>There is nothing in the world more gratifying than the word free. I have been searching for that "source" for the last year. I have finally found him. He's a veneering guy and I went and saw him on friday. He showed me his throw away pile and I almost fell over. I quickly pulled out my wallet and handed over $40.00 and he said..."take all you want"......
Here's a portion of the haul....it doesn't have all the Maple burls still on the stumps that I also got. All of this is maple and he also had some quilted logs and birdseye.
With friends like that, you'll be too busy turning to even worry about the "real" world again.
These look like Big Leaf Maple, but you didn't say what sort of Maple -- they don't look at all like the sort of Maples that grow here in the Northeast. Do these trees grow in Indiana ?
I went to a lecture on tree identification and the guy was unbelievably knowledgeable. His comment was (and I don't remember the numbers) there are 15 species of Oak. By the time they cut the wood it's down to 5. By the time it gets to the mill it's either Red Oak or White Oak. That could be what's happening with Maple.
>I'm sure this happens with most species. A friend in the wood biz (sawmill, custom kiln drying service, millwork, etc...) refers to "hard" Maple and "soft" Maple (which usually means Red Maple or Silver Maple around New England), but could also mean Norway Maple, or a host of others. There's also white Birch vs. Yellow Birch vs Red Birch, which usually doesn't even mean the separate species, but just the darker colored heartwood of Yellow Birch. Elms are reduced to American, or "white" Elm vs "red" Elm (Chinese, Russian, Slippery, Etc...)
Now, back to the burls at hand -- those are some real nice looking burls, and I will keep a closer lookout (if possible) for Red Maple burls !
