Quite a few hours of effort sorting, cleaning, and wrapping wood for travel.

This is antique materials of virgin pine, chestnut, and mahogany; acquired during the years of antique restoration. Materials I've kept for special cases, pistol boxes, and the like. My limited workspace here, has limited such projects. This irreplaceable wood has been stored as effectively as possible, on shelves in the shop. Valuable real estate, for wood I'll never get again. 20" wide boards. Extinct species. Great stuff for the shop that's being built. Now it had to be moved, along with everything else.

Gary

Nice to see some of that vintage wood put aside for future projects. Some of the wood they used for everyday carpentry in the old days is unavailable at any price nowadays, there just aren't any comparable trees left to use for the lumber.

Up here it's almost all evergreens, no hardwood other than birch is available locally, everything else has to be imported.

On the other hand, you see people routinely splitting firewood out of huge rounds of spruce and hemlock, discs sawed from trees 30-40 inches in diameter. Down south a tree trunk that big would be automatically selected to make architectural beams or specialty products, but up here it's just another source of fuel to feed the wood stove. Harder to get it up on the splitter, but less bark.

Hi Sean,

That's amazing to hear. I can't imagine 40" trees that are not harvested commercially. Or sold privately. I guess you can't get in and out of every place, nor get the products out. But I'd think a 40" tree would be worth a big effort - even airlifting. Just the novice not knowing the details.

Some of this wood that I've squirreled away, is amazing. I have pine and chestnut both, that show evidence of having been "recycled" when they were built into furniture back around 1830.

For the curious new reader; most of this wood was part of the "Empire Period" of furniture. Big, huge scale chests of drawers. Not very popular (due to it's large and plain style) until recently. There were huge amounts of it made. In addition, European countries are far older then the US. Their "Old" homes are 900 years old. Their "Old" furniture is 500 years old. So; back in the 70's - the stuff from the 1800's was not overly treasured. In addition, much of any sort of furniture will be stored, abused, water damaged in sheds and basements, eaten by bugs in barns, and finally find it's way into estate sales. I had ties to a company who made a big business of buying these estate sale pcs., in large quanity. The better stuff, they'd restore and sell. The damaged and ugly stuff, they'd store ... for later.

Well, so happens that we live differently then did those who came before. Historically, there were NO coffee tables. There were no pcs. of the type a Gentleman might wish to sit beside his leather arm chair. This company had a large clientel of well to do buyers, who had big homes full of valuable antiques. BUT - they had holes in their room layouts, because certain types of furniture didn't exist historically. They hired a master craftsman, in Scottland ... to use the antique materials harvested from damaged antique chests, to "REconstruct" a 4 drawer Bachelor's Chest, of a small scale. They went like hotcakes. They were made from authentic materials. They had the correct color and patina. They were built along the lines of classic furniture. They were sold for what they were - "Reconstructed Antiques". All was well until the master craftsman (perhaps there were more then one) either retired or passed. The source dried up.

For many years (decades I think) this company searched for someone, domestically, to do the conversion. They had an entire restoration shop of craftsmen which they employed ... but they couldn't do it in house. I met the owner thru a mutual craftsperson who was doing work for the company. He mentioned the lack of a source for his Bachelor's Chest Reconstructions. And, like the kid in the commercial ... I said, "Well ... yeah....I'll do it." And so, I came home with busted up Empire chest in the back of my 52 Willy's Station Wagon. The chest was cut up. The drawer faces of bookmatched mahogany were carefully cut down. A new case was made from the solid mahogany. Interior dust partitions were made of virgin pine boards. Drawers were chestnut. The chest went back for their craftsmen to touch up the final finish and apply solid brass hardware. They liked it! And so, I made God only knows how many of them over a few years. And, the "fall offs" of materials were mine. It had been thought that one large chest might make one small chest. But through veeeeery careful cutting and planning, I was able to deliver TWO chests from one donor. Happiness broke out - until I made more then their market required. And, I'd started making AIRguns???!!!! You mean ... like BB guns???

And so ... I retain a cache of materials - some probably 200 years old.

Gary

Interesting story, any photos of your new / old cabinet work out there?

And as far as the huge tree thing goes, this part of AK is covered with them. Transportation costs just kill you though. The market for logs to be exported started to dry up in the eighties as the most easily accessible forest (adjacent to the coastline) was logged off, then Clinton closed down further sales from the Tongass National Forest by executive order and killed the mills flat dead. About the only logging left is all on tribal lands, and they're barely keeping the few remaining tiny mills alive. There is some specialty logging/milling for cedar, used for totem poles, re-created Tlingit/Haida war canoes, and at least one wooden hot tub shop that I know of.

It seems like sort of a waste to use giant, ancient trees for firewood, but oil is expensive up here and firewood is cheap by comparison.

Yeah. There are lots of pictures. But they are "pre-digital". I think most of them are on old glass plates. Some tin type.

have you ever seen any of your work show up on Antique Road show?! ( if you ever get enough time to watch it )

Hi Rick,
No ... Haha ... That would be funny.
I did hand Fred Laidy a pc. once, and ask him what it was. It was pretty early on around 97. Hi identified it as the action from an outside lock airgun. Said it was probably from around 1790. Then he caught me smile. I'd made it about a week before.
Gary

1790...1970,,,1997...what's a few year here or there?