One of the biggest differences between building something for myself and building for a client is the time and effort I’ll put into finding good lumber. For a home project the search usually starts in my lumber stack. From there I may hit the local lumber yards and if they don’t have exactly what I need, I’ll start to get a little creative. For a commissioned piece, on the other hand, I usually have a very specific idea of what I want, and I take the time to find it. On a recent project that meant hitting the road when the local lumber yards came up short. 

I was asked to reproduce a table of mine in something a little more exciting than the oak of the original. The client loved figured maple, but wanted something a little darker for the base. I floated the idea of using flame birch instead, and that’s  where I ran into trouble. After searching locally, I talked to the good folks at Irion Lumber in western PA, and they said they could help me out. A four-hour drive paid off in some pretty amazing wood, along with a few extra boards to help make the trip worth while.

Launch Gallery