About WunderWoods
This is me, in my element, getting ready to quarter a large white oak with the chainsaw.
Hi! My name is Scott Wunder and I am the owner of WunderWoods (custom woodworking). I build wine cellars, built-ins and furniture from local woods, here in St. Louis. I mill the logs that I use in my projects and sell the excess lumber to fellow woodworkers. A recent growth area has been in the green movement, where I am finding increasing work processing the logs from a building site and then providing finished building materials for the project. My business has always been green, since I salvage and use local logs, but now I am getting more credit for it.
The decorative white pine beams for this room were milled, then hand-planed, distressed and hollowed out on the top sides to ease installation in this already finished room.
Recently, I finished a three-year term as the President of the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild, which had me writing a monthly article for our newsletter. It reminded me how much I love to write, especially about wood, and that I still have more to say. Every day, while working in the shop or at the sawmill, something wood related comes to mind that I want to share with others – tips, tricks, ideas, photos and plenty of stories. I want to pass along things that I’ve learned, not only from reading them, but from experiencing them and screwing them up myself.
In my former life I was an art director and my job, besides making things look pretty, was to understand the information and present it so that it could be easily understood. To that end, I’ll do my best to simplify things and speak in plain english (nothing fancy here). I also encourage you to ask questions. Remember, I love talking about wood!
Hey Scott!
This is Ken Boegeman. Julie and I hope all is well with you.
We were thinking of you today and wundered how best to get in touch.
We don’t have your E-mail address.
Hello Ken and Julie! Good to hear from you. My e-mail is wunderwoods@sbcglobal.net.
Hi Scott: Logging in to your website for the first time. (“logging in” hee hee sometimes I crack myself up!!) This is great stuff! Stay in touch!!
Skip Kincaid
Hey Scott, this is the first time I’ve been to your site. I was surching Craig’s list and found your add. I’m a woodworking and carpentry instructor at Jennings Senior High School and love to talk woodworking. I may want to stop buy to see your set up and take a look at your limber that’s available. I often have wanted to mill my own lumber and considered purchasing a portable bandsaw mill. I see all the usable BDFT go into a chipper or cut into firewood it kills me. I’ll call you to set up a time if it’s alright.
Christopher Sparks
I would love to have you out to the new shop. I am finally getting things set up. It is looking more and more like a real wood store every day. As far as the sawmill goes, save the money and just hang out with me for a while. Most of the guys that come out to the mill love the first day then start to reconsider after it becomes work. I love the hard work part of it – you better make sure you do before you get in too deep. Seriously, if you want to help bust up some logs, just let me know. I never say “no” to free help.
I was looking at your website and noticed your article regarding burr oaks. The tree that you mentioned was approximately 54 inches in diameter. Tonight I had a very large burr oak fall down in my yard. The trunk measures 15 foot in circumference, so the diameter is probably between 57 to 58 inches. I live in Ohio so I am a long way from MO. However, I was wondering if you knew of anyone in Ohio who maybe interested in the wood. They can have the wood for free, they just need to transport it. If you would like I could send a picture of the tree to you.
Steve, I would love to see a picture and I am sure others would too. I don’t know anyone specifically in Ohio that would want the tree, but I am sure they are out there. Wood-Mizer has a program for finding local sawyers. You could contact them or any sawmill that is nearby. There may not be much interest from a larger operation, but a smaller one may be interested. The only real question is the quality of the wood and what caused it to fall over. If it is that big it may not be solid on the inside. You can tell by looking at the bottom middle of the rootball and checking for a hollow middle or rotten roots. The real obvious way is to cut into it and see what the chainsaw throws out. If the chainsaw faces consistent resistance and throws out fresh colored chips it isn’t rotten. If the chainsaw falls easily through and throws out dark colored chips it is rotten. If you dive in with a chainsaw, cut it low to the ground so you don’t mess up a potentially good log.
I’ve just started doing wood work with a scroll saw. I hope to meet and pick your mind for some guidance and some nice pieces of wood. I’m impressed with your talent. Someday!
Thanks Andrew. I don’t know where you are at, but if you are in the area, I would love for you to stop by.
Wes Fordyce said to call you. Do you have a shop that I could visit ? I’m interested in getting some slabs and getting involved in the stl woodworking community.
Hope to hear from you
Thanks. David 805-341-0288
David,
I would love to have you by the shop. It is finally coming together and I have some stuff to look at that is dry. I will give you a call. My number is 314-574-6036 if you want to call me. Talk at you soon.
Hello again, Scott, Thanks for your help on my project and thank you for getting the Cherry lumber for me. It was a big help working with you because you know about wood and you know how to get things done. – Steve – Kansas City
scott,
Wundered across your web site looking for lumber carts, great article… totally remembered you from several years ago selling me some “funky maple on the bay” otherwise known or improperly marketed to the world as bark pocket maple.
yup… just keep cutting and writing,
tom mesenbring
woodenboxfarm.com
Looking to make a table top- what is the best kind of wood to use…. hard wood and cheaper in price. Looking to make a basic harvest or farm style table…. any suggestions?? thanks and awesome website.
Jim
Jim,
If you are talking about a farm table or harvest table, I think of white pine or white oak. The white pine is soft and will dent easily. The white oak is much harder and still not super expensive. I would think about using a lower-grade white oak with knots, wormholes, saw marks, etc. to help with the rustic look.
Scott,
We are very happy about our collaboration on the recent Clayton project and look forward to partnering on future projects.
Mark Gordon
MDG Renovations
Scott,
Love the corner cabinet of wormy maple. Combine that with the table tops in the French Country wine seller and you have the look my wife is looking for in our kitchen. I’m still what I would consider a novice woodworker, but look forward to purchasing from you as I “get serious.”
Mark
Mark,
That look is great in a kitchen because it can’t look too worn. I always say it looks fake if it isn’t distressed enough.
Hi Scott, I stumbled onto your blog and have been enjoying your posts!
Can you help me with a quick question… Do you know of any way to coat distressed, rough sawn wood (Eastern White Pine) so that it would be easier to clean but would maintain it’s rustic character?
I love the look of rough sawn trim and even timber frames but everyone warns me that it’s hell to keep clean in the future.
The key to making it easy to clean is to make it slick. Any topcoat will do, like polyurethane or lacquer or even Danish oil will help. I recommend oil based so that it raises the grain less and requires less sanding to make the surface smooth. If you don’t want to add anything to make it shiny or slick, I am afraid that I have no options. The roughness is the problem.