and he was not reluctant to state that he was planning on being around for at least as long. What was even more satisfying was knowing that the wood I purchased supported a local business, and came from locally-sourced urban locations. Moreover, being able to give the trees a second life as a piece of furniture for 150-200 years to come made the experience even better.
Expanding the Woodworking Experience
George was only one example of the hundreds of independent sawyers who can offer access to the same bountiful goldmines to woodworkers. There’s something very satisfying about uncovering these resources, talking to them and picking through an endless supply for your next project. I’ve always enjoyed the planning and treasure-hunt aspects of picking out the right lumber for my projects. This experience has only extended my passions as a woodworker beyond the execution of a design, and into the sourcing side of the equation. As a reader, if you’ve never considered this, I strongly encourage it. When looking for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you may not always find one, but you won’t come up with a pile of dirt either. My Entry in the next week will include a particularly irresistable find that opened up a new part of my woodworking hobby.