The Traveling Lumberjock

PflugervilleSteve said:

The idea

I work for a scientific instrument company and end up traveling for my job quite a bit. I mostly stay in the US, but I visit Canada a couple times a year and occasionally travel to England and other parts of Europe.

I got tired of bringing knick-knacks home for the family from every trip because I'm running out of room for refrigerator magnets and coffee mugs! I had the bright idea earlier this year that instead of knick-knacks, I'll try to find some local wood from wherever I'm visiting and bring a bit home. I've done this a couple times now and it's pretty cool. It's a bit like a treasure hunt looking for local sawyers and sources for wood.

So far I've had good luck with craigslist for wherever under materials. People with a portable (or not so portable mill) frequently advertise sawing services there.

I've not found a whole lot using WoodFinder.com, but it's a resource. There's always google searches for "City name" and sawmill, lumber, etc…

I sometimes call a couple local cabinetry shops and chat with them about potential local sources of lumber.

Call me crazy if you will, but I'm having a lot of fun and meeting some interesting people. I'm going to try and document what I find (both good and bad). Hope it's interesting.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

The idea

I work for a scientific instrument company and end up traveling for my job quite a bit. I mostly stay in the US, but I visit Canada a couple times a year and occasionally travel to England and other parts of Europe.

I got tired of bringing knick-knacks home for the family from every trip because I'm running out of room for refrigerator magnets and coffee mugs! I had the bright idea earlier this year that instead of knick-knacks, I'll try to find some local wood from wherever I'm visiting and bring a bit home. I've done this a couple times now and it's pretty cool. It's a bit like a treasure hunt looking for local sawyers and sources for wood.

So far I've had good luck with craigslist for wherever under materials. People with a portable (or not so portable mill) frequently advertise sawing services there.

I've not found a whole lot using WoodFinder.com, but it's a resource. There's always google searches for "City name" and sawmill, lumber, etc…

I sometimes call a couple local cabinetry shops and chat with them about potential local sources of lumber.

Call me crazy if you will, but I'm having a lot of fun and meeting some interesting people. I'm going to try and document what I find (both good and bad). Hope it's interesting.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

The idea

I work for a scientific instrument company and end up traveling for my job quite a bit. I mostly stay in the US, but I visit Canada a couple times a year and occasionally travel to England and other parts of Europe.

I got tired of bringing knick-knacks home for the family from every trip because I'm running out of room for refrigerator magnets and coffee mugs! I had the bright idea earlier this year that instead of knick-knacks, I'll try to find some local wood from wherever I'm visiting and bring a bit home. I've done this a couple times now and it's pretty cool. It's a bit like a treasure hunt looking for local sawyers and sources for wood.

So far I've had good luck with craigslist for wherever under materials. People with a portable (or not so portable mill) frequently advertise sawing services there.

I've not found a whole lot using WoodFinder.com, but it's a resource. There's always google searches for "City name" and sawmill, lumber, etc…

I sometimes call a couple local cabinetry shops and chat with them about potential local sources of lumber.

Call me crazy if you will, but I'm having a lot of fun and meeting some interesting people. I'm going to try and document what I find (both good and bad). Hope it's interesting.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

The idea

I work for a scientific instrument company and end up traveling for my job quite a bit. I mostly stay in the US, but I visit Canada a couple times a year and occasionally travel to England and other parts of Europe.

I got tired of bringing knick-knacks home for the family from every trip because I'm running out of room for refrigerator magnets and coffee mugs! I had the bright idea earlier this year that instead of knick-knacks, I'll try to find some local wood from wherever I'm visiting and bring a bit home. I've done this a couple times now and it's pretty cool. It's a bit like a treasure hunt looking for local sawyers and sources for wood.

So far I've had good luck with craigslist for wherever under materials. People with a portable (or not so portable mill) frequently advertise sawing services there.

I've not found a whole lot using WoodFinder.com, but it's a resource. There's always google searches for "City name" and sawmill, lumber, etc…

I sometimes call a couple local cabinetry shops and chat with them about potential local sources of lumber.

Call me crazy if you will, but I'm having a lot of fun and meeting some interesting people. I'm going to try and document what I find (both good and bad). Hope it's interesting.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

The idea

I work for a scientific instrument company and end up traveling for my job quite a bit. I mostly stay in the US, but I visit Canada a couple times a year and occasionally travel to England and other parts of Europe.

I got tired of bringing knick-knacks home for the family from every trip because I'm running out of room for refrigerator magnets and coffee mugs! I had the bright idea earlier this year that instead of knick-knacks, I'll try to find some local wood from wherever I'm visiting and bring a bit home. I've done this a couple times now and it's pretty cool. It's a bit like a treasure hunt looking for local sawyers and sources for wood.

So far I've had good luck with craigslist for wherever under materials. People with a portable (or not so portable mill) frequently advertise sawing services there.

I've not found a whole lot using WoodFinder.com, but it's a resource. There's always google searches for "City name" and sawmill, lumber, etc…

I sometimes call a couple local cabinetry shops and chat with them about potential local sources of lumber.

