Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

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RLSIII
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Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:16 pm

Recently took a trip to middle Pennsylvania to acquire some large walnut slabs for a kitchen island top I'm making for a client. While not normally my cup of tea, the top is to be 4'x8', bookmatched, with two "live edges" The search for properly dried slabs in 12/4 thickness was much more involved than anticipated. A link off the Irion lumber website led to what quickly has become one my favorite places to source figured and specialty lumber. The drive took me into "god's country" also known as Potter county, down an dirt road to an unmarked driveway where I met Max Greenly owner of RAwood. After looking at his website I knew I was going to find some beautiful lumber but the range of species and figure were far beyond what I expected. He has been working in the specialty lumber business since the early 90's and has a keen eye for logs that yield the best of the best figure and color. I was met with several matched sets of potential candidates for my project. It proved hard to focus on the task at hand as there were mountains of figured slabs stacked up in his garage and under his open pole barn. The variety was incredible ranging from a cherry burl 42" in diameter, to conference table sized pieces of figured cherry some 18' long. The range of thicknesses was refeshing, up to 24/4 with a suprising amount of vertical grain and quarter sawn lumber as well. I settled on two massive slabs for the counter and on a whim I purchased an incredibly figured walnut slab 10/4 thick. Max was particularly excited about this log and when we started breaking into the stack I knew why. If ever you find yourself in need of quality figured lumber, this is the place to be. It is a short drive from the renowned Irion lumber as well, they have equally good quality dimensioned lumber specializing in matched sets for furniture makers.
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Brian
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Re: Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:38 pm

Great looking slabs, that place is dangerous indeed.

Nice to know that someone carries 1/4 sawn walnut, it's such a rare bird in the world of walnut. I grab it up whenever I find anything 1/4 sawn in substantial thickness because it's pretty ideal for table legs, structural parts.

If you don't mind my inquiry, what was the price per board foot? I'm in Nakashima country so walnut is a fortune.
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RLSIII
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Re: Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:36 pm

Funny you should mention 1/4 sawn walnut. I came across a stack of Lumber still drying with two vertical graing sticks some 20/4 thick 12' wide about 16' long. This place is something else he keeps the log stickered in the order it was cut so you can always pick the quartered sticks that match your slabs from the same log. Price is variable 12-16$ a bf and certainly not cheap but I can attest that there is a straight run of grain and it is dry to 6-7% all the way through even the thicker pieces. Wierd thing is he doesnt charge more for the quartered pieces he looks at the figure and thickness as a determining factor. I dropped 1500 bucks and came home with two slabs @ 50ish bf ea, the crazy figured slab @ 30bf and a pile of cherry burl slabs and some nice dimensional cherry 16/4 crotches about 20" x8". If you ever go pick your Lumber and then ask to check out the loft for "scraps" you'll get a kick out of what's in that pile.

Damn I thought I had this image resizing thing down. any one know how to edit size of posted pictures
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Chris Pyle
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Re: Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:51 pm

looks like a really fun place to visit!
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Chris Hall
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Re: Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:56 pm

An image re-sizer is what you need, and there are free ones online available. I use 'Small Image II" for mac. Size the pics to 1000 pixels width and all will be golden.

Some powerful temptations you shared. I had to look away for reasons of personal (financial) safety.
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RLSIII
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Re: Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:34 pm

I'm using this as a test of the image resizer. Shamelessly stolen from Irion website. Don't go there with acess to money you can't spend. I did.
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Chris Hall
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Re: Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:22 am

I am sure Irion is a fantasy land of temptations when you visit in person, judging from what can be seen on their website.

Dealing with them from a distance however, was not in my all time list of great experiences. I was looking for some nice mahogany, and they certainly have some listed on their webpage, but they guy I spoke with on the phone couldn't tell me if they had any QTR'd material, nor did he seem inclined to go and take a look or sort for it. Then he told me they don't bother to ship unless it an order of 150 board ft or more. They just didn't seem all that motivated or helpful, but maybe I caught them on a bad day, IDK.

So I went elsewhere, even though I was in fact looking for about 150 board ft. I ended up buying 156 board ft of mahogany from ML Bohlke in Ohio. Their pricing was better too, and the material quality fine.

After all that though, I decided that I was going to switch out the mahogany for Shedua, and have started selling it off...
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RLSIII
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Re: Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:05 am

Thats a shame, I had quite the opposite experience. the gentleman I spoke to ( I want to say Mitch) on the phone concerning the walnut was more than helpful. He went so far as to check the stock and call me to let me know he only had a small supply of the appropriate thickness and give me the schedule for the walnut kiln so I wouldn't waste the trip, I wanted to acquire some extra stock for a table frame.

That being said I'd rather buy the stock from Max at rawood and dimension it myself. if you place a request he will set aside stock as it comes out of the kiln, no mahogany there, but if you want qtrd or rift material he gives exatly what you ask for.
Never worked with ML Bohlke il have to check them out sometime.
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Brian
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Re: Greatest (most dangerous) place I've been to recently

Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:45 am

Depends on who you wind up dealing with at some places.

I go to Willard Brothers in Lawrenceville and I like dealing with Brian Millen and Jason. Prices are on the high side but they provide good quality and have replaced stuff for me that has moved excessively.

i also like working with Mike Quinn in Pa, only thing being that he requires cash payment and not huge amounts of stock. Also cannot do machine work, only skip planing.

He has provided me with rarities such as 15" wide walnut in 4/4 boards which are really 5/4 at $8/BF. I might be mistaken but I believe his stuff is air dried for the most part.

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