WunderWoods River Logging – Just The Beginning, Or The End?

This past Saturday I took Mira, my 5 year-old daughter, to downtown St. Charles, MO for a girl scout outing at the Lewis and Clark Heritage Days Festival. I was sent because Chris, my lovely wife, was busy working on Mira’s birthday party scheduled for the following day and because she didn’t really think it was going to go that well. It was going to be hot (90ish) and we were going to do boring things, like milk cows, make candles, pet ducklings, learn how to make arrowheads, learn how to start a fire with flint and steel, drink authentic root beer, watch a juggler, watch a guy carve wooden signs and make wooden rings, learn how to make thread from wool, watch the drum and fife corp (much cooler than I thought it would be), make butter, pet a calf, shop for a tiki turtle necklace and pet horses. Needless to say, we were there for quite a while and would have stayed longer, but after almost four hours we were running out of energy and time. We had to get home – fresh cupcakes were waiting for us.

The last thing we did was see a juggler and headed in the direction of the car. We were close to the river (Missouri) and the water was low, so I said, “Let’s walk down to the river before we go and check it out.” Mira was starting to fade and didn’t really want to, but she said O.K. with the promise that we would head home after that. The river is big and muddy and isn’t very scenic, but for me it always holds the possibility of big catfish and big logs, so we headed down. There were lots of people in the park, but we only passed two guys walking along the river (it isn’t very scenic).

We weren’t down there very long and I found a big, burly maple log. Mira wanted to go. I looked to the right and saw another good-sized log. We checked it out and it was a walnut. Mira wanted to go. I was excited because I expect every log along the river to be a cottonwood, and so far I had found no cottonwoods. I started coming up with plans on how to get the logs out; boat here, truck there, wait a little for the water to come up. Mira wanted to go. I didn’t see any more logs to check out, so we headed up the bank.

We walked until we found an opening in the weeds that I thought was in line with the car. At the top of the bank I took a look around to see exactly where we were. Directly ahead I saw a fair number of gentlemen dressed in bright red British regalia. Behind them was a large crowd of people gathered around to see something. It was me and Mira, about to have our heads blown off by the British and their big fancy canon – and to think we didn’t even dress up. One of the soldiers saw us pop up like whack-a-moles and started flailing his arms and yelling, “Get Out Of There! MOVE!”

Luckily, they hadn’t lit the cannon yet and, more luckily, I am pretty sure they didn’t have a cannon ball in it. They kept yelling, we kept moving and people kept staring at the idiots that walked in front of the cannon, until finally we were out of the way enough to fire. By the way, that thing was loud.

Here are the logs we almost gave our lives for.

Big burl section on the maple.

Burly maple log

Walnut log with crazy top

Top of the walnut with some crazy growth.

Where The Metal Meets The Wood: Sauer And Steiner Woodworking Planes

Konrad Sauer stood pateintly in the corner waiting for his chance to speak about handplanes at a Lie-Nielsen hand tool event. A couple of other guys were up before him and seemed to have more to talk about and more to show. Konrad had a couple of his tools sitting in front of him on a bench and was just hanging out, no big hubbub, no big show. Just a man and a couple of his wares for sale – well sort of. The tools that were for sale, weren’t so much for sale, as they were for selling. Konrad brings them along to start the conversation, and to start to get you to believe that you need one of his tools. The beauty of it is that he doesn’t have to do a thing. All he has to do is hand you one of his tools and the world around you starts to become a little fuzzy. The room starts to spin in a circle. Not in a bad way, but in a way where everything else just becomes noise and the only thing that matters is this beautiful marriage between metal and wood that captures all of your focus. And, while you are staring at this work of art and trying to figure out how one mortal human being armed with just a few hand tools pulled off such a feat, Konrad tells you about the history of handplanes and how he is inspired by previous great toolmakers. While he talks, it is only possible to pick up a few more tidbits of information before he hands you the next one. And then again, nothing else matters at that point, except for the tool in front of you. Now, you are sold.

It doesn’t matter if you are a tool lover or not. Anyone, young or old, male or female, wood junkie or not, would find these tools just as awe-inspiring. They have heft and solidness, grace and beauty, and a level of craftmanship that is unrivaled. And, to think that every piece is hand cut, fitted, and finished is truly amazing. The mix of polished metal and figured wood makes each one feel like a piece of jewelry – a piece of jewelry that just so happens to produce it own little works of art in the shape of ultra-thin curls of wood.