Call me crazy if you will, but I'm having a lot of fun and meeting some interesting people. I'm going to try and document what I find (both good and bad). Hope it's interesting.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

The idea

I work for a scientific instrument company and end up traveling for my job quite a bit. I mostly stay in the US, but I visit Canada a couple times a year and occasionally travel to England and other parts of Europe.

I got tired of bringing knick-knacks home for the family from every trip because I'm running out of room for refrigerator magnets and coffee mugs! I had the bright idea earlier this year that instead of knick-knacks, I'll try to find some local wood from wherever I'm visiting and bring a bit home. I've done this a couple times now and it's pretty cool. It's a bit like a treasure hunt looking for local sawyers and sources for wood.

So far I've had good luck with craigslist for wherever under materials. People with a portable (or not so portable mill) frequently advertise sawing services there.

I've not found a whole lot using WoodFinder.com, but it's a resource. There's always google searches for "City name" and sawmill, lumber, etc…

I sometimes call a couple local cabinetry shops and chat with them about potential local sources of lumber.

Call me crazy if you will, but I'm having a lot of fun and meeting some interesting people. I'm going to try and document what I find (both good and bad). Hope it's interesting.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

Sacramento, California

Week of July 12, 2010 - I fly to Sacramento and head up to Woodland, CA. I'm loving the name and I know there's tons of walnut in the area from a previous visit a couple years ago. I start digging and end up hooking up with a guy who has a firewood company. I've had some decent firewood pile finds (Osage Orange, spalted ash, etc) so I drive over to 8320b (barn) Hazel Ave. Orangevale, CA 95662.

Turns out his big business is natural pest control products (like ladybugs, praying mantis, etc). The guy was nice enough. He had some milled lumber air drying in a barn and TONS of wood lying around that was suitable only for firewood <whimper>. Firewood guy's prices were high and he wasn't interested in making a deal for something small. I ended up buying a chunk of camphor log from him for $10. I'm thinking it wasn't much of deal, but, what the heck. I'll get it home and mill up some camphor wood and have something to play with from this trip. I wanted to grab a chunk of acacia too, but… shrug. I'm glad I ended up not wasting any more time on this one, because a LJ post I made led me to John Ormsby, a contractor and fellow lumberjock in the Sacramento area.

...........................................

I went by to visit John, was blown away by his shop, and ended up having dinner with him and his wife. Talk about nice folks. I intended to stay maybe half an hour and ended up visiting with them for 5! I also ended up making off with an off cut of quilted maple that John was kind enough to throw my way. Another piece that demands pics when I get home.

It's pretty funny that John was constantly saying his shop was a mess and not fit for company. I'm using my entire two car garage and am crammed in so tight that moving around is hazardous. It was so spacious and well laid out in his shop that I'm seriously going to have to rethink my layout. Of course with 4-6 times my space…. Anyway - Kudos to the Ormsby's for kindness to a stranger, sharing some great shop tips, and a great evening. If you need restoration or contractor work done in the Sacramento area, definitely look John up. The pics he showed me of the restoration jobs he's directed or worked on were beautiful.

Amusingly enough, John turned out to be within a couple miles of the firewood guy I visited the day before. They had met and John wasn't impressed with the lumber/prices either. I think the general impression was "We can buy good stuff from Cook's up in Oregon for about the same price, so why risk ungraded local air-dried at that price?"

...........................................

I had one more evening to kill before my flight home so I made a few more calls and ended up meeting up with Frank Sieferman, Jr.. Frank's a great guy (semi-retired arborist) with a sawing problem. He has more chainsaws than I've ever seen in one place barring stores and repair shops. I mean I think his chainsaws when combined might have more horsepower than my four door Chevy S10 pickup! That combined with a Timber King mill and a passion for sawing wood to bring out its best character means I thought I was dead and in heaven for an afternoon/evening.

Frank treats the ends of all his logs with anchorseal and Timbor (or some equivalent Powderpost Beetle/Insect control). The vast majority of his lumber is quartersawn and has NICE figure. I ended up coming home with some "scrap" pieces of walnut, California sycamore, elm, and eucalyptus. I've played with sycamore before, but the figure on the stuff he had was amazing. It looked more like lacewood than sycamore. I guess a big part of it is paying close attention to cutting parallel to the ray structure in the trunk cross-section.

I've already taken a bit of that walnut and sycamore and am working on a travel case for my small screwdriver set so I've got a "show and tell" piece. Talk about some bling! I'm definitely posting pics when I'm done.

Frank's got a pretty nice shop setup and while he's not a woodworker per-se, he's got a guy named Josh who looks like he's got some talent.

Again, Frank had met firewood guy and wasn't impressed. He was there on a day when another guy with a wood mizer was there sawing up an acacia log and "maybe" saved it from being butchered. I say that with reservations, because none of firewood guy's lumber has the endgrain sealed and I doubt he's doing any pest control despite being in the natural pest control business (should I laugh or cry?).

...........................................

So Sacramento was the most fun I've had on a trip in ages. I'm looking forward to more sawmill adventures.

