Road Trip: Hearne Hardwoods

[rodney mitchell]

Wow, I'd like to be let loose in that place.

[Don Bergren]

Wow, I'd like to be let loose in that place.

Be even more fun to run loose in that place with Jim's credit card and not mine.

[lou sansone]

nice pile of lumber. cherry crotch ... I have tried several times to dry it , only to be disappointed. best wishes in the search

Lou

[Jim Becker]

cherry crotch ... I have tried several times to dry it , only to be disappointed. best wishes in the search

Yes, that was the issue. The boule we looked at out in the sawmill building had some of the very nice feathering I wanted, but aside from having to buy from the outside in to the slices I wanted, there was too much cracking. Rick Hearne indicated that cherry was tough just due to the way the crotches are so inconsistant. Walnut crotch is a dream to dry in comparison and I would have opted for it but for it being darker than I wanted for this project. I also looked at some nice mahogany and bubinga crotch and could have made that work, too...but at $25 a foot and having to buy into the boule as described above, it just wasn't going to happen. So...the vanity door panels will be some nice QS English Sycamore (I cut and book-matched the stock today) and I'll use the one crotch I was able to score for a smaller cabinet elsewhere.

[Dave Malen]

Jim,
Next time you go let me know. That ambrosia maple is to dye for. Nice haul!
Dave

[Jim Becker]

That ambrosia maple is to dye for.

Pick you color...

[Dave Malen]

I thought I edited that
Dave

[Fred Voorhees]

I don't want to hijack Jim's thread, but I have heard it called all of those things. The people at Hearne's (and my local mill, which I rarely buy from) call it Ghost or Wormy Maple. I learned about the "Ambrosia Maple" name here a while back. That does seem to be the more common name.

It's gorgeous stuff. My wife and I both love it.

Did your future daughter-in-law like the chest?

Pete

Yeah, she was surprised and did like it. Surprised because my son really hasn't spent that much time (read that none) in the shop, so was no expected to be giving something like that.

[Tom Sweeney]

I bet I drove right by while you were there. I had to go down to the bay to help my Dad take the cover off his boat & put the canvas top on. Drove right past Hearnes at about 8 AM & on the way back at around Noon. If I'd of known I would have stopped in to help you spend some of your money

I don't go to Hearnes very often, even though they're 20 minutes from my house, because I love my Wife & would hate to have her divorce me over the AMEX bill when I finished shopping at the candy store. One time I was there & they had a bunch of $100 BF stuff in the showroom - YIKES! I haven't been there since they installed that giant sawmill. Is it up & running?

[Tom Sontag]

Does Hearne segregate their cherry quartersawn vs. plain sawn? Do they do the same for walnut? Do they charge more? In the case of the cherry, does all of it exhibit the hard to catch cherry rays, or is it more a thing of a board having straight annual rings? You've got the nail that saw line just so to get ray flecks in cherry....


I currently segregate oaks and sycamore quartersawn, rift sawn, and plain sawn. What other domestics should I segregate the QS stuff?

I love wood threads!

[Jim Becker]

Does Hearne segregate their cherry quartersawn vs. plain sawn? Do they do the same for walnut? Do they charge more? In the case of the cherry, does all of it exhibit the hard to catch cherry rays, or is it more a thing of a board having straight annual rings?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, and know...as you say, depending on the cut line. I personally don't care about the rays...I want the straight grain for the project I'm currently working on.

I currently segregate oaks and sycamore quartersawn, rift sawn, and plain sawn. What other domestics should I segregate the QS stuff?

I'm not sure, but any species can be quarter/rift sawn.

My objective with the straight grain stock as mentioned above is to keep the focus on the "special" wood in the door panels. I don't like "busy" rails and stiles in that respect. I may consider experimenting with other species in the future for this look...if I want to work with the QS/Rift straight grain, there may be better choices and I can use dye to have the color that I want. So many choices...

[Dave Avery]

Jim,

Crotch cherry veneer is relatively easy to find - might be a good excuse for adding an inexpensive vacuum press set-up to the tool arsenal....... Best. dave.

[Jim Becker]

Crotch cherry veneer is relatively easy to find - might be a good excuse for adding an inexpensive vacuum press set-up to the tool arsenal.......

One would think, but I haven't been able to find any veneer with the feather pattern wide enough for the doors. (~12" or more)

[Pete Brown]

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.

I typically don't care much for Oak, but that piece you have there is very nice. I've never played with English Brown Oak; does it work like domestic oaks?

Pete

[Jim Becker]

I typically don't care much for Oak, but that piece you have there is very nice. I've never played with English Brown Oak; does it work like domestic oaks?

I don't know how it works, Pete. It's pretty coarse grained, but the color is outstanding. I believe it's a "white oak", but could be wrong about that. No matter...I bought it 'cause it just really caught my eye and it was easy to envision "the project". Not inexpensive, however. The 4/4 is $12 per and the 8/4 is $15 per.