General question about lumber

[Sam Yerardi]

Is it just me or are there others like me that get a charge out of just walking into your shop and looking at lumber? Rough or surfaced - either one. I'm a wood hoarder from way back and I am drawn to the wood, standing there and dreaming wonderful thoughts. It's like I can't quit looking at it sometimes. Like a project you've just finished and can't quit looking at. Any of you guys feel that way?

[mark page]

At some point in my life, I THINK that I have done that before. Right now with somewhat spring in the air, which means spring cleaning, (imagine cartoon character scratching head and private areas), I am looking at my whole shop like you are your wood, but wondering how the heck I am going to get it straightened and organized.:D

[Prashun Patel]

I agree. I even love the SMELL of it.

[mike holden]

Yes,
I have a piece of walnut that has been made into three different projects so far and still sits on my wood rack.
Nicest piece of walnut I have ever had! (grin)
If we didnt have dreams, we wouldnt have much.
Mike

[Greg Cole]

Sam,
You eyeballing my wood? Ya had to know that was coming sooner n later....
I too can look at wood porn and have my mind wander to wonderous places of the projects that I could do IF that wood was mine. Talarico Hardwoods comes to mind with the "wood porn" category on their website.
I have almost started a poll post asking how much wood is being horded in Creekers shops and or storage or outside etc. Kinda like a guy I bought some red elm from off craigs list... I guarantee he had AT LEAST 5,000 bf stacked in his garage & basement. I asked what his plans were for most of it and all he did was shrug his shoulders.
I might have 500bf all told in the shop as of this morning, yet I seem to keep looking every day for a deal, yet have little space to put it.
Mark,
Spring can't seem to find it's way to KC this year... been here for 9 years now and this is the firstyear I've had spring fever.

Greg

[Peter Quinn]

Your not alone Sam. I also enjoy going into my local hardwood supplier and gazing at their 200,000 BF of FAS KD hardwood, they keep asking "You need somthin?" and I say "No, just came for the ambience!"

Ditto Mark about the spring cleaning. I seem to hoard everything and save every scrap in hopes that it may get used someday. But as my shop has evolved things have periodically gotten crowded. About every six months I take every stick in the shop and pile them on my assembly table for evaluation. I revisit my small piece of birdseye I think is destined for veneered drawer fronts, a few bubinga boards with grain so wild it frightens me to cut them, a short stick of 12/4 blood wood which was part of a reclaimed pallet, a surprise piece of rough mahogany that turned out to be verging on plumb pudding (couldn't make window frames out of that!), some spalted air dried applewood I was given because it had 'gone bad'; and the list of oddities goes on.

I always find a decent pile of things for which I see no future use and wonder why at some point they seemed valuable enough to save. I make with them a nice fire and am consoled by the thought that they space I have reclaimed through their disposal will be filled with more useful lumber at the next available opportunity.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

It's dangerous getting some really, really nice lumber. I have a friend who got a super good piece of something (can't remember what it was now) and put it in his house somewhere so it wouldn't get used in the shop and just to have it around. (No, I don't think he sleeps with it :D)

The danger with getting the really good stuff is saving it back for that "special" project. Twenty years later that "special" project has never gotten here. Twenty years more and it gets given away by the heirs to get the shop/garage cleaned out.

[Jim Becker]

I have often found myself staring at a board or three, envisioning what it might become. I think this is natural for many of us to do.

I think there is also merit in Richard's comment about holding back something "too long", although I don't prefer to use something that isn't the "right" project. I'd rather store a great piece of lumber longer to use it to best effect just because I'm so anal about the value of material selection to maximize the end result of a project.

[Larry Fox]

I agree. I even love the SMELL of it.

I agree about seeing it and thinking about things I could turn it into. However, recently I banaished all stock not related to a current project from the shop and store it in another area so I don't get to see it every time I walk in. But, I agree with Shawn that I love the smell of it. My last project involved spanish cedar and before I started my shop upgrade where I knew it would be a few months before I got back to a project I removed the DC hose from the jointer and reduced a piece of scrap to just shavings. I then put those shavings in a plastic Ziplock bag and at least once a day I open that bag and just take a smack of the smell. Strange as it sounds, it immediately reduces my stress level.