And if anyone wants Frank's contact info, send me a message and I'll message it to you. If you're in the Sacramento area, it's (IMHO) very worth a trip up to Zamora to have a look at his lumber and logs. It's not the cheapest stuff out there, but I was impressed with how much good quality wood he has.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

Sacramento, California

Week of July 12, 2010 - I fly to Sacramento and head up to Woodland, CA. I'm loving the name and I know there's tons of walnut in the area from a previous visit a couple years ago. I start digging and end up hooking up with a guy who has a firewood company. I've had some decent firewood pile finds (Osage Orange, spalted ash, etc) so I drive over to 8320b (barn) Hazel Ave. Orangevale, CA 95662.

Turns out his big business is natural pest control products (like ladybugs, praying mantis, etc). The guy was nice enough. He had some milled lumber air drying in a barn and TONS of wood lying around that was suitable only for firewood <whimper>. Firewood guy's prices were high and he wasn't interested in making a deal for something small. I ended up buying a chunk of camphor log from him for $10. I'm thinking it wasn't much of deal, but, what the heck. I'll get it home and mill up some camphor wood and have something to play with from this trip. I wanted to grab a chunk of acacia too, but… shrug. I'm glad I ended up not wasting any more time on this one, because a LJ post I made led me to John Ormsby, a contractor and fellow lumberjock in the Sacramento area.

...........................................

I went by to visit John, was blown away by his shop, and ended up having dinner with him and his wife. Talk about nice folks. I intended to stay maybe half an hour and ended up visiting with them for 5! I also ended up making off with an off cut of quilted maple that John was kind enough to throw my way. Another piece that demands pics when I get home.

It's pretty funny that John was constantly saying his shop was a mess and not fit for company. I'm using my entire two car garage and am crammed in so tight that moving around is hazardous. It was so spacious and well laid out in his shop that I'm seriously going to have to rethink my layout. Of course with 4-6 times my space…. Anyway - Kudos to the Ormsby's for kindness to a stranger, sharing some great shop tips, and a great evening. If you need restoration or contractor work done in the Sacramento area, definitely look John up. The pics he showed me of the restoration jobs he's directed or worked on were beautiful.

Amusingly enough, John turned out to be within a couple miles of the firewood guy I visited the day before. They had met and John wasn't impressed with the lumber/prices either. I think the general impression was "We can buy good stuff from Cook's up in Oregon for about the same price, so why risk ungraded local air-dried at that price?"

...........................................

I had one more evening to kill before my flight home so I made a few more calls and ended up meeting up with Frank Sieferman, Jr.. Frank's a great guy (semi-retired arborist) with a sawing problem. He has more chainsaws than I've ever seen in one place barring stores and repair shops. I mean I think his chainsaws when combined might have more horsepower than my four door Chevy S10 pickup! That combined with a Timber King mill and a passion for sawing wood to bring out its best character means I thought I was dead and in heaven for an afternoon/evening.

Frank treats the ends of all his logs with anchorseal and Timbor (or some equivalent Powderpost Beetle/Insect control). The vast majority of his lumber is quartersawn and has NICE figure. I ended up coming home with some "scrap" pieces of walnut, California sycamore, elm, and eucalyptus. I've played with sycamore before, but the figure on the stuff he had was amazing. It looked more like lacewood than sycamore. I guess a big part of it is paying close attention to cutting parallel to the ray structure in the trunk cross-section.

I've already taken a bit of that walnut and sycamore and am working on a travel case for my small screwdriver set so I've got a "show and tell" piece. Talk about some bling! I'm definitely posting pics when I'm done.

Frank's got a pretty nice shop setup and while he's not a woodworker per-se, he's got a guy named Josh who looks like he's got some talent.

Again, Frank had met firewood guy and wasn't impressed. He was there on a day when another guy with a wood mizer was there sawing up an acacia log and "maybe" saved it from being butchered. I say that with reservations, because none of firewood guy's lumber has the endgrain sealed and I doubt he's doing any pest control despite being in the natural pest control business (should I laugh or cry?).

...........................................

So Sacramento was the most fun I've had on a trip in ages. I'm looking forward to more sawmill adventures.

And if anyone wants Frank's contact info, send me a message and I'll message it to you. If you're in the Sacramento area, it's (IMHO) very worth a trip up to Zamora to have a look at his lumber and logs. It's not the cheapest stuff out there, but I was impressed with how much good quality wood he has.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

Sacramento, California

Week of July 12, 2010 - I fly to Sacramento and head up to Woodland, CA. I'm loving the name and I know there's tons of walnut in the area from a previous visit a couple years ago. I start digging and end up hooking up with a guy who has a firewood company. I've had some decent firewood pile finds (Osage Orange, spalted ash, etc) so I drive over to 8320b (barn) Hazel Ave. Orangevale, CA 95662.

Turns out his big business is natural pest control products (like ladybugs, praying mantis, etc). The guy was nice enough. He had some milled lumber air drying in a barn and TONS of wood lying around that was suitable only for firewood <whimper>. Firewood guy's prices were high and he wasn't interested in making a deal for something small. I ended up buying a chunk of camphor log from him for $10. I'm thinking it wasn't much of deal, but, what the heck. I'll get it home and mill up some camphor wood and have something to play with from this trip. I wanted to grab a chunk of acacia too, but… shrug. I'm glad I ended up not wasting any more time on this one, because a LJ post I made led me to John Ormsby, a contractor and fellow lumberjock in the Sacramento area.

...........................................

I went by to visit John, was blown away by his shop, and ended up having dinner with him and his wife. Talk about nice folks. I intended to stay maybe half an hour and ended up visiting with them for 5! I also ended up making off with an off cut of quilted maple that John was kind enough to throw my way. Another piece that demands pics when I get home.

It's pretty funny that John was constantly saying his shop was a mess and not fit for company. I'm using my entire two car garage and am crammed in so tight that moving around is hazardous. It was so spacious and well laid out in his shop that I'm seriously going to have to rethink my layout. Of course with 4-6 times my space…. Anyway - Kudos to the Ormsby's for kindness to a stranger, sharing some great shop tips, and a great evening. If you need restoration or contractor work done in the Sacramento area, definitely look John up. The pics he showed me of the restoration jobs he's directed or worked on were beautiful.

Amusingly enough, John turned out to be within a couple miles of the firewood guy I visited the day before. They had met and John wasn't impressed with the lumber/prices either. I think the general impression was "We can buy good stuff from Cook's up in Oregon for about the same price, so why risk ungraded local air-dried at that price?"

...........................................

I had one more evening to kill before my flight home so I made a few more calls and ended up meeting up with Frank Sieferman, Jr.. Frank's a great guy (semi-retired arborist) with a sawing problem. He has more chainsaws than I've ever seen in one place barring stores and repair shops. I mean I think his chainsaws when combined might have more horsepower than my four door Chevy S10 pickup! That combined with a Timber King mill and a passion for sawing wood to bring out its best character means I thought I was dead and in heaven for an afternoon/evening.

Frank treats the ends of all his logs with anchorseal and Timbor (or some equivalent Powderpost Beetle/Insect control). The vast majority of his lumber is quartersawn and has NICE figure. I ended up coming home with some "scrap" pieces of walnut, California sycamore, elm, and eucalyptus. I've played with sycamore before, but the figure on the stuff he had was amazing. It looked more like lacewood than sycamore. I guess a big part of it is paying close attention to cutting parallel to the ray structure in the trunk cross-section.

I've already taken a bit of that walnut and sycamore and am working on a travel case for my small screwdriver set so I've got a "show and tell" piece. Talk about some bling! I'm definitely posting pics when I'm done.

Frank's got a pretty nice shop setup and while he's not a woodworker per-se, he's got a guy named Josh who looks like he's got some talent.

Again, Frank had met firewood guy and wasn't impressed. He was there on a day when another guy with a wood mizer was there sawing up an acacia log and "maybe" saved it from being butchered. I say that with reservations, because none of firewood guy's lumber has the endgrain sealed and I doubt he's doing any pest control despite being in the natural pest control business (should I laugh or cry?).

...........................................

So Sacramento was the most fun I've had on a trip in ages. I'm looking forward to more sawmill adventures.

And if anyone wants Frank's contact info, send me a message and I'll message it to you. If you're in the Sacramento area, it's (IMHO) very worth a trip up to Zamora to have a look at his lumber and logs. It's not the cheapest stuff out there, but I was impressed with how much good quality wood he has.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

Sacramento, California

Week of July 12, 2010 - I fly to Sacramento and head up to Woodland, CA. I'm loving the name and I know there's tons of walnut in the area from a previous visit a couple years ago. I start digging and end up hooking up with a guy who has a firewood company. I've had some decent firewood pile finds (Osage Orange, spalted ash, etc) so I drive over to 8320b (barn) Hazel Ave. Orangevale, CA 95662.

Turns out his big business is natural pest control products (like ladybugs, praying mantis, etc). The guy was nice enough. He had some milled lumber air drying in a barn and TONS of wood lying around that was suitable only for firewood <whimper>. Firewood guy's prices were high and he wasn't interested in making a deal for something small. I ended up buying a chunk of camphor log from him for $10. I'm thinking it wasn't much of deal, but, what the heck. I'll get it home and mill up some camphor wood and have something to play with from this trip. I wanted to grab a chunk of acacia too, but… shrug. I'm glad I ended up not wasting any more time on this one, because a LJ post I made led me to John Ormsby, a contractor and fellow lumberjock in the Sacramento area.

...........................................

I went by to visit John, was blown away by his shop, and ended up having dinner with him and his wife. Talk about nice folks. I intended to stay maybe half an hour and ended up visiting with them for 5! I also ended up making off with an off cut of quilted maple that John was kind enough to throw my way. Another piece that demands pics when I get home.

