Many people have told us how much they love beautiful wood. People can’t resist coming up to our pieces, touching them and murmuring something like,”I just love beautiful wood.” Our pieces are very tactile.
Because we are conscious of preserving our environment we use only local hardwoods or reclaimed lumber. Some of the wood we use comes directly from the Amish kiln where it has been dried for use. Other pieces come from the wood lots and sugar bushes of the farms around us. We’re getting quite a reputation as the folks that like all the burled, gnarly wood! A lot of the wood we have used has been air drying for years up in barns and sheds. We’ve had a few harrowing adventures climbing up rickety ladders into barn lofts without the advantage of electric lights!
There is a surprisingly large variety of hardwoods available locally. Naturally, some species are more attractive than others when sawed and planed. Cherry and walnut are obvious examples. We try to find lumber that has the most character; by that we mean an interesting or unusual wood grain. We are always finding new characteristics that make the wood appealing. Recently we found cherry that has a grain that looks like a cat walked across it. We have also seen “taphole” maple that still has the holes from tapping for sugaring. What some people see as flaws we see as beauty.