Bunch of wood from Oregon, Cali, and Washington here in Idaho!

[Jeff Nicol]

Happy Wednesday all!

Well I took Jimmy Heikes advice and contacted Steve at Rustic Mill ( The Urban Logger) Come to find out he is only 23 miles from Mountain Home were we are on vacation! I gave him a call and set a time to go to his operation, very gracious retired Army Vet with some good stories and lots of wood with more coming in all the time.

So we chatted about sawing and different woods and he brought out all kinds of different small chunks of wood good for turning or whatever. He had Walnut from California, Oregon, Washington and some from here in Idaho. It all comes from in the towns here and there where he has contacts who let him know what they have available and he goes and picks up trailers full of big leaf maple, walnut, cherry, ash, and what ever. He likes big trunks for huge slabs that is his main business, with walk ins, gun stock blanks and misc turning/craft pieces rounding it out.

So here is what I got for $50.00, I could have had more but not a lot of room in the car with 2 dogs and the wife and I. The one piece that he said is cherry is very light in color and pretty hard and tight grained, so he was not sure but when he sawed it up it smelled like cherry. I will have to wait to see what it looks like when turned.


Maybe get to stop and see Brian Brown on the way home too!

Jeff

[charlie knighton]

nice haul, be happy with what you got, have a safe trip

[Marty Eargle]

Some pretty good looking chunks you go there. Looks like you better go ahead and stock up on CA glue for a few of those.

Enjoy!

[John Keeton]

Jeff, in your hands, these will become treasured pieces! Have a safe journey, my friend!

[Ted Calver]

Jeff, How much more could you fit in if you turned the dogs loose (they'll find their way home) and asked the wife to hitch hike??? Just kiddin about the dogs.:D:D:D Nice haul! I really like the thought of urban logging. Way too much beautiful wood gets turned into mulch. I've been to Mt Home and sure don't remember a lot of vegetation around that part of the state. You did good.

[Jeff Nicol]

I was very pleased with the pieces I got, he had a bunch more that were very beautiful in the gun stock room, highly figured walnut with gorgeous colors! I figured that they would be better served for the gun makers, but I was surely tempted!

Today is a goof off day and I am going to check out the hardware stores and such to see what I can see, and get a little pruning saw to gather some sage brush and other little bushy stuff so I can manipulate them into something. Then in the afternoon we are headed to Boise for dinner.

Thanks all for keeping me in the loop while I am away from my shop and tools, I have to live vicariously through you all so I won't go through withdrawls...........deep breath, relax and focus .....howw ddddoo III ggett my leegg to stoopp shakinnnnng!!!

Take care,

Jeff

[bob svoboda]

Looks like a nice haul. Wish you could make it a little further west-maybe some other time.

[Jim Heikes]

Oh boy oh boy oh boy............I'm must be gonna get a finder's fee..............don't tell me us Jersey folk can't smell good wood 2500 miles away.:D:D:D:D Just kidding my friend. Only glad I could help.

[Jeff Nicol]

Jimmy,

It was too cool that he was so close to me, and had all kinds of stuff to dig through! Just had to look out for black widows and the occasional rattle snake! He has big plans for the operation and it will grow in the next few years. He is right on HWY 84 so great exposure for the locals and easy to find for travelers. You may get a surprise or two in a big box in the next couple weeks when I get back to WI.

Thanks my freind,

Jeff
Oh boy oh boy oh boy............I'm must be gonna get a finder's fee..............don't tell me us Jersey folk can't smell good wood 2500 miles away.:D:D:D:D Just kidding my friend. Only glad I could help.

[Jeff Fagen]

You could always rent a trailer!!!!

[Michael James]

Nice score amigo! Make more beautiful things.
mj

[Chris Burgess]

$50!!!!!! I could have gotten MAYBE a 1/4 of that down here for $50. Awesome score my friend. Makes me want to take a road trip :-)

[Jim Burr]

I am proud you saved room for the wife and dog!! Those will be amazing! Travel safe!

[Jim Heikes]

I admit I'm totally addicted to wood to the point of compulsive hoarding BUT black widow spiders and rattlesnakes (ohhhh I really do hate snakes) just might cure the addiction to hunt for wood in the great outdoors...............

[Jeff Nicol]

I did mention getting a trailer for that just in case opportunity on the way, but the bride nixed that right away! I did see a couple of piles of stuff along the road in Montana that I think could have been had for a song! But when I get home I have a couple of huge Box elders to go get that will keep me and as many as I can get the wood to busy for a while! One is about 28" on the but end and it is growing horizontally with a ton of lumps and bumps and tiny limbs with roots growing out the bottom basically making the whole side a root burl of sorts! The other is a bit smaller, but is as crooked as anything I have seen with big cups and dents and swirls in the trunk that should have tons of figure and wild grain!

More work and wood to turn!

Jeff

[David DeCristoforo]

Well that's just a heck of a nice fifty bucks worth of wood!

[Doug W Swanson]

Wow. Maybe I'll find a stash like that while I'm in Bozeman....

[Jeff Nicol]

Doug, It sounds like a lot of trees get cut down all the time in the cities and I just look for someone or a local woodworking shop that may have lines of wood in the areas I go to. I have never met anyone who loves wood and anything that goes along with not to be helpful and share knowledge. I will do a little cruzing the net to see if I can locate some leads for you, the kids and grandson are still sleeping, the baby has been really good at sleeping for 4-6 hours at night, and that is great for the new parents!

Have a safe trip and you are on the road as I understand it, have a great vacation,

Jeff
Wow. Maybe I'll find a stash like that while I'm in Bozeman....

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on a great haul Jeff. You sound like me when I was at Mike Smiths. Trying to figure out how to get more wood in the vehicle without the LOML nixing it.LOL

[David E Keller]

Looks like a great haul, Jeff! That alder burl is particularly interesting to me... I'll bet it's beautiful when finished. Safe travels!

[Jeff Nicol]

The alder burl has like three bumps that I can turn something out of and maybe a couple of pen blanks. The tall bigleaf maple chunk was one that he was trying to sell for a gun stock, but he said it was just not in demand and hard to get a good picture of it. It is about 4' tall and 3" thick and 5" at the narrow end and 13" at the widest. I bought 3 chunks at the symposium all 7x7x 2.5-3" for a total of $36.00 so this one should yield about 8 or 9 that size or some bigger smaller or whatever! The chunk of silver maple has a lot of tiger stripes in it but small and tight together. And the piece that he said was cherry just does not look like any cherry I have seen and it is pretty hard wood. He had a couple of big logs to saw that the arborist told him were maple, but the bark and the grain look like some sort of Elm or maybe Hackberry. He is still learning all the wood ID's so was thankful for my insight.

Wood is a great mystery sometimes, and thanks for the well wishes, we made our hotel reservations for Saturday night so we are preparing for the drive home.

Hope all is well in Oklahoma, For David, Scott, Glen K and all the other creekers there. We finally have a cloudy day today with a chance of some storms here in ID and then highs in the mid 80's tomorrow, I needed a break from the heat for sure.

Worn out Grandpa,

Jeff

[Mike Svoma]

I don't know Jeff.....I don't think there is enough open room in your shop to store any of that wood haul. You are welcome to bring it up to my house for "storage" if you need to. Just lookin to help you out, my friend. Tell Bobbie I said "Hi Hun".

[Steve Schlumpf]

Excellent score on the wood Jeff! Sure seems like you are making the most out of your vacation! Have fun!