I SPENT THE LAST THREE DAYS ON SAN JUAN ISLAND and I found a small treasure of Juniperus Maritima, the "shoreside juniper" that I think may be the best tonewood I have ever used. Bill Maas bought a felled juniper twenty years ago from a source in West Sound on Orcas Island. towed the tree to his place on San Juan Island and laid it to rest out in the brush. I had him trim off an inch on the weathered end to see what it looked like.
looked great and I had him cut me a 15 inch piece. He says it never rots and it might have been laying out there in the woods for twenty years.
looked great and I had him cut me a 15 inch piece. He says it never rots and it might have been laying out there in the woods for twenty years.
I took one of the four pieces to the band saw today and cut enough pieces to make eight tenors. it is lovely, aromatic, tight grained and very solid. I now have it stickered and drying in the shop. There will be some marvelous tenors coming from this wood when it has dried
And here we are in the woods beside Bill's house. He has just cut off my chunk of juniper and sawed it in half. We are packing it out to the car. Bill is a wonderfully friendly guy and lives in the woods beside Egg Lake. He has a saw mill sawing cedar shakes and lots of other things, and an incredible grounds where he hosts music events in the summer I will include a few shots of this unbelievable place. What a fun adventure!!! thanks Bill.
 This is the entrance to Bill's huge vegetable garden, of course fenced to keep the deer out  My friend J.C. Hickman being amazed at what he is seeing  Not quite sure of the purpose of this. Perhaps a bar, perhaps a place to serve food. the table is a huge slab of wood from the mill |  This is a huge fire pit large enough for a bon fire, and around it are stump chairs carved with a chainsaw.  Bill hosts big parties with name bands on his back lot picnic grounds. this is the stage  this is where Bill found the juniper that he had stashed here twenty years ago. who knows what treasures lie under that pile. |
This seemed to be a natural place to end my little slide show, It is really quite impossible to communicate the wonder and magic of this huge party area behind Bill Maas's house in the woods. I just hope I get to attend one of his parties here. They must be like a present day Woodstock. I think I had better go back and buy some more of his juniper, just to see the place again.