Konrad’s work is beautiful, and while I don’t want this blog to be just a bunch of reposts of others work, I felt I just had to share photos of the tools from Sauer and Steiner. Most of us will probably never actually own a $3,000 dollar hand plane, but they sure are nice to look at, enjoy!

Read more about these amazing handplanes, and see more about the process at http://sauerandsteiner.blogspot.com

How Big Do (American Black) Cherry Trees Get?

I was meeting with a customer last week and we were going over the details of the job and discussing the wood that I was going to use for their bookshelves – cherry, as you might have guessed. I was going on about how much I like cherry and was making sure to plug the fact that I mill my own trees. During our discussion, which was mostly me talking and him nodding, he asked,”Well, how big do cherry trees get?” I knew then that he was wondering what I was wondering when I started cutting trees. How do you get big boards from such little orchard trees? I explained to him that it wasn’t the type of cherry tree he was picturing. It was an American Black Cherry, which grows in the forest, mixed with other hardwoods. His next question was, “But, it doesn’t have cherries does it?” As a matter of fact it does. They aren’t big and they are in a cluster that looks like grapes, but they are fruit that birds love to eat, and they are definitely cherries. Then I thought and quickly asked, “Are you ready to be shocked? I bet that you have one right here in your yard and don’t even know it.” I wasn’t going too far out on a limb because I had just driven down a long gravel drive with upland hardwoods to get to his house. I hadn’t specifically spotted a cherry tree, but I could smell them (not literally).

As we talked more, our discussion went back and forth from the piece of furniture that I am going to make to the wood that I am going to use, and we talked more about  how big the cherry trees get. I explained that they get big like any hardwood lumber tree, but are on the smaller end of the scale overall. An average log size in this area is about 14″-15″ in diameter, inside the bark, on the skinny end. However, it isn’t uncommon for them to be larger. The main problem with larger and older logs is that they tend to have punky/rotten areas in the center of the log, so many bigger logs don’t get milled. For fun (as always) and to prove that they get bigger than orchard trees, I thought I would share a few photos of my larger finds. Notice that we are not phased at all by the size of the larger logs. It’s routine for us.

By the way, as I left his property, I saw a couple of small cherry trees and I am sure that there are more.

The biggest American Black Cherry log that I found from last year’s tornado.

This is one of the nicest big cherries that I have cut. I liked it.

A young Martin Goebel from 2003. This was the first log that I milled for Martin. He likes cherry too.

This cherry log came from the area around the tornado last year in St. Louis.

This is the widest solid slab of cherry that I have seen (about 32″). It isn’t rotten in the middle, which is uncommon for a cherry this big.

The Slippery Truth

When you are working in your shop it is important to have control of your work. Work surfaces, especially tables, should support your lumber and provide as little resistance as possible. This makes your job safer, more accurate, causes less fatigue, and just makes it more enjoyable. It is not instinctual to make your work area slick. But, in the right place, slick is exactly what you need.

For making surfaces slick there are two excellent options–one temporary and one permanent. The temporary solution is to apply something to the surface, like wax. There are also sprays available made with different compounds, but I recommend good old Johnson’s Paste Wax.

You can use wax for all of your tools with metal or wood parts. I use it on all of my fixtures and jigs where I want less friction, especially my crosscut sled. You should wax every stationary power tool table in your shop. The obvious ones are the table saw, jointer, router table and planer. I also use it on my hand power tools, including the jig saw and router. If you want the wood to glide along nicely, wax it.

No need for wax here. The planer board has taller sides and an UHMW surface to keep the boards going through smoothly and without end snipe.

The planer board has a piece of plywood mounted to the bottom to hook the bed of the planer. This is all that holds the board in place and makes for easy removal when you need the extra width.

The outfeed side of the planer board can be longer than the factory table for more support. This board is 48" long, but could be longer if you have the space.

The permanent solution is to use UHMW (Ultra-high molecular weight) plastic. I have found this most useful on the planer. As a matter of fact, setting up a table board with a sheet of UHMW was one of the first things I did once I got my new planer up and running. I used a sheet of 3/8″ thick UHMW plastic on top of a box made from 3/4″ plywood that is easily removed from my planer. The only adjustment to the planer was to move the bed rollers all of the way down and out of the picture. I was happy to do this because I think bed rollers are a terrible solution to the problem of boards getting stuck in the planer.  No matter how they are adjusted they make the ends of the boards snipe every time. In contrast, boards never, never, never get stuck on the UHMW and having a flat bed with no bed rollers eliminates the snipe. Lumber just goes in one end and out the other with no dip on the ends.

