Aaron Dunham
01-20-2008, 10:38 AM
I thought I was lucky paying what I did for an Akeda DC-16 earlier in the week, but Craigslist came through for me on an even better deal. I found an ad shortly after it was posted advertising "mesquite planks". I called that night and set up a time to see it; I'm the first one there the next morning. The guy tells me that he used to have a mesquite furniture business but labor got too expensive and he moved the operation down to Juarez. He is now strictly a furniture importer with a shop full of dusty equipment and a lot of leftover mesquite, which he brought up from Mexico about 8-10 years ago. I had only taken 2/3's of what he was asking out of the ATM, hoping he would split the pile. He agreed and I asked him if anyone else had called - he said quite a few, including a chef who wanted to cut it up and use it in the smoker. At that moment another guy and his wife showed up, and we immediately made eye contact with the look that only happens when an in-person bidding war is impending. He walks over and sheepishly looks through the pile as I'm setting boards aside. I'm thinking he's going to make an offer on the whole pile, but he ends up only taking 10 boards. After the man and wife leave, Phil, the owner, turns to me and says, "Ahhhh, just take the rest of it." So I filled the bed of my Cummins side to side and top to bottom. The largest board in the bunch is 14" x 6.5', and everything is 4/4 and 5/4. Each pic is of a separate group; the last two shots are of some figure after running it through the jointer. I paid $200:
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/2788/mesquite1mt0.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6769/mesquite2fx4.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4720/mesquite3uh0.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6461/mesquite4vt2.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/1/mesquite5rf4.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/2788/mesquite1mt0.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6769/mesquite2fx4.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4720/mesquite3uh0.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6461/mesquite4vt2.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/1/mesquite5rf4.jpg