On this magnificent summer morning I drove to the source of much of the wonderful wood I am privileged to source for my Ukes. Pacific Rim Tonewood is the principal supplier of Spruce and Maple to such prestigious builders as Martin and Taylor. Their mill is twenty miles up the Skagit River from the freeway and about 40 miles from my home. I always look forward to seeing my friends up there and being surrounded by stacks and piles of the most gorgeous wood you ever saw. As usual I came home with lots more wood than I really needed but can never resist.
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But the best part is the welcome I get from these great guys. On the left is owner and creative guru Steve McMinn, in the center is Artie, the skilled and super helpful foreman, to the right is the general manager Eric Warner.
You wonder how these guys grew a big business in such a small place? Here is an example. Steve had just brought to the mill cuttings from a Big Leafed Maple that had exceptional figure. They think that fiddleback figure in maple may be genetic and that is why only every thirty or fortieth maple will have the valued figure.
They are working with a {not to be named here) university and are about to begin propagating cuttings from selected maples to see if they can grow trees with great figure. These guys think long term- but as Eric said, If this were a football game-we would still be in the locker room. Fascinating idea though. In the meantime they cut some spectacular maple. I bought quite a bit of it- you will see it in my ukes in the future-
AND I got a big wide piece to make a carved back for the "Son of Gut Bucket" now a-building in my workshop
You wonder how these guys grew a big business in such a small place? Here is an example. Steve had just brought to the mill cuttings from a Big Leafed Maple that had exceptional figure. They think that fiddleback figure in maple may be genetic and that is why only every thirty or fortieth maple will have the valued figure.
They are working with a {not to be named here) university and are about to begin propagating cuttings from selected maples to see if they can grow trees with great figure. These guys think long term- but as Eric said, If this were a football game-we would still be in the locker room. Fascinating idea though. In the meantime they cut some spectacular maple. I bought quite a bit of it- you will see it in my ukes in the future-
AND I got a big wide piece to make a carved back for the "Son of Gut Bucket" now a-building in my workshop
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Here is the new back. I have trued up the the selected edges on the jointer, sanded them to perfection on the flat saw table over a strip of stick-on sandpaper and now the edges are glued and setting up. Soon I will be carving the curved back that hopefully will give Son of Gut Bucket resonance and quality sound.