The UHMW is available in sheets and adhesive-backed strips. The strips can be applied to fences and jigs where friction can be a problem. The strips and smaller pieces are available at Woodcraft or Rockler and the larger pieces I purchase from Regal plastics here in St. Louis. They aren’t cheap (a 36″ x 48″ pieces cost about $50), but well worth it.

Before you start your next project, wax your work surface or add a piece of UHMW plastic. You will wonder why you hadn’t done it sooner.

Google Satellite Branches Out Into Log Procurement After Tornados

Almost a year ago, a tornado swept through the St. Louis area. After seeing the destruction, I was surprised no one was killed, and at the same time excited to start salvaging trees. I drove around the first day to get a feel for things, following the trail of downed trees and using bright blue tarps that covered damaged roofs as beacons when I started to stray from the path. The first job was to procure trees before they were cut up, so I had to hustle. It didn’t take long to realize that I was going to have a tough time efficiently covering a 10-mile path.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I went home that night and decided to look at Google maps in satellite view. I love to look at the satellite view normally, but now I had a reason. I imagined I could generally chart the path and pick out spots with the best trees. What I didn’t imagine is how well it helped me out in identifying specific trees. I was very lucky to find that the satellite photos for the area I was most interested in were taken in the early fall. In the early fall the trees are starting to change and they don’t just look like green blobs in the photos.

The ones that stood out the most were walnuts. They lose their leaves early, so in the photos they were bare. The cottonwoods were bare too, but that was it. I could scan the satellite images and find the bare trees, then go see if they were down. All but two that were down were walnuts. I got some walnuts out of the deal, but walnuts didn’t seem to be the most abundant species. As a matter of fact, I only found one block with a heavy concentration of walnuts, but it got me looking.

After closer examination, I realized that I could see the shape of the tree by its shadow on the ground. It told me if it had a long trunk (good for milling) or a short, bushy shape. The shape really helped me identify cherry. Cherry tends to have a wispy top, without much foliage and very little spread. They also tend to have stems with multiple leads. If they were alone in the photos, I could pick out cherry trees from the top. But, if not, and this is totally cool, I could jump down to street view and see the tree like I was driving down the road. This helped me verify that trees were worth looking at when I got calls from friends.

As I was going back to pick the images for this post, I realized that the photos had been updated and that the path of the tornado is visible from distant views. When I realized that, I took a look at Joplin. Wow! In Google, just type in Joplin, MO and click on the map. It looks like they took the photo within weeks of the tornado and the width of the path and the complete destruction is incredible. For contrast, type in Ferguson, MO and realize how much smaller this tornado was, and it was not small. I could have picked up trees all summer.

Board Feet? Go Figure.

Figuring out board feet is a way of life for me. Both logs and the lumber produced are figured in board feet, so I can’t really escape it, whether I am in the shop or at the sawmill. It is easy for me to forget that this isn’t an everyday occurrence for everyone else, even full-time woodworkers. I know that most woodworkers can explain what a board foot is, or at least won’t admit that they don’t know what it is, but I am still surprised when I ask someone how much lumber they need and they respond along the lines of, “Oh, six or seven boards.” This doesn’t tell me much because I don’t know how thick, long or wide those six or seven boards are in someone else’s mind. That’s where board feet come into play.

Board feet is a measure of the volume of wood, not just the surface area. A single board foot measures one square foot x 1″ thick. By the way, the thickness is based on the rough-cut thickness, not the finish-planed thickness. So, 4/4 thick hardwood lumber (rough-sawn at 1-1/8″ thick and finish-planed to 3/4″ thick) that has one square foot of surface is equal to one board foot. If that same square foot was 2″ thick, it would measure two board feet.

