Wood too Nice to Cut up.

[Daren K Nelson]

Ok Daren, based on your post and those pics, you need to post some pics of the stash.

We'll be jealous,

Maybe some day...

And yes you probably would be

Here are 2 slabs exactly like I made the desk from. 24" wide x 6 feet long in a book match.

[Tom Sontag]

...I also bought (maybe stole) a basketball sized cherry burl from my friend Tom Sontag as well....

Confirmed.

We should stop feeling so guilty about building stashes, at least those of us who have EVER reached in and used a special piece. I know I have. So quite rationally my stash has grown exponentially. None of it is ever too nice to use, but simply needs the talent and inspiration to be used to its best.

Here's a few things that used Stash Wood:

The wheel is made from some crotch walnut from a 5x4 chunk I bought from a toothless guy over 5 years earlier:



Sweetgum root flare from a large nondescript board:



I still have some from my first maple log:

[Don Bullock]

A wood stash, me?

You bet ya I do. About ten years ago my wife and I were sightseeing along the Oregon Coast. One of the Myrtle wood stores had some rough sawn wood for sale. At the time I didn't own a jointer or planer and was not doing any wood working. That board stayed in my shop until last year when I bought a jointer and planer. It's now being made into a table top for our new house.

Even SWMBO understands my "collection." This summer I needed some maple molding for a renovation project in our master bathroom. After discovering that I couldn't find the "right" molding I decided I needed to make my own. My wife was with me when i stopped by the lumber yard for the wood. There, on top of the stack, was a beautiful board of hard maple. It was way too nice to use for the molding so I purchased that board and another, rather plain board, and left with a big smile on my face. All she did was pay the bill because she knew it meant something to me to have a nice piece of wood for a "future" project. No, I haven't done anything yet but admire it.

Oh, and I'm "saving up" some walnut for a future project and I also have quite a few boards of curly maple on my wood pile and ...

[Jim Knishka]

my wife and I are sitting side by side at the computers in our office. she has had many tart comments as I scrolled through this post. I have nothing to say.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

my wife and I are sitting side by side at the computers in our office. she has had many tart comments as I scrolled through this post. I have nothing to say.

Right beside you? Jim, if you are at a loss for words, I'm sure we all can help a little...

[Doug Shepard]

Doug, at first I read this as your having a stack of 3 foot wide boards! (You did mean that the stack is 3' wide, right?)
...

Yeah - all varying widths from 4" up to 12".

[Jeff Mohr]

We must decide if we are greedy to hoard our cache of nice hardwood...OR...is there some *fear of failure* to use very nice planks for something mundane or otherwise not befitting of such quality?

Fear of failure...no doubt!

I'm not that accomplished yet but I have a 4/4, 4 ft, 8 inch wide plank that has a lot of history. My grandfather cut it from a log 45 years or so ago and my father took it when my grandfather passed away. My father has been holding onto it for years as he remembered cutting it with his father but finally gave it to me because he isn't a woodworker--plus, when he finally measured it for the project he had in mind it was too short! So...now I have this board with all this history and a fear of botching whatever I make from it. It is not a very pretty board....plane walnut but the history.....

Someday I'll be brave and find the perfect project.