One of my sons asked me one day why I had this bag of shavings on the bench. I didn't say a word but just opened the bag and let him smell it. He now asks whenever he seeis it - I think he is hooked. :)

[Craig D Peltier]

I agree about seeing it and thinking about things I could turn it into. However, recently I banaished all stock not related to a current project from the shop and store it in another area so I don't get to see it every time I walk in. But, I agree with Shawn that I love the smell of it. My last project involved spanish cedar and before I started my shop upgrade where I knew it would be a few months before I got back to a project I removed the DC hose from the jointer and reduced a piece of scrap to just shavings. I then put those shavings in a plastic Ziplock bag and at least once a day I open that bag and just take a smack of the smell. Strange as it sounds, it immediately reduces my stress level.

One of my sons asked me one day why I had this bag of shavings on the bench. I didn't say a word but just opened the bag and let him smell it. He now asks whenever he seeis it - I think he is hooked. :)


Thats funny, I was wondering if your serious but I think you are.:eek:
I get a kick out of it. I have a small burlap type bag bought in maine ( like 2x 3 inches).It says Pine on it. Its smells so good, it reminds me of back there. I used tot akak whiff every once in a while.

[Brent Ring]

I then put those shavings in a plastic Ziplock bag and at least once a day I open that bag and just take a smack of the smell. Strange as it sounds, it immediately reduces my stress level.

One of my sons asked me one day why I had this bag of shavings on the bench. I didn't say a word but just opened the bag and let him smell it. He now asks whenever he seeis it - I think he is hooked. :)

I understand that completely. Now if I could make the LOML understand... My kids say I am obsessed with woodworking... I have not wanted to admit it yet, but it is probably true..... My favorite smell though is cut red oak, so far....

[Joe Chritz]

Generally I can't hoard anything. Wood because chips and projects soon after I get it.

Ammunition goes down range in the same fashion.

Scrap pieces of wood and empty shell casings are another story. There I am a pack rat. Someday I will use it. I am almost disappointed when I can't find a scrap piece to use for that small project.

Joe

[Greg Heppeard]

I found a couple of pieces of curly maple in the stack that got delivered last week...that's just the start of my hoarding hehehehehe

[Larry Fox]

Thats funny, I was wondering if your serious but I think you are.:eek:


Definitely serious. Might sound wierd but the bag is right there on the bench and smell is a very powerful sense. They say that it is very closely tied to memory. My wife has some of the shavings in those little cloth bundles that they sell at various points in the house as well. Cedar is really quite a pleasent smell - very subtle and unobtrusive if you don't use too many shavings.

[Rod Sheridan]

I have often found myself staring at a board or three, envisioning what it might become. I think this is natural for many of us to do.

I think there is also merit in Richard's comment about holding back something "too long", although I don't prefer to use something that isn't the "right" project. I'd rather store a great piece of lumber longer to use it to best effect just because I'm so anal about the value of material selection to maximize the end result of a project.

Good comments Jim, I also keep that special piece, waiting for just the right project.

The danger in that is my kids. If it's still here when I'm dead, it'll go for fire wood, or worse. "Sure you can have that huge piece of wood for your garden tractor ramp, my dad won't miss it now."

My kids always tell me that when I'm gone they'll finally put the garden furniture out in the garden (Morris chairs).

Regards, Rod.

[Kim Dressler]

my father is a hoarder I swear he has every scrap piece of wood from the last 30 years. Drives my mother nuts cause she will try to clean out his shop and as she takes scraps out he bring them back in saying they can't leave he will need them someday. She has finally given up on his work shop. To this day If I ask dad if he has any wood left over from a project that he did when I was little. He will look at me and say "oh yeah it is up under this or that" and you go to his shop and low and behold there it is exactly where he said it was.

[Chris Padilla]

Nice, Kim. I wonder what my daughter (now 6) will think about her old man's ways when she's older!? :)

[Kim Dressler]

my dad taught me about the different types of wood growing up and he is now proud to pass this on to my 2 daughters also. Both my girls are in heaven when dad takes them to the shop and let them help with a "special project" he is working on. It is usually a bird house but they love it anyhow.

[Don Bullock]

I can't even walk through a furniture store without checking the grain of the wood. I've done that so much that the LOML finally is starting to understand and appreciate wood grain.;) :eek:

[Prashun Patel]

... I love the smell of it... :)

My company manufactures fragrances, and we buy natural essential oils from several wood species including pine, oak, cedar, and birch. Amazing stuff. We stock oils from many natural products: herbs, fruits, flowers, etc. But favorites are woods. Surprise, surprise.

Gotta say, though, nothing rivals (for me) the smell of just CUT lumber.

[George Sanders]

I have GOT TO clean out my lumber rack. I am currently making baseboard for the downstairs to replace the plastic that is there now. The house is about a hundred years old and the upstairs has the original baseboard. It's seven and a half inches tall with a trim piece on top. I believe this is clear fir. I can't replace it with fir so I am using clear white oak which I
can stain to match the existing original window trim. I get the oak from a local sawyer for $2.25 @BF. It's not edged and it's 1" thick. Gave my Park's planer a good workout yesterday. Currently my greenhouse is doubling as a lumber shed.:eek:
Just like most people I have a large slab of walnut squirreled away. It's 3"x8"x50. I have desires of making some jewelry boxes for my nieces sometime soon. I also have some oak slabs for the legs to my workbench project.

[Chris Padilla]

Gotta say, though, nothing rivals (for me) the smell of just CUT lumber.

Try that with some zebrawood and report back. :)

[Chris Padilla]

I can't even walk through a furniture store without checking the grain of the wood. I've done that so much that the LOML finally is starting to understand and appreciate wood grain.;) :eek:

LOML HATES taking me furniture shopping because I poo-poo the cheesy way they normally put everything together and then expect top dollar for it. Now that she's discovered that I am impressed in general with Ethan Allen furniture, she shops there almost exclusively.

[Aaron Frank]

Now that she's discovered that I am impressed in general with Ethan Allen furniture, she shops there almost exclusively.

Chris,
If you like EA, take a look at Thomas Moser furniture. www.thomasmoser.com (http://www.thomasmoser.com) Really beautiful, but seriously pricey!

Aaron

[Chris Padilla]

Chris,
If you like EA, take a look at Thomas Moser furniture. www.thomasmoser.com (http://www.thomasmoser.com) Really beautiful, but seriously pricey!

Aaron

Aaron, I can BARELY handle the prices at EA but at least I think they build quality furniture so I'm "okay" paying for it.

I've come to the realization that I simply don't have enough time to build everything we need for our house and compromises must be made.

[Danny Thompson]

I whole-heartedly agree. The best word to describe it, in my opinion, is "visceral."

To me, the tactile nature of roughsawn, highly figured, or exotic lumber is incredibly appealing. The smell. The touch. The potential. It is something real; a stark contrast with the concepts and virtual things I deal with in my working life.

[James Hendrix]

Spring can't seem to find it's way to KC this year... been here for 9 years now and this is the firstyear I've had spring fever.
Greg

I am in your neighborhood and think this has been the longest winter ever. I have purchased all new equipment for my shop and it seems like it's just to cold to use any of it. Hope that is about to change with this weekend!

[Mark Singer]

If I see wood I really like I will buy it even if I don't know for which project. Just Buy It!

[Charles P. Wright]

LOML HATES taking me furniture shopping because I poo-poo the cheesy way they normally put everything together and then expect top dollar for it. Now that she's discovered that I am impressed in general with Ethan Allen furniture, she shops there almost exclusively.
I too am really impressed with EA furniture, before I started getting into wood working I thought it just looked really nice and was high quality solid wood. Now, I appreciate the quality and difficulty of the joinery they use.

On a completely unrelated topic, I was very surprised though to find out that at least the chairs in my EA New Impressions dining room set are made in China.

[Jim W. White]

The only smell better than fresh sawn hardwood is that of an infant when they're napping on your belly. (assuming they don't need to be changed ;))

My wife routinely finds me in the garage staring at the wall of un-used lumber of various species. Se already knows the answer, but asks anyway "What are you working on in here?" ...my answer "Nothing, just pondering the wood rack"

On a related note ...I often visit my local hardwood distributor when I have no immediate projects to scope for. I rarely leave without one or two sticks of something that just screamed at me that they had to go home with me :) Purchase or not, I always leave with a better attitude!

The owner of the business now has now adopted my verbage on the practice and simply asks ....Are you here for anything specific or just some of your "wood therapy"?

Jim in Idaho