It would be easy enough to figure it out if all wood came in 12″ x 12″  1″ chunks, but it doesn’t. Random widths and random lengths are standard for hardwoods, which creates the need for some math and a better understanding of the calculations. Let’s start with just a single board. Here are three ways to approach it:

• Length (in inches) x Width (in inches) x Thickness (in inches) ÷ 144
• Length (in feet) x Width (in inches) x Thickness (in inches) ÷ 12
• Length (in feet) x Width (in feet) x Thickness (in inches)

Let’s plug in the dimensions of a specific board to see how it works. The measurements are Length (96″ or 8′)  x Width (9″ or .75′) x Thickness (1.5″)

• Length (96″) x Width (9″) x Thickness (1.5) = 1296 ÷ 144 = 9 bd. ft.
• Length (8′) x Width (9″) x Thickness (1.5) = 108 ÷ 12 = 9 bd. ft.
• Length (8′) x Width (.75′) x Thickness (1.5)  = 9 bd. ft.

When measuring a stack of boards it is time-consuming and sometimes impossible to measure each individual board, so averages and estimations come into play. When approaching a stack of wood, I start off by trying to get an average length. This is done by eye and is more accurate if the boards are closer in length. It is difficult to get a good average in a stack that ranges from 16′ to 4′. In that situation it is best to make a couple of groups if you can and then get an average. After you get an average length of the stack, measure the width of the stack. Be sure to subtract the air-spaces from the average width of the stack. Next, get the thickness of the boards. Take the time to make separate piles for different thicknesses. If the pile is a mixture of thicknesses an average can also be taken. The last bit of accounting is to determine the number of layers in the stack. Here’s how the calculations go for stacks of wood:

• Length (in inches) x Width (in inches) x Thickness (in inches)
x Layers ÷ 144
• Length (in feet) x Width (in inches) x Thickness (in inches)
x Layers ÷ 12
• Length (in feet) x Width (in feet) x Thickness (in inches)
x Layers

Here are some real dimensions to see how it plays out. The average measurements of the stack are Length (120″ or 10′)  x Width (48″ or 4′) x Thickness (1″) x 20 Layers:

• Length (120″) x Width (48″) x Thickness (1″)
x Layers (20) = 115,200 ÷ 144 = 800 bd. ft.
• Length (10′) x Width (48″) x Thickness (1″)
x Layers (20) = 9600 ÷ 12 = 800 bd. ft.
• Length (10′) x Width (4′) x Thickness (1″)
x Layers (20) = 800 bd. ft.

I normally calculate using inches divided by 144 for all the measurements because my random length lumber is very random. Lumber from large mills is usually cut to the nearest foot with packs consisting of only two lengths, 8′ and 9′, for example. In that case, using feet instead of inches is the simpler method.

The easiest to calculate is 12′ long, 1″ thick lumber. An 8″ wide board is 8 bd. ft., no calculation necessary. Just change inches to feet and go home.

The Best Tape Measure Ever

I have been through a lot of tape measures. I either lose them, break them or loan them out to measure lumber and they inadvertently end up in someone else’s pocket. I have tried to combat these loses in many ways. I thought I had the system beat when I used Craftsman tape measures. They worked well, weren’t too expensive and when they broke I could get them replaced for free. But, that didn’t do a thing for the ones that I just lost outright. So, outsmarting the system again, I went with the $2.00 tape measures from the paint store. They were pretty good for two bucks, and at that price I could by six at a time and not have to worry about losing them or breaking them or letting someone borrow them for a very long time.

During this $2.00 phase, I also tried other tape measures. At Woodcraft, they sold a flat tape measure designed for more accurate marking. That intrigued me. I always felt like the curve of the tape measure felt a little inaccurate, a bit too forced. Maybe this flat thing was the way to go. It did lay flat on the board and I felt like my marks we accurately transferred. Other than that, I wanted to burn the thing. After working forever with a tape measure that had a backbone it was impossible to work with a spineless substitute. When I pulled out the tape and wanted it to extend just a foot beyond my reach, it would just curl up into a ball. Hate, hate, hate.

At the same time my $2.00 tape measures were quickly fading. They were 16′ long, but not very wide. They were easily bent and creased, the numbers wore off, the springs locked up, and still, I couldn’t part with them. They weren’t totally dead, so I couldn’t justify pitching them, but they were getting worse by the day. So, it came down to decision time. What to do? Six more $2.00 tape measures, a new Craftsman, or maybe something altogether different?

