How to Transform Found Wood Into Usable Stock

How to Transform Found Wood Into Usable Stock

Over the years, we have published several articles about freshly cut wood. But for me anyway, one question still remained. "How do you section and cut your way from an irregular-shaped hunk of wood to stock you can actually use to make something with?"

Some time ago, a reader passed along a hot tip that he had spotted "some of the best quilted maple they had ever seen" less than 120 miles from Des Moines. Wanting to take a look-see, we loaded up our gear one Saturday morning and headed down Interstate 80 to Iowa City.

It was there, all right-more freshly cut maple than we could hope to carry! After de-barking the logs and sealing their cut surfaces and end grain to prevent rapid moisture loss and further splitting, we muscled as many of them as we could into the back of a pickup. A few hours later, back in Des Moines, we tossed off our bounty outside the WOOD magazine offices. And the following Monday, we started our investigation of what turned out to be a most intriguing process.

Well, that's how our adventure began. But there's lots more to the story, so be sure to read on to find out how we transformed those big chunks of maple into workable pieces. Here's hoping you find the process as interesting as we did.

Marlen Kemmet WOOD Magazine Managing Editor WOOD Online Manager