Well, it’s unusual to me. I’ve seen it curly occasionally, but never like this:
Those of you that know me know that I have my own cabinet business. In addition to that, I work at another cabinet shop doing all of the finishing and soon to be doing all of the installs as well. The gentleman I work for also makes cabinet doors for other shops and sells lumber, plywood, drawer slides, etc. So needless to say there is a great deal of lumber going in and out of the shop.
Last week a customer needed 500 b/f of this wood for a cabinet job. Our supplier sent 441 b/f. Being the wood junkie I am I saw a handful of these curly boards peeking out from the bottom of the stack, mixed in with the rest of the plain, unfigured stock. I asked my boss repeatedly if I could pull the curly stuff out and he said no, we were short already, customer is coming tomorrow to get it, etc. Luckily the guy dragged his feet a few days and I was able to wear my boss down and convince him to sell it to me rather than see some guy rip it into 2″ wide stock for face frames. I couldn’t get it all because that would have shorted the customer way too much.
I managed to keep 5 boards – one 13″ wide, two 11 1/2″ wide, and two 7″ wide boards – all 14 foot long and curly across the width and the entire length. All 5 boards are sapwood with almost no heart.
Unfortunately I had to pay my boss his cost for the wood – $1.47 per b/f. No joke.
The wood is hickory.
Cheers,
Lee
Replies
That's some great looking wood that you got at a great bargain price! I can't wait to see what you'll make from it.
My elder son in law made a nice chest from hickory--it is VERY heavy. Do you have any idea what you are going to do with your curly hickory?
hw,
Don't have a clue what I'm going to do with it. The thought has crossed my mind to use it for a blanket chest. The August Pop Woodworking has a curly maple blanket chest on the cover and I like the look of it. It will be a while before I put it to use, I have to sharpen the hand-cut dovetail skills first ;)
And yes, it is very heavy. Like desert ironwood heavy!
Lee
Lee,My son in law is a minister, so I've helped them move a couple of times. The hickory chest is the one thing that I no longer volunteer to budge.
The grain in that chest is outstanding, but it doesn't compare to your curly hickory. I feel jealousy creeping up on me . . .gmg
"Unfortunately I had to pay my boss his cost for the wood - $1.47 per b/f."
Gee, Lee. Too bad they aren't thick enough to make hammer handles. ;-)
But, I'll give you $1.48/BF, anyway. ;-)
Are you positive that's hickory (not because of the curl - because of the grain structure)? I use hickory on a fairly frequent basis, and it sure doesn't look like the wood in your photographs. There are lots of species of hickory, and what I use is primarily shagbark, so it's possible that's the discrepancy, but it's also possible your supplier mixed species in with the order.
If that's the case and the boards are actually curly hard maple, the supplier would be pretty unhappy if he finds out, since curly hard maple sells for about $10/b.f.!
dk,
absolutely positive it's not curly maple. At first I thought it might be ash, but we also have a big load of that on hand at the shop and it has a different look, with open pores. I'm positive it is hickory, but it may be hard to tell from the photos. Now exactly what species of hickory I can't be certain.
That's part of the reason I posted it, it definitely looks like very good maple curl, just in hickory.
Lee
I have seen Poplar like that but not very often! My first guess was Sycamore?
I never thought of Hickory! And I use it alot. I think Hickory it is a way underclassed wood! NOT that hard to work with.. In fact way easier than my 'usual' woods I use.
My problem with Hickory (pecan?) is my supplier does not have much of it.. NO buyers!
I HAVE seen Ash like that..
Edited 8/11/2008 4:17 pm by WillGeorge
Edited 8/11/2008 4:19 pm by WillGeorge
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled