Jason Beam
Member
- Messages
- 1,364
- Location
- Sacramento, CA
So Tuesday night before I went to bed, I checked craigslist, like I tend to do from time to time...
On it was an ad for some walnut. The pictures were pretty minimal - it was tough to tell for sure how big things were. So I emailed the guy and went to bed. He replied yesterday morning telling me he still had it and was willing to make an appointment. Well it turns out, this wood sat only 2 blocks away from my office. So we arranged for me to come by after work and take a look.
I left work at 4:30 on my scooter - i got to the guy's place at 4:31 (stop lights). I didn't even get pulled into the driveway and I knew i'd found someplace special. I could see the END of a 5 FOOT wide board about 4" thick facing me - Behind it was another. This guy was about to become my new best friend.
Well I shook hands with the guy and walked around to see what was in the ad. There was a pile, about 5' tall, 10' wide and about 3' deep of walnut - some of which were full the entire 10x3 and about 3" thick. He said that's most of the ad's listing. In back, were 3 more chunks. These came with the deal as well. He's asking for $125!
Well ... I immediately called my best friend and said he'd better drop what he's doing, i've just found Mecca. Inside the garage, that end of the board was a 5' WIDE, 8' LONG chunk of curly walnut. ALL heartwood, NO cracks, just a dryin' away. Behind it is it's bookmatched mate. On a trailer beside the garage laid 7 4" thick crotch slabs that were 9-10 feet long, 4-5' wide at the crotch and 3' wide at the trunk.
I didn't pick up those big slabs, he wanted a VERY good price for 'em. The big slabs he was askin $1500 for. I let that one go by - it wouldn't fit on my trailer!
So ... here's what I got for $125:
http://gallery.sawdusters.org/v/Beamer/wood/october08/
There's more, though. In the car are about a dozen chunks of 4' or shorter pieces of walnut - all between 3 and 6 inches thick, 8-14 inches wide. VERY nice stuff. Very figured.
My friend made out like a bandit, too. He picked up a similar amount of stuff - much of it in log form.
Turns out this guy has a 6' long bar on his chainsaw mill that he uses to mill up slabs on the spot. He's just become my new best friend
EDIT: I just put up a "What I didn't buy" folder showing some of the stuff I saw while there but didn't have permission to buy
On it was an ad for some walnut. The pictures were pretty minimal - it was tough to tell for sure how big things were. So I emailed the guy and went to bed. He replied yesterday morning telling me he still had it and was willing to make an appointment. Well it turns out, this wood sat only 2 blocks away from my office. So we arranged for me to come by after work and take a look.
I left work at 4:30 on my scooter - i got to the guy's place at 4:31 (stop lights). I didn't even get pulled into the driveway and I knew i'd found someplace special. I could see the END of a 5 FOOT wide board about 4" thick facing me - Behind it was another. This guy was about to become my new best friend.
Well I shook hands with the guy and walked around to see what was in the ad. There was a pile, about 5' tall, 10' wide and about 3' deep of walnut - some of which were full the entire 10x3 and about 3" thick. He said that's most of the ad's listing. In back, were 3 more chunks. These came with the deal as well. He's asking for $125!
Well ... I immediately called my best friend and said he'd better drop what he's doing, i've just found Mecca. Inside the garage, that end of the board was a 5' WIDE, 8' LONG chunk of curly walnut. ALL heartwood, NO cracks, just a dryin' away. Behind it is it's bookmatched mate. On a trailer beside the garage laid 7 4" thick crotch slabs that were 9-10 feet long, 4-5' wide at the crotch and 3' wide at the trunk.
I didn't pick up those big slabs, he wanted a VERY good price for 'em. The big slabs he was askin $1500 for. I let that one go by - it wouldn't fit on my trailer!
So ... here's what I got for $125:
http://gallery.sawdusters.org/v/Beamer/wood/october08/
There's more, though. In the car are about a dozen chunks of 4' or shorter pieces of walnut - all between 3 and 6 inches thick, 8-14 inches wide. VERY nice stuff. Very figured.
My friend made out like a bandit, too. He picked up a similar amount of stuff - much of it in log form.
Turns out this guy has a 6' long bar on his chainsaw mill that he uses to mill up slabs on the spot. He's just become my new best friend
EDIT: I just put up a "What I didn't buy" folder showing some of the stuff I saw while there but didn't have permission to buy
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