It's pretty funny that John was constantly saying his shop was a mess and not fit for company. I'm using my entire two car garage and am crammed in so tight that moving around is hazardous. It was so spacious and well laid out in his shop that I'm seriously going to have to rethink my layout. Of course with 4-6 times my space…. Anyway - Kudos to the Ormsby's for kindness to a stranger, sharing some great shop tips, and a great evening. If you need restoration or contractor work done in the Sacramento area, definitely look John up. The pics he showed me of the restoration jobs he's directed or worked on were beautiful.

Amusingly enough, John turned out to be within a couple miles of the firewood guy I visited the day before. They had met and John wasn't impressed with the lumber/prices either. I think the general impression was "We can buy good stuff from Cook's up in Oregon for about the same price, so why risk ungraded local air-dried at that price?"

...........................................

I had one more evening to kill before my flight home so I made a few more calls and ended up meeting up with Frank Sieferman, Jr.. Frank's a great guy (semi-retired arborist) with a sawing problem. He has more chainsaws than I've ever seen in one place barring stores and repair shops. I mean I think his chainsaws when combined might have more horsepower than my four door Chevy S10 pickup! That combined with a Timber King mill and a passion for sawing wood to bring out its best character means I thought I was dead and in heaven for an afternoon/evening.

Frank treats the ends of all his logs with anchorseal and Timbor (or some equivalent Powderpost Beetle/Insect control). The vast majority of his lumber is quartersawn and has NICE figure. I ended up coming home with some "scrap" pieces of walnut, California sycamore, elm, and eucalyptus. I've played with sycamore before, but the figure on the stuff he had was amazing. It looked more like lacewood than sycamore. I guess a big part of it is paying close attention to cutting parallel to the ray structure in the trunk cross-section.

I've already taken a bit of that walnut and sycamore and am working on a travel case for my small screwdriver set so I've got a "show and tell" piece. Talk about some bling! I'm definitely posting pics when I'm done.

Frank's got a pretty nice shop setup and while he's not a woodworker per-se, he's got a guy named Josh who looks like he's got some talent.

Again, Frank had met firewood guy and wasn't impressed. He was there on a day when another guy with a wood mizer was there sawing up an acacia log and "maybe" saved it from being butchered. I say that with reservations, because none of firewood guy's lumber has the endgrain sealed and I doubt he's doing any pest control despite being in the natural pest control business (should I laugh or cry?).

...........................................

So Sacramento was the most fun I've had on a trip in ages. I'm looking forward to more sawmill adventures.

And if anyone wants Frank's contact info, send me a message and I'll message it to you. If you're in the Sacramento area, it's (IMHO) very worth a trip up to Zamora to have a look at his lumber and logs. It's not the cheapest stuff out there, but I was impressed with how much good quality wood he has.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

July 21, 2010 - Richmond, VA

So it was off to Virginia last week. I've been going to Richmond pretty regularly for four to five years now and I really enjoy the area. It's beautiful, there's a ton of historical stuff in the area, and of course now that I'm visiting sawmills and lumberjocks, there's no shortage of wood and sawdust themed adventures.

This was something of a short notice trip, so I didn't have much chance to plan visits or scope folks with portable sawmills. Oddly enough though one of the ladies at the plant I was visiting had some acreage and I ended up going out to visit with her and her husband. It was quite exciting for me because by chance the discussion of chestnut trees and lumber came up. Turns out they have TWO chestnut trees alive and well on their property that they were wanting to cut down. I'd never seen a chestnut tree in person because thanks to a fungal blight that came over from Asia back in the early nineteen hundreds (1904 give or take), what was once a very common tree in the american forest is now borderline extinct.

In my attempt to be ever the polite guest, I picked up a couple pizzas from Bottoms Up, a local pizza joint, which makes fantastic pizza. If you ever have the chance try the Chesapeake. It's a white pizza with crab and old bay seasoning. I was prepared to be unimpressed but it was super tasty. Even Brenda, a self professed ham and pineapple pizza girl liked it.

After getting to see the trees which had trunks about two feet in diameter (I'll see if I can get a couple pictures from Brenda to post later) I pulled a couple twigs with leaves off and picked up a couple husks to see if we could ID the exact species (website here). As it turns out, there's five species to consider. I'm pretty comfortable saying these trees were NOT pure american chestnut, but were probably a hybrid Japanese/American variety. I learned a lot about chestnuts but the lesson that stuck with me the most was that even old chestnut burrs are REALLY FREAKING SHARP and hard. Yeah, I had to cut a spine out of a finger even though I was handling them very delicately. Sigh…

I'm not sure how I feel about taking chestnut lumber from a live tree, but I guess if they're going to cut it down, better lumber than firewood. I'm not sure there's any value to collecting some seeds and forwarding them to the TACF, but I may see if anyone wants some.

The land owners are also planning on cutting down three decent size (two foot diameter) eastern black walnut trees. They asked me if I wanted one for lumber and I was like - um, SURE! They've got a friend with a wood mizer, so we'll see what happens. I think they're going to let me air dry it in a barn for a while, so I suspect at some point a road trip from Texas to Richmond and back will be in order to collect the haul of walnut. If it ends up happening I'm going to bring them some nice piece of furniture when I come up to pick things up.

