Now Me

My picture for today is some cherry on my trailer. I’d just gone to my supplier (Hicksville Lumber) and bought some 8/4 and 4/4 dried stock. Now they store their wood in warehouses that only keep the rain off so their wood is acclimated to the outside. Wood adjusts to the humidity in the air around it, drawing in or pushing out water. Each piece of wood is like a bundle of straws that hold water or not. As the straws are filled, the wood expands across the grain; as they are emptied, it contracts.

So that’s what I’ve got. The wood has come from all the way since cherry first evolved and started growing in this area. People have harvested, milled, and cured it, and now I’m taking a hand. I’ve selected it from the available stock at the supplier’s and hauled it to my shop.

Once here, it has to sit again for three to four weeks in my shop to acclimate to my space. This helps me to avoid warping and cupping down the road, causing heartache. After that, I’ll start planing it to thickness, cutting it to size, shaping it, and finishing it with various steps added in between.

Follow along with me as I work to bring a table and chairs out of this pile of wood.

Find Bourgeois Furniture in Berkeley Art Works in Martinsburg, WV and Bent River Trading Company in Capon Bridge, WV. I’ll have a display at Berkeley Art Works in their front window beginning next week and going to the end of the month.