You're welcome - I could talk about wood forever
The trees that Hank chose for our doors, cabinets, etc., were FAS rejects. The federal government requires all furniture manufacturers to use FAS lumber. FAS means FIRST AND SECOND. First and second means there are only so many knots per board foot. So we had more knots than perfect but it is still beautiful and he's good enough at his craft, most of the knots get cut out anyway.
After the tree is cut, it is taken to the saw mill which cuts it into four-quarter, six-quarter, eight-quarter and so on. Whatever you request.
He built a kiln to dry the lumber most of which was 20 feet long. The lumber at this point is "in the rough", very ugly and sopping wet.
First you have to paint the ends of the boards because as it dries, the moisture leaves the ends, not the sides. Painting the ends helps prevent checking which are cracks that happen as the wood dries. The wood has to be dried to 7% moisture for cabinet/furniture making.
As you load the wood into the kiln, you stick it. That means you have (in our case) 1x4's between each row so the lumber can breathe. It also helps for stability.
To check for moisture, you use a tool that looks similar to a meat thermometer. You stick it in the wood and it gives you the moisture content.
Once it's dried, it is first planed. My favorite woods to plane are poplar and cherry. When cherry comes through the planer, it smells like cherry blossoms. The fragrance is wonderful. Poplar is fun because the grain is sometimes purple. It definitely has it's own personality.
We started planing way back in the late 70's before OSHA, before ear protection and we are both very hearing impaired because of it. The planer is a huge and loud piece of machinery. We now wear ear protection and masks when we plane. If I had a penny for every piece of sawdust we've planed, I'd be a trillionaire.
Once it's planed for thickness, it's ready to be straightened and that is done with a radial arm saw.
From there sometimes the joiner if there is cupping.
From there the overarm router shaper or the shaper makes it into beautiful mouldings, doors, etc.
Then it's ready to stain and finish.
We've always treated it with respect. I never take for granted the beauty of what comes through the planer.
We've seen bullets where guns were shot through the trees many years before and sometimes even a nail which is bad. Bullets are ok because they are soft and won't damage the knives on the planer but a nail is very bad news. All the knives have to be re-sharpened if we hit a nail.
It takes 3 honking motors to run the planer which gives you an idea of it's power. It takes a piece of lumber that is all in the rough with marks all over it from the sawmill and turns it into a smooth and beautiful piece of wood.
See, I told you I could talk about trees and wood forever