If I end up with some walnut from Virginia, it will sure have a story. I like pieces to have a story. People may forget or the story may get lost, but if a piece is beautiful and will outlast me, maybe it will end up making more stories long after I'm gone.

I did talk to a few folks with sawmills, but I was on such a tight schedule I just didn't have time to visit any of them so I can't make any recommendations one way or the other. For my and others reference, next time I get out there, I'm going to try and visit:

Logs to Lumber - (804) 271-3840. Talked to the guy on the phone seemed nice enough.

HomeGrownWoodProducts - I talked to Joe he seemed nice and I like the direction he's going with the whole urban forestry lumber approach.

And that was my Richmond trip in a nutshell (of several varieties). LOL. That whole story and I drop a goofy punchline.

--Follow Up and Previews---

If any of you lumberjocks are in the Richmond area and want me to drop by for a visit, drop me a line and I'll let you know the next time I'm headed out. I'm going to be up in Canada next week about half way between Montreal and Toronto, right on the US/Canadian border. If you're in the area, same story, maybe I can swing by some evening.

I'm writing this from Chattanooga, TN which has also been an altogether pleasant trip. I'm dragging home about twenty board feet of cherry. Should be interesting trying to get THAT home on a plane.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

July 21, 2010 - Richmond, VA

So it was off to Virginia last week. I've been going to Richmond pretty regularly for four to five years now and I really enjoy the area. It's beautiful, there's a ton of historical stuff in the area, and of course now that I'm visiting sawmills and lumberjocks, there's no shortage of wood and sawdust themed adventures.

This was something of a short notice trip, so I didn't have much chance to plan visits or scope folks with portable sawmills. Oddly enough though one of the ladies at the plant I was visiting had some acreage and I ended up going out to visit with her and her husband. It was quite exciting for me because by chance the discussion of chestnut trees and lumber came up. Turns out they have TWO chestnut trees alive and well on their property that they were wanting to cut down. I'd never seen a chestnut tree in person because thanks to a fungal blight that came over from Asia back in the early nineteen hundreds (1904 give or take), what was once a very common tree in the american forest is now borderline extinct.

In my attempt to be ever the polite guest, I picked up a couple pizzas from Bottoms Up, a local pizza joint, which makes fantastic pizza. If you ever have the chance try the Chesapeake. It's a white pizza with crab and old bay seasoning. I was prepared to be unimpressed but it was super tasty. Even Brenda, a self professed ham and pineapple pizza girl liked it.

After getting to see the trees which had trunks about two feet in diameter (I'll see if I can get a couple pictures from Brenda to post later) I pulled a couple twigs with leaves off and picked up a couple husks to see if we could ID the exact species (website here). As it turns out, there's five species to consider. I'm pretty comfortable saying these trees were NOT pure american chestnut, but were probably a hybrid Japanese/American variety. I learned a lot about chestnuts but the lesson that stuck with me the most was that even old chestnut burrs are REALLY FREAKING SHARP and hard. Yeah, I had to cut a spine out of a finger even though I was handling them very delicately. Sigh…

I'm not sure how I feel about taking chestnut lumber from a live tree, but I guess if they're going to cut it down, better lumber than firewood. I'm not sure there's any value to collecting some seeds and forwarding them to the TACF, but I may see if anyone wants some.

The land owners are also planning on cutting down three decent size (two foot diameter) eastern black walnut trees. They asked me if I wanted one for lumber and I was like - um, SURE! They've got a friend with a wood mizer, so we'll see what happens. I think they're going to let me air dry it in a barn for a while, so I suspect at some point a road trip from Texas to Richmond and back will be in order to collect the haul of walnut. If it ends up happening I'm going to bring them some nice piece of furniture when I come up to pick things up.

If I end up with some walnut from Virginia, it will sure have a story. I like pieces to have a story. People may forget or the story may get lost, but if a piece is beautiful and will outlast me, maybe it will end up making more stories long after I'm gone.

I did talk to a few folks with sawmills, but I was on such a tight schedule I just didn't have time to visit any of them so I can't make any recommendations one way or the other. For my and others reference, next time I get out there, I'm going to try and visit:

Logs to Lumber - (804) 271-3840. Talked to the guy on the phone seemed nice enough.

HomeGrownWoodProducts - I talked to Joe he seemed nice and I like the direction he's going with the whole urban forestry lumber approach.

And that was my Richmond trip in a nutshell (of several varieties). LOL. That whole story and I drop a goofy punchline.

--Follow Up and Previews---

If any of you lumberjocks are in the Richmond area and want me to drop by for a visit, drop me a line and I'll let you know the next time I'm headed out. I'm going to be up in Canada next week about half way between Montreal and Toronto, right on the US/Canadian border. If you're in the area, same story, maybe I can swing by some evening.

