Woods

To start with all frames begin with raw lumber that is hand selected by me. I visit my wood supplier on a regular basis to browse their current selection. I look at the various aspects of each species of wood and select only those that I feel will make the best looking frames or other products..

In rare cases, some woods are actually milled and kiln dried as I locate logs that are available locally, this in the long run gives me more control over the woods that I can select. But, most are procured at a local mill or wood store.

Woods that are most currently in stock include, quarter sawn white and red Oak, Black Walnut, Mahogany, soft Maple, and cherry. Other woods available include, Eastern Hard Maple, Birds Eye Maple, Poplar, Hickory, Lyptus, and Alder.

Other special and more exotic woods available include but not limited to, Rosewood, Purpleheart, Zebrawood, and Teak.

Some of the wood available in the shop are displayed to the left. These are photos of raw materials. There are no stains or oils applied to these samples.

Of course these are pictures being displayed on a color monitor so please understand that colors can vary.

Also, grains will vary considerably since it’s the grain in most woods that give them their distinctiveness.  For instance, the red and white quarter sawn oak have ray flakes that identify their uniqueness. However, there are various degrees of these ray flakes in every board. Some can be thick and heavy where in other boards they might be thin and spread apart.

Other unique identifiers of woods are their colors. As you can see some have a faint beige color where others are a shade of red and yet some have a red hew.

Hopefully the samples displayed below help you to determine possibly what type of wood you like. The top pictures are raw samples which have no finish applied. The second row of are the same types of wood finished.