A friend that I worked with at the time, had a Stanley Fat Max that he always used. I never used it because it was so big. It seemed like it would always be in the way and pull down my pants with the weight. Plus, I didn’t need to carry around a 25′ tape all day, every day, since the longest thing I usually measured was 16′. I convinced myself that I was a medium-sized tape measure guy anyway, more delicate perhaps, but not some hack carpenter with a crazy-big tape measure. But… more and more guys had the Fat Max. And not just guys. Danielle, a female carpenter that I worked with on several jobs was carrying the Fat Max. So, I checked it out. $25-$30. Pass. Weeks go by. Check it out again. Still $25-$30. I’m a cheap skate. Pass. Head to the paint store.

Then Christmas comes along. Christmas is a time for gift cards to the Home Depot (at least for me) and the quandary that follows. Do I buy stuff for my business, or not? I opt for not, but I never know what to buy. I want to purchase something for myself that I normally wouldn’t, but at the same time I want it to be something that I will use. For a lot of woodworkers, it is usually a hand tool that is nicer than necessary, and for me it was the Fat Max Extreme. It was chrome-coated plastic and looked like a million bucks. It was fat with a PH and still $25-$30. I took it home, unable to believe that I spent that much on a tape measure. Buyers remorse set in. In no world, was I going to get that much value out of a stinkin’ tape measure. That was two years ago and that tape measure is still going strong.

Here's what a new Stanley Fat Max Extreme looks like.

I have others as back up, but I might as well only have one. I will search high and low for it, even when I have the backup in my hand. It is no longer as pretty as it used to be on the outside, but it still works awesome. It will extend out 11′ without flopping to the ground. That may not seem like a big deal to us fine woodworkers, but it comes in handy every day. The tape is strong overall and doesn’t easily bend (mine has no creases yet). The tape itself is super bright and well-coated so the numbers don’t rub off. And, one of the things I like the most is one that I was sure I would hate – the big tongue. That tongue is strong. I have dropped my tape measure countless times and the tongue is just as square as the day it was made. It just measures accurately day after day. All my other tape measures have mangled tongues that only get me within plus or minus 1/16″ of an inch.

Here's what mine looks like.

The Fat Max is by far the best tape measure ever. It solved all of my problems. It is accurate and rugged, so no more busted tape measures. I like it so well, that I don’t let anyone borrow it, so no more walking-away tape measures. And, here’s the kicker. Since it is so expensive, I always know where that thing is, so no more lost tape measures.

My Biggest (Woodworking) Blunder

I don’t like to dwell on my mistakes. I tell myself, “It’s just wood. You are not saving the world. Shut up, cut another piece and get back to work.” Most of the time, the mistakes aren’t that big and they are really nothing to worry about. Sometimes they are harder to shrug off. And sometimes, they are legendary.

I’ll paint the scene for you. I was young – 22 and fresh out of college, working at my first and only “real” job. I was an art director at an advertising agency surrounded by creative types. I played the role of maintenance man and wasn’t afraid to jump in when something needed fixing. I had some woodworking experience and thought that I knew enough to keep me out of trouble. Boy, was I wrong.

It started out simple enough. Our boss, who was becoming more scarce in the office, had a roll-top desk that was always open. He used it when he was in the office, but he wanted it closed and locked when he was out of the office. He couldn’t lock it because of the wires from the telephone and other electronics that had to go out the front of the desk and wrap around the side to get to an outlet. Simple right? Just drill a hole in the back of the desk and run the wires through. No problem.

The next day I brought in my drill, decided where everything should go and figured out the placement of my hole. I drilled a big hole through the back. It was a chippy, two-holes-next-to-eachother-wiggle-the-drill sort of operation. I made sure that all of the wires, especially those with the big plugs, would easily fit. It didn’t matter too much how it looked, after all it was totally hidden in a little cubby-hole.

I ran the wires through, plugged everything in and cleaned up the debris. All that was left was the basking. I love to bask after a job. So, Chris the accountant who asked me to do the job, came in to take a look. I proudly showed her what I did and pulled down the roll-top to show her how nice it worked. I should say, I pulled ON the roll-top. It seemed to stick. I thought well, maybe there is something in there, maybe it hasn’t been closed in a while, maybe it is just a little – Oh No!, Oh No!, Oh No!, Oh No! (the Oh No’s! went on for awhile). It didn’t take me long to figure out what the problem was. Yep, I drilled right through the roll-top that happens to hide in the back when the desk is open. I pulled out the wires and pulled down the roll-top (by the way, it worked great without the wires going through it). Down it came and there is was, right at eye level. The biggest, chippy, two-holes-next-to-eachother-wiggle-the-drill hole you have ever seen. The basking was officially cancelled, and after I got done changing my pants, it was decided that someone else should “fix” it.