I'm writing this from Chattanooga, TN which has also been an altogether pleasant trip. I'm dragging home about twenty board feet of cherry. Should be interesting trying to get THAT home on a plane.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

July 21, 2010 - Richmond, VA

So it was off to Virginia last week. I've been going to Richmond pretty regularly for four to five years now and I really enjoy the area. It's beautiful, there's a ton of historical stuff in the area, and of course now that I'm visiting sawmills and lumberjocks, there's no shortage of wood and sawdust themed adventures.

This was something of a short notice trip, so I didn't have much chance to plan visits or scope folks with portable sawmills. Oddly enough though one of the ladies at the plant I was visiting had some acreage and I ended up going out to visit with her and her husband. It was quite exciting for me because by chance the discussion of chestnut trees and lumber came up. Turns out they have TWO chestnut trees alive and well on their property that they were wanting to cut down. I'd never seen a chestnut tree in person because thanks to a fungal blight that came over from Asia back in the early nineteen hundreds (1904 give or take), what was once a very common tree in the american forest is now borderline extinct.

In my attempt to be ever the polite guest, I picked up a couple pizzas from Bottoms Up, a local pizza joint, which makes fantastic pizza. If you ever have the chance try the Chesapeake. It's a white pizza with crab and old bay seasoning. I was prepared to be unimpressed but it was super tasty. Even Brenda, a self professed ham and pineapple pizza girl liked it.

After getting to see the trees which had trunks about two feet in diameter (I'll see if I can get a couple pictures from Brenda to post later) I pulled a couple twigs with leaves off and picked up a couple husks to see if we could ID the exact species (website here). As it turns out, there's five species to consider. I'm pretty comfortable saying these trees were NOT pure american chestnut, but were probably a hybrid Japanese/American variety. I learned a lot about chestnuts but the lesson that stuck with me the most was that even old chestnut burrs are REALLY FREAKING SHARP and hard. Yeah, I had to cut a spine out of a finger even though I was handling them very delicately. Sigh…

I'm not sure how I feel about taking chestnut lumber from a live tree, but I guess if they're going to cut it down, better lumber than firewood. I'm not sure there's any value to collecting some seeds and forwarding them to the TACF, but I may see if anyone wants some.

The land owners are also planning on cutting down three decent size (two foot diameter) eastern black walnut trees. They asked me if I wanted one for lumber and I was like - um, SURE! They've got a friend with a wood mizer, so we'll see what happens. I think they're going to let me air dry it in a barn for a while, so I suspect at some point a road trip from Texas to Richmond and back will be in order to collect the haul of walnut. If it ends up happening I'm going to bring them some nice piece of furniture when I come up to pick things up.

If I end up with some walnut from Virginia, it will sure have a story. I like pieces to have a story. People may forget or the story may get lost, but if a piece is beautiful and will outlast me, maybe it will end up making more stories long after I'm gone.

I did talk to a few folks with sawmills, but I was on such a tight schedule I just didn't have time to visit any of them so I can't make any recommendations one way or the other. For my and others reference, next time I get out there, I'm going to try and visit:

Logs to Lumber - (804) 271-3840. Talked to the guy on the phone seemed nice enough.

HomeGrownWoodProducts - I talked to Joe he seemed nice and I like the direction he's going with the whole urban forestry lumber approach.

And that was my Richmond trip in a nutshell (of several varieties). LOL. That whole story and I drop a goofy punchline.

--Follow Up and Previews---

If any of you lumberjocks are in the Richmond area and want me to drop by for a visit, drop me a line and I'll let you know the next time I'm headed out. I'm going to be up in Canada next week about half way between Montreal and Toronto, right on the US/Canadian border. If you're in the area, same story, maybe I can swing by some evening.

I'm writing this from Chattanooga, TN which has also been an altogether pleasant trip. I'm dragging home about twenty board feet of cherry. Should be interesting trying to get THAT home on a plane.

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

Trenton, GA (Not far from Chattanooga, TN) - July 28, 2010 (w/ pics this time!)

NOTES: A lot of interesting stuff on this trip so I'm breaking it up into separate days. If you want to see the high res picture, click on the embedded picture and it will open a new browser window with the full high res version.

This trip has been REALLY cool. There were a few issues, like my luggage not making it here. I guess I was due since this is the first time in five years of hard traveling it's not made it to my destination. I've had it get delayed coming home once or twice but that doesn't bother me since they just come drop it on my porch and it's not like I don't have a toothbrush and clean underwear at home.

To start with, check out this oak burl I noticed in someone's yard on my way to the plant. I'm pretty sure that's about 2 1/2-3 feet long and 1 1/2 foot in diameter. I was so tempted to go ask the homeowner if I could saw it off and paint the cut spot on the tree, but I just couldn't quite bring myself to do it.



BUT! ON TO THE GOOD STUFF! In my spare time Wednesday I went out to visit the nice folks at L. Cuzzort Custom Sawing in Trenton, GA. Their contact info is at the bottom. I called ahead and asked if I could come by because it was already pushing six pm. At first I thought it was going to be a no go because they were having a little birthday celebration for Lem's son in law that evening, but they said come on out and we'll run down to the mill and have a look around, so, off I went. I grabbed a twelve pack of cold beer on the way, because if you're going to crash a party, you should come bearing gifts, right?

