There's nothing like a little trip to the "candy store" for a little shopping and today was a nice day for it! I had a need to pick up some quarter sawn cherry and some cherry crotch for the two vanities for the master bath that will be in the addition, so I twisted Creeker Robert Tarr's arm to come along for the ride and hooked up the trailer to the Highlander. A quick stop at StarBucks and the ATM on the way and after a bit of a ride, we were in lovely Oxford PA.
Now, Robert has never been to Hearne before and I wasn't sure that my description was convincing enough. But these bubinga slabs next to the parking lot were the first thing he laid his eyes on as we got out of the vehicle. That's the "Holy Moley!" look...
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We spent a lot of time there, starting with a quick tour for Robert and then getting down to the business of selecting lumber. My main concern was to try and find some acceptable cherry crotch for door panels in the vanities. That, unfortunately, proved to be difficult. I only found one piece that would work and it was only enough for one vanity. Rick Hearne even took us out to some of the other buildings were we looked through some other options, but it was not to be...today. I did buy that one panel. Maybe I'll find another before I do the vanities. If not, I picked up a very nice piece of quartered English sycamore that will make very nice book matched panels that can be dyed to work for this project.
I spent some time picking through the QS stock and found about 50 bd ft that would work for me. And then I fell in love. No, not with a beautiful maiden, but with a beautiful slab of English Brown Oak. Yes, the "I -don't-normally-do-oak" author of this post just had to have that piece of wood. Gorgeous stuff. (Rick said that the interesting brown color comes from a mushroom that grows around the trees and eventually kills them) And then, of course, I needed another piece to use for other structure for what I think will be a sofa table or some sort. Let's just consider this a speculative buy...and here I am speculating about what the number will be on my AMEX card once the dude measuring things up is done writing.
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Thankfully, it was less than I thought it would be. (Professor Dr. SWMBO said the same thing once we got back with the goodies ) Here's today's haul.
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And this is that wonderful slab of English Brown Oak. Yes, it will remain a natural edge piece, too...the contrast is wonderful. And I have a 9 bd ft piece of 8/4 to match for aprons and legs. That's an 18" ruler on top for a size reference.
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Wood porn is really a wonderful way to spend part of a Saturday in the spring....