A Visit to Hearne Hardwoods

[Jack Ganssle]

My wife and I stopped by Hearne Hardwoods in southeastern PA last week. They were running the gigantic band mill.

This is a friendly place. When visiting in June I wandered into the main hall where forklifts run around and there’s lots of nice machinery in use. A stern-looking young guy approached; I started to say “yeah, I guess I shouldn’t be in here.” He stopped me short, with a hard “Have you ever been here before?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Then I have GOT to give you the tour!” He spent an hour showing us all over the place. But the band mill wasn’t operating. So when we showed up last week he saw us and excitedly said they were milling some amazing Tasmanian Blackwood. Here are some pictures, alas, poor ones from a cell phone camera, of the operation. The mill itself is on the left, and, yes, those workers are scarily-close to the running band.

Replacement bands are $5000 each. I’ll never complain about $30 for a Woodslicer again.

[julie Graf]

wow that is cool

[Charles Trout]

Wow! That place is only 40 minutes from my work...I definitely will have to stop and check it out sometime!

[Don Bullock]

I sure wish that we had a place like that in Southern California. I'm very jealous and green with envy.

[Andrew Long]

Worth a trip if your in the area... the Hearne's are nice people to deal with. They get some incredible wood into their place. The band mill is a beast!

[John Shuk]

That is a great way to spend an afternoon. I've drooled over their website many times and have to make the trip one day.

[Larry James]

If that "chunk" of wood came from down-under Tasmania, imagine what the shipping charge must have been!

Larry

[Tom Godley]

It a great place to stop in to see some wood -- and the people are great......so are the dogs!

[Larry Fox]

Amazing place and I always walk out with something. Very nice people to deal with. I have never seen the mill running though - that would be cool.

[Jim Becker]

Ah, yes...my favorite woodworking "candy store"!!!!!!! Even with four-buck gas, it can be worth the trip for something special!

[Michael Dayton]

http://www.hearnehardwoods.com/

For those of us who live nowhere near the place, at least we have the world wide web.

For fun, click on the picture at the bottom of the home page; it opens to a guide of all the employees and all the woods. Goodness!

Mike

[Keith Cruickshank]

Yes, Hearne Hardwoods is an amazing place for anyone who loves wood. I had never been there, but everyone kept saying you've got to see Hearne. So I decided to go - and on a recent trek of mine, I filmed Rick Hearne, the pioneering hardwood dealer himself, in action slicing open a massive english witch elm burl log. He's truly like watching "a kid in a candy store". Some of you might get a kick out of this video:

http://woodtreks.com/rick-hearne-nev...rare-logs/231/

[Greg Cole]

I am a good long ways from PA, but I buy material from them and ship it to Missouri occasionally. They are great to deal with across the board and what don said about wishing someplace like that was close by.

Greg