Replies

1. 
   Bengst | Dec 12, 2003 08:26pm | #1

   I have found the lumber at http://www.nwtimber.com to be of amazing figure and quality. Quilt, curly, spalted, burl. You'll pay for it though. This is figured big leaf maple from the northwest. He also has an extensive supply of western walnut, myrtle, port orford cedar.

   I used to live close to the place and walking through his warehouse was heavenly. He'll ship to you but since I was close I would always go get it myself.

   Jeffrey

    

1. 
   cvwaprez | Dec 12, 2003 08:56pm | #3

   Thanks Jeff

   I will try contacting them for additional info. Nice website but no info on what cause such figure to occur. I understand that tiger maple is caused by the tree being blown back and forth by wind. Which causes compression and sterching stresses along the trunk. This is why the tiger firgure is prependicular to the grain. This is the kind of info I am looking for regarding quilted maple.

   Thanks

1. 
   YesMaam27577 | Dec 12, 2003 09:20pm | #4

   On a recent trip to Baltimore, I took a side trip to Hearne Hardwoods, just across the line in Pennsylvannia. They usualy stock a lot of highly figured pieces, and they had some truly stunning maple.

   The staff there seemed amazingly knowledgable concerning big leaf maple burls, and quilted maple (which also comes from the big leaf maple tree). "Those angel stairs between the burls mean that the wood is quilted" he said when we were looking at a log that probably had thirty burls on it (and a "sold" tag too). Angel stairs  look like tightly-packed multiple chins, sorry for that horrible definition, but it really is the best way to describe them.

   I wish I could have afforded one piece of quilted that they had in their main showroom. I don't remember the price, but it was at least twelve feet long, probably 14 inches wide, and was a few inches thick. And it was gorgeous -- completely quilted, every inch of both faces.

   Vast projects should not be founded on half vast ideas.

1. 
   AlanTurner | Dec 12, 2003 10:22pm | #6

   I saw that same board, and it was $3400, which I thought was way over the top.  Groff & Groff has it also, and mcuh less expensive, but no online presence.  They do ship, however.  Great supplier.  Very near to Hearne.  In fact, they used to be partners, and it was then called Groff & Hearne.

   Alan.

1. 
   YesMaam27577 | Dec 13, 2003 01:14am | #7

   I agree -- Groff & Groff is an excelent supplier. On the same trip, same day, I visited both Hearne's and Groff's. At the time. Groff's had less of the stunning maple, though they had LOTS of awesome pieces. (Including the largest amount of true ebony that I've ever seen in one place.)

   In fact, the only piece that I came home with, was from Groff & Groff. It's a slab of something called Padownia. I had never heard of it, and I still haven't done anything with it yet.

   Its color and grain pattern are close to white oak, though it is not open grained. But it also has some figure that is a lot like tiger maple.

   And the stuff is almost as heavy as balsa. The slab that I bought is about 30" X 60", and is 6/4 thick. I pick it up in one hand, carrying it like a paperback book. Oh well, no good (probably too soft) for a table that will get heavy use. But good for a couple of decorator pieces.

   Vast projects should not be founded on half vast ideas.

2. 
   Sphere | Dec 13, 2003 07:09am | #8

   That is Paulownia..Princess Tree...Catalpa..looks like sassafrass, prized by Japanese for making Dowry chests among other rthings..grows VERY fast large pith center and resistant to fire..thats why they make the chests from it. Sands real well, planes well, takes shellac like a dream. Smells bad.

   enjoy.

2. 
   cvwaprez | Dec 15, 2003 09:07pm | #9

   I did not have very good luck with Northwest Timber. They were not very help. It kind of surprised me the response was not very professional for a business. Here is a copy of the reponse.

   IT IS LIKE WHAT CAUSES YOUR EYE COLOR---MOTHER NATURE

    

   MAN IS ALWAYS TRYING TO FIND A MORE COMPLICATED WAY FOR EVERYTHING

   ----- Original Message -----

   From: Mark Dutton

   To: [email protected]

   Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 9:42 AM

   Subject: info of figured maple

   Hello

   I have visited your wonderful website. It was recommended to me by a person on Fine Woodworking's Knots online forum. I am in search of some info on what cause the different kinds of figured maple especially quilted maple. We are a woodworking club in northeast Iowa called the Cedar Valley Woodworker's Assoc. We have had interest from our members about figured maple and what cause it. I write an article for our monthly newsletters and hope to do something for the January issue on figured maple especially quilted maple. Do you have an information on what causes tree to product this kind of figure? Or know where I could go online to find this kind of info? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would include your website address in the article.

   Thank you

   Mark Dutton

   Certainly something causes this kind of figure to occur in nature. I was just trying to understand it and  why it is a little rare. It make easier to appreciate the beauty .

1. 
   Sphere | Dec 16, 2003 12:52am | #10

   If this is any help..the sheer weight of the tree crushing down on the buttresses causes the softer and faster cellular structures to compress..causing a a rippling effect..take that for what it is worth. It is true.

2. 
   forestgirl | Dec 12, 2003 08:32pm | #2

   It might a little hard to get thorough info on-line, but you could try this search for starters.  Bruce Hoadley's book "Understanding Wood" has a section on wood figure, accompanied by excellent color plates for illustration.

   forestgirl Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)  you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)

3. 
   BobSmalser | Dec 12, 2003 09:42pm | #5

   I cut tons of it.  Dunno of a web source, but the birdseye figure is generally in the sapwood caused by maple's amazing ability to grow clusters of small branches at the site of injury ...or often, even without injury.  Quilted and other figure often has it's basis in buttresses and twists as the tree reaches for sunlight in the forest.  Here it grows natuarally only along watercourses amid other maples.

   The interior wood is usually quite plain.

   Birdseye Logs stacked "in the bolle"

   Lotta degrade...checking...drying figured wood and that and the tiny percentage of the tree that holds figure is why what you finally see in the store is so costly.

   “When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think...that a time is to come when those (heirlooms) will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our father did for us.’ “ --John Ruskin.

4. 
   jonsherryl | Dec 16, 2003 05:17pm | #11

   CV, it is not known exactly what causes the special figures in maple (and many other woods) such as birds-eye and fiddleback. The most probable explanation (in my opinion) rests in an imbalance in plant hormones caused by environmental stress.

   I've summarized what is known about the subject in some old FWW Q&As and other articles. If you'll e-mail me with your postal address, I can send you copies of some of this background information.