Fifteen months ago 
To my delight, the Hard Maple tree that I had cut down several years ago had done what I wanted.
It had started to decay, producing some beautiful Spalted Maple boards.
At the time I had no idea how I would use these boards
Fifteen months later I decided to dig into the pile of lumber we had milled and pull some of the Spalted Maple boards from the stack that had been air drying over that time.
Thank goodness the lumber I was after was near the top of the pile of the neatly stickered wood! 😁
The raw material needed to be processed into finished lumber. Since I was headed to New Jersey for a doctor's visit for my upcoming knee replacement surgery, I decided to go back to our old stomping ground a few days earlier. The family wood working shop comes in real handy when raw material needs to be made ready for different projects.
Besides processing the wood I would be using to finish the windows in the Sunroom, I also wanted to pick out some slab wood that I planned for some counter tops in the room.
I don't know what I was thinking. The pine slabs that I had intended to process were too big for me to handle by myself. I could barley move them around to see which one I would choose. Each piece had to go at least 300 pounds.
Instead of even attempting to do all that was necessary to produce the counter top, using the pine,
I changed gears.
We have many slabs in stock.
I chose a Red Oak slab that was half the weight of the pine.
My back thanked me for that decision.
After cutting off the live edge,
I needed to move it to a bench to cut it to length and then sand the piece.
The jointer is used to produce a perfectly straight edge.
I also chose a piece of Red Oak for a smaller counter top that will also be installed in the Sunroom.
The planner is used to create a smooth surface on the face of the wood. Depending on how many times you send the wood through the planner, you can vary the thickness to suit the application.
Our planner can handle wood up to 32 inches wide, which is ideal for planning wide slabs.
Here I'm planning a few pieces of oak that are needed for saddles in the Sunroom.
The table saw is the workhorse in the shop.
This is considered a cabinet saw, with a side sliding table for crosscutting.
Most times the window jams are installed one piece at a time. By using a Craig Jig you are able to fasten the four window jams together and install them as one piece. This method is a real time saver when you go to put them in!
The last step to finishing the wood I had fabricated for the Sunroom was to round the edges of many of the pieces with a router. After the second day at the shop I had completed everything that I had set out to do.
- Craft two counter tops
- Craft two saddles
- Craft 18 pieces for trimming out the windows
- Craft 1 piece of cherry for backsplash for large counter top
- Craft all additional moldings necessary to finish Sunroom.
It's quite a feeling of accomplishment to take a standing tree and end up with all of the finished lumber needed for a project. It's also a wonderful feeling knowing that you have not been ripped of by the prices that lumber yards are currently getting for wood!
We made my doctor's appointment in the nick of time and then headed back home to Upstate New York. As we traveled this familiar route, flashing signs were alerting us to an upcoming snow event. About 50 miles from home it started to snow and didn't stop until the storm had dumped another 16 inches of snow in the area.
Little did we know that this storm would bring down more trees than any storm in the past.
By 11:00 PM Monday night the electric went out. After five days the power was back on at 5:00PM on Friday. We managed to weather the storm, but I must admit that I almost called the LINEMAN 