This is by far my biggest blunder and one by which all others will be judged. I have often thought about writing it up and sending it in to American Woodworker magazine’s Oops! section, but it just didn’t seem right to get paid for messing up that bad.

Jointing A Straight Edge: The “Reverse Rainbow” Method

I use the jointer a lot. I use it to flatten the face of all the lumber I process. Then, after planing the lumber to thickness, I use it again to create at least one glue-line edge. Cleaning up hundreds of board feet adds up to more than a thousand passes on the jointer per day. I often think that I could do a class on just using the jointer because I have tricks that I want to share. Then I tell myself that using the jointer would be a boring class and even if I made it exciting no one would come because they wouldn’t think that there was much to know about the jointer. To those of you who think you know too much, I say, “Phooey!” Here is lesson #1:

Click here for a printable “Reverse Rainbow” version.

The “Reverse Rainbow,” remember the term and you will remember the way to a brighter future, filled with consistently straight lumber and large pots of gold. The Reverse Rainbow is my way of reminding myself which way the bow of the board should be facing. Simple math and physics, with perhaps a little geometry thrown in, dictate that the Reverse Rainbow is achieved by placing the board on the planer with the middle on the bed and the ends in the air. This is in relation to the regular “Rainbow” that calls for the board to be placed on the planer with the ends on the table and the middle in the air.

The Reverse Rainbow seems counter intuitive to most. Everyone thinks that the jointer can’t make a straight edge when the board is sitting as unstable as a rocking chair and unable to hold its position flat on the table. Surely, flipping the board over and placing the two ends on the table will provide more stability and, in turn, more accuracy. However, that is just not the case.

The problem with putting the arch of the board up is that as the board is moved in to the jointer, it is moved upwards. This cause an arch in the cut. It will be less than before, but there will still be an arch. The next pass will be straighter, but still not entirely straight. The only way that this method can produce perfectly straight lumber is if the length of the board is always supported on the infeed and outfeed tables. This means shorter boards or a jointer with auxiliary tables for additional length.

To avoid having to make longer tables for your jointer, just flip the board over. Put the belly of the board on the jointer and start feeding it in. I do my first pass with the leading edge of the board starting on top of the outfeed table. I basically set it down just beyond the cutter head (the outfeed table stops the boards from being directly sucked in to the machine) and push it through. Keep the pressure on the outfeed table and try to maintain a straight line that sits flat on the table as long as you can. Remember, keep the pressure on the outfeed table.

This first pass will tell you all you need to know. If the bow is not too large, this first pass may run a long edge that can be cleaned up with just one more pass along the entire length. If the bow is large, the new edge may only run a third of the length. If that is the case, run the board again just like you did the first time. Start with the leading edge on the outfeed table and watch what happens. The angle of your edge will change and the belly of the board will become more centered along its length. Keep doing this until your unplaned ends are the same length, which shows that you have the angle correct and need to now just take off material until the entire edge is straight. For the finish pass, start on the infeed table, not the outfeed table, and run the entire length of the board. Slow down your feed rate to help reduce chipout, and watch your outfeed table to make sure the board sits flat through the final pass.

That’s all there is to it. Just remember to turn the rainbow over and you will get great results every time.

Quartersawn Sycamore Table By David Moore

I met David (Dave) Moore about a year ago, and I knew we would hit it off. From our initial conversation, I could tell that he loves wood and has an artistic sensibility. He showed up at the mill with his video camera and wasn’t afraid to use it. I knew nothing about his video-production capabilities, but wasn’t expecting much when I realized his video camera looked like a regular digital 35mm SLR camera. Needless to say, I underestimated the final results. That little camera produces an excellent picture and Dave knows his way around the editing room, as well as he does the woodworking shop.

Dave wanted to build a table for a customer out of quartersawn sycamore. I used quartersawn sycamore to build the cabinets in my last house, and I quarter-saw sycamore whenever I get the right logs (they need to be big in diameter, free of ring-shake, and preferably have a lot of dark heartwood), so I told Dave I was up for the challenge. Dave wanted to document the whole process, so he showed up to the mill just after I chainsawed the log in half to get us started. Dave can take it from here:

 

In case you were wundering, this is how the kitchen looked with quartersawn sycamore cabinets:

Cabinets are spalted-quartersawn sycamore, the floor is Ambrosia maple.