Anyway, I got there and there was a piece of steak waiting for me. We knocked back a few cold longnecks and headed down to the mill. Lem (his full name is Lemowen) has what I think is an older Timber King mill. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it because they've got a brand spanking new Timber King 2000 on order and are expecting it any time now. Drool, drool, drool…

Lem's partner in crime is a lady named Michelle who is quite the LumberJill. She mentioned lumberjocks.com in our conversation, but I'm not sure she's active on the site right now. Shrug. She's much more into producing the lumber than using it.

These folks are super nice and have what seemed to me to be pretty good prices. Their wood is all air dried, and they advertise themselves as rough cut lumber. I admired some 10"x10"x8' white oak beams that I'm wanting to say were about $65. They've got lots of red and white oak, some eastern black walnut, a bit of sycamore, some hickory, and who knows what else might come in at some point. The wood is in stored in a barn so it's not getting rained on but this is all pretty green stuff, because they don't have a kiln and none of it had been sitting long. I ended up snagging a 6' long 12" wide 3" thick slab of cherry for $10. It has some checks and flaws that I'm going to have to work around and it's only been drying for about six months, so they gave me a good deal. On the bright side, one side is cut smack through the middle of the tree, so I've got a quarter sawn face that is quite nice. Once I get it home, it's going to need more drying time or a trip to a neighboring kiln, but, shrug…

Sorry I didn't get more pictures of this visit, but here's the

Cherry Slabs



If you're in the Chattanooga area or northwestern Georgia, it might be worth talking to these folks.

L. Cuzzort Custom Sawing
1374 Saddle Club Rd
Trenton, GA 30752

Sawmill 706-657-8840

Lemowen Cuzzort 423-653-3830
Michelle Daniels 423-503-6967

Click to expand...

PflugervilleSteve said:

Trenton, GA (Not far from Chattanooga, TN) - July 28, 2010 (w/ pics this time!)

NOTES: A lot of interesting stuff on this trip so I'm breaking it up into separate days. If you want to see the high res picture, click on the embedded picture and it will open a new browser window with the full high res version.

This trip has been REALLY cool. There were a few issues, like my luggage not making it here. I guess I was due since this is the first time in five years of hard traveling it's not made it to my destination. I've had it get delayed coming home once or twice but that doesn't bother me since they just come drop it on my porch and it's not like I don't have a toothbrush and clean underwear at home.

To start with, check out this oak burl I noticed in someone's yard on my way to the plant. I'm pretty sure that's about 2 1/2-3 feet long and 1 1/2 foot in diameter. I was so tempted to go ask the homeowner if I could saw it off and paint the cut spot on the tree, but I just couldn't quite bring myself to do it.



BUT! ON TO THE GOOD STUFF! In my spare time Wednesday I went out to visit the nice folks at L. Cuzzort Custom Sawing in Trenton, GA. Their contact info is at the bottom. I called ahead and asked if I could come by because it was already pushing six pm. At first I thought it was going to be a no go because they were having a little birthday celebration for Lem's son in law that evening, but they said come on out and we'll run down to the mill and have a look around, so, off I went. I grabbed a twelve pack of cold beer on the way, because if you're going to crash a party, you should come bearing gifts, right?

Anyway, I got there and there was a piece of steak waiting for me. We knocked back a few cold longnecks and headed down to the mill. Lem (his full name is Lemowen) has what I think is an older Timber King mill. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it because they've got a brand spanking new Timber King 2000 on order and are expecting it any time now. Drool, drool, drool…

Lem's partner in crime is a lady named Michelle who is quite the LumberJill. She mentioned lumberjocks.com in our conversation, but I'm not sure she's active on the site right now. Shrug. She's much more into producing the lumber than using it.

These folks are super nice and have what seemed to me to be pretty good prices. Their wood is all air dried, and they advertise themselves as rough cut lumber. I admired some 10"x10"x8' white oak beams that I'm wanting to say were about $65. They've got lots of red and white oak, some eastern black walnut, a bit of sycamore, some hickory, and who knows what else might come in at some point. The wood is in stored in a barn so it's not getting rained on but this is all pretty green stuff, because they don't have a kiln and none of it had been sitting long. I ended up snagging a 6' long 12" wide 3" thick slab of cherry for $10. It has some checks and flaws that I'm going to have to work around and it's only been drying for about six months, so they gave me a good deal. On the bright side, one side is cut smack through the middle of the tree, so I've got a quarter sawn face that is quite nice. Once I get it home, it's going to need more drying time or a trip to a neighboring kiln, but, shrug…

Sorry I didn't get more pictures of this visit, but here's the

Cherry Slabs



If you're in the Chattanooga area or northwestern Georgia, it might be worth talking to these folks.

L. Cuzzort Custom Sawing
1374 Saddle Club Rd
Trenton, GA 30752

Sawmill 706-657-8840

Lemowen Cuzzort 423-653-3830
Michelle Daniels 423-503-6967

Click to expand...