What could be more fun for a lover of wood., a sunny drive up the spring green Skagit valley to the Pacific Rim Tonewoods mill near the little town of Concrete, WA. I needed 100 pieces of Sitka Spruce for a customer in Alabama and I wanted to hand select them. Besides it was an excuse to visit my friends at Pacific Rim and to pick up a few things for my next build. I ended up with some nice Australian Blackwood, a bit of select spruce for me, and the hope of some nice quilted maple some day.
driving in the gate I was greeted by this huge stack of wood, Upon examination I identified tiger stripe maple in the front, cedar in the rear stack. I am always overwhelmed by the wealth of beautiful wood in all stages of production, The attention to quality and detail is seen everywhere in this very impressive operation.
I arrived at a great time, They had just received a big maple that appeared to be full of the rather rare Quilt pattern. Part of the tree was set up on the horizontal band saw to be sliced into planks. The anticipation of what the wood would look like was palpable.
Just look at the quilt pattern on that log, but will it be visible far into the tree?
Here is the first slice. Oh! i would like to make a tenor back and sides out of that wood.
