After going through the project design and wood choices with our customers, a trip to our local specialty lumber yard is called for… come along with me!
A walk through the huge sliding double doors reveals stacks and stacks of wood organized by type, thickness, and quality. The first time you see the huge quantities of wood, you are overwhelmed by it all. The picture above is only one isle out of 7 or 8, it's impressive!
The exotic woods have their own room which displays some of the world's most beautiful hardwoods. It's really neat to see them all standing next to each other, each with their own unique colors and grain patterns.
An adjacent room displays stacks and stacks of premium American hardwoods. I ended up going home with some of the hard maple on the left.
A walk down this isle takes you past a lot of rough sawn lumber. Rough sawn lumber is lumber that has not been flattened, cut down to standard sizes, and sanded; it's usually right from the sawmill.
This piece of project inspiring black walnut is from the isle above. It is a beautiful find (too bad I didn't need it!). To give you an idea of the scale, it's about 2in thick 16in wide and about 12ft long.
A walk down the next isle over reveals even bigger pieces of wood. Some are over 6 inches thick! A big thick piece of mahogany from this isle would be great for a fire place mantel.
After walking around and picking out the wood for your project, it's off to purchase it and load it up.
Picking out lumber for your project at the specialty lumber yard is always an exciting time. This basic, but critical step helps so greatly in determining the character and feel of the final your product. Though it takes time to hand pick these specialty woods, our commitment to this step is one of the things that sets End Grain Studios apart.
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