# Your most Amazing wood find.



## Karson (May 9, 2006)

This is a wood find that I sent to PopularWoodworking in 4/16/2003. It was published in their E-News on 4-30-2203. They also had an article in their August Issue of 2003 from other woodworkers.

Here is mine.

I've got an interesting story on my most amazing wood find.

There's a sawmill that is not too far from my daughters home in New Jersey. I've been going there off and on to see what unique kinds of wood they happen to find.

One day I took a couple of wooden Ballpoint pens that I had made to the owner and manager of the sawmill. The manager had also called me a few weeks before, because he was having computer problems and needed some help.

On the day that I arrived, with the pens, I noticed a pile of beautiful Ambrosia maple that he had just cut. I asked him what it was.

He replied that it was Tiger Stripe Maple.

I knew it was not what I'd call Tiger Stripe maple.

I gave him the two pens and told him that I'd take the pile. Approx 150 Bd ft. I asked him what was the price.

He said he'd have to check with the owner for the price on the maple, but that he had a pile of Mineral Striped Popular for me for helping him with his computer problem.

When he arrived back with a price he said $50.00 for the pile of maple and the popular was free.

He was rolling the pen between his fingers like he was rolling a fine cigar.

I pulled out 2 - $20.00 and 1 - $10.00.

He took the 2 - $20.00 and left the $10.00

Five minutes later he was back, stilling rolling the pen and handed me back the 2 - $20.00 and walked away.

The maple became my kitchen cabinets. Picture at http://www.flickr.com/photos/karson

Karson


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## mikeH (Aug 26, 2006)

the other day i was driving home from menards. and drove past this pile of wood that i have been watching for about a year. the guy was outside so i thought i would stop by and talk to him.when i pulled up the front of his house he was loading some wood from the pile in the back yard. i ask what kind of wood he had, he said ash and soft maple. i ask what he was going to do with the load of wood, he said he was selling it for fire wood, 20 dollars a load. i ask how many loads he had left, 2 and half he says. i ask if he would sell it to me for 50 dollars. to my suprise he said yes. i told him that i would be back in an hour, had to unload my truck and talk to the wife. after three large loads full wood i was done (fullsize dodge 8ft box) the wood all stack nice and neat in my shop, i tallied my new found wood, roughly 2000 bf (4/4 6/4 8/4) 12 ft long i am having it kiln dried so i will not get work any of it for a month, that will give me time to figure out where i am going to store it. drying will cost about 800 dollars. that come out to 42 cents per bf not to bad


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## DanYo (Jun 30, 2007)

about 10 years I bought about 1000 bft of honduran mahogany … da good stuff … for less then $1 a bft. 
All 5/4, 6/4/, 7/4, 8/4, 10/4 and 12/4 lumber 4 to 12 inches wide and 8 feet long. 
Sold most of it on ebay, still have a few boards left.


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## shangrila (Apr 5, 2007)

I just got my hands on about 600 bdft of English Walnut.Ran in to a guy that had been carrying his dad's old wood with him(his dad was a woodworker)all over the country on a couple of moves and just wanted to get rid of it in exchange for a small shelf made out of it to remember his dad by.I 've never bought English Walnut but I think it over $12 a bdft


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## MsDebbieP (Jan 4, 2007)

I got a whole bunch of 2×2 ash through freecycle.


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## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

1000 bft of figured maple, delivered for free. All I had to do was mill it (it was a mighty log). The slab in the picture is 24" wide.










But really it's all amazing to me. More "free" wood. Every bit of this was headed for the burn pile as removed trees. There is some 20" wide walnut, 20" wide cedar, 24" wide 1/4 sawn red oak…I love having a sawmill  There is not a stick under 12" wide in the pictures I don't think. This is part if my personal "stash".


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## Radish (Apr 11, 2007)

When I saw the title and I saw that Daren was the last person to enter a comment I had to check this out.
Holy smokes! That curly maple is to die for. Super stash, too. I want a sawmill. Maybe upon retirement. You have replaced the "run a bait shop" fantasy.


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## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

"You have replaced the "run a bait shop" fantasy." That is too funny, we have the same crazy notions. I swear when I was younger that was my retirement plan. One day I may still do that (run a bait shop) and still sawmill for fun. Here is some more "free" figured maple, 24" wide also. My Dad made this table out of lumber from logs I sawmilled, maple and walnut.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Some great wood there. Some beauties


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## shangrila (Apr 5, 2007)

Daren that maple is awesome.Love to make a rocking chair out of that!!!!!!!!!


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## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

"Love to make a rocking chair out of that" Scott, I have seen your projects here, including the chairs you have made. No doubt you would do the wood justice. You do some fantastic work brother.


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## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

Well, nothing so fantastic as the stories above, but I buy quite a bit of rustic maple for various jobs. Rustic maple is much cheaper than FAS. I usually find quite a few spalted boards in the stack. It may not be an "amazing" find, but it's a good find!


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## Dadoo (Jun 23, 2007)

My Stepson was living at his girlfriends mothers property. Over the years her family had used this old barn as a garbage catchall. It was a disaster scene. Anyhow, I helped him with cleaning it out and his girlfriends mother told us to keep whatever we wanted. There wasn't really much to salvage there guys. Broken toys, newspapers, metal bent desk, found some chunks of scrap pine in the pigsty…mostly just fuel for the fire. Then we went upstairs. There was a pile of salvaged maple wood flooring about 5' high and 12-14' long! Each board was over 100 years old and still had the 20 penny nails in most. Hey…farmers use whatever it takes to get the job done! We also found 1 slab of rough cut cherry…I made part of that into my bench clamp. And he also found an old Sargent #714 jack plane. It has since been restored and put back in service in my shop. That pile of maple flooring currently resides in my shop attic.

I also have a family friend who cut and had milled an old maple that had been blown down on his farm. Picked up a stack of 5/4 hard maple, 10 footers each for 0.50 cents a foot! Hes also got some 12/4 slab bartop…probably 20' worth air drying in the barn. It might turn into a rustic countertop in my stepsons house someday.


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## Radish (Apr 11, 2007)

Daren - That table of your Dad's is a wonderment. Very cool styling - Danish modernish. And the top, well that speaks for itself. Let me know when you open up your bait and sawmill. The way my retirement will probably go, I could sweep up the place and fish out the dead minnows for you.


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## Radish (Apr 11, 2007)

Oh and Daren, does the fictional name Dave Robichaux or the author James Lee Burke ring any bells? That's where I developed the bait-shop retirement fantasy.


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## woodnut99 (Dec 17, 2007)

SUPER COOL, Very good topic I've enjoyed this very much, .. One of my rare wood finds was on, 13st and 8ave in manhattan.
As I don't get out of the city enough. I'm force to search construction scraps from older building, and old furniture that people throw out in nyc… It's sad but true and gold to me. I just imagine how much get lost forever. Most people look up or strait ahead, my eye's are constantly scanning for debris. I saw this pile of furniture from two blocks away, in it contained a tiger maple small coffee table w/ two small leaves. And a walnut dresser. The tiger maple was un recognizable from dirt coffee crud. I manage to strip these finds down to planks again and start fresh… Best find ever!!! I was so excited skipping home w this chunks of busted up furniture people often think i'm a bit crazy . slamming on the brakes yelling o my god wood!!! Talking cab drivers into helping me get garbage home. Ha , Never over-look, your local garbage! It's often pretty cheap and rare finds!


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## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

"Oh and Daren, does the fictional name Dave Robichaux or the author James Lee Burke ring any bells? That's where I developed the bait-shop retirement fantasy." No but I Googled them and I know what you mean though. I actually got my bait shop idea from an old boy I used to work with when I was a plumber. He did just that, saved his money and retired early. He bought a bait shop by a lake. Then he built some little log cabins to rent out and had a bed and breakfast. Seemed pretty cool. Chewing the fat with fishermen all day (listening to their lies  ) and running a little tackle/convenience store. He was near the entrance of a big campground and sold ice/beer/propane…and had camper/boat storage. It turned into quite a lucrative business.


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