The Olde Forest Wood Co

Hey everybody, so this is Dan with GL Veneer and we're doing something really fun today. We are about to mill a massive maple cluster log for our good friends up in Canada, Black Forest Wood Company. We became friends with Black Forest a few years ago. We got introduced through social media, our interests aligned and we finally got the boys down here to see our inventory and look at our slabs and the rest is history. We've been supplying Black Forest with slabs for the past few years and they make some of the most incredible pieces that we see in the live edge product. This particular log came from Oregon. Black Forest found it in their own hunting. It's an extremely rare size. Not many people would cut this. You wouldn't see it cut in a l It would be pushed aside and used for something else, maybe veneer. Mills this size are really hard to come by. With a bar over 10 feet wide and a log over 9 feet wide, it just fits perfectly. What we're planning to do with this log is cut 4 inch slabs from the top to the bottom, getting every single burly, pretty piece of Black Forest to use for their pores and table tops. Once we mill the log, we will air dry it for the proper amount of time, probably 2 plus years minim And then we'll throw it in the kiln and finish it off and get it nice and dry. So originally we had planned to cut this log in half as you can see by the line that we have going across. That's the dead center of the log but the limitations of the mill will keep us from doing that perfect half cut. What we're going to do is take enough off the top to be able to get a flat surface and flip that over and start taking off the little pieces bit by bit. Getting that on a flat, get a nice flat surface there. The first cut is always a little nerve-racking. We never know how the saw is going to react, what the wood is going to do when the chainsaw hits the wood. We have a brand new chain on there. We're going to be using all new chains. Nothing is sharpened. We want to make sure that every single cut is precision and perfect. So what we're doing here is actually getting enough of the saw into the cut to keep it balanced and sitting on its own weight. What we do is we pull that little lever off to the side and that gets out of the way for the cut and continues to allow us to cut through the rest of the log. So as we're making our way through the cut, there's a curve of the chainsaw that's about 3-8 inch thick. What we have to do is nail wedges into the wood to make sure and raise that cut up enough so that the chainsaw can move smoothly through the cut. So a log of this size doesn't come without its own set of challenges. When we brought the log in, it had a thick layer of mud and dirt and rocks, things that would tear apart our chains and make it almost impossible to cut. Our logger friend, John Rodius, helped us trim off that dirty part on the edge to allow our chainsaw to enter the cut smoothly each time. We keep every single chunk and trust me, Black Forest, we won't leave anything behind. We're going to ship everything to Even the dirty parts, it's all coming your way. So the plan here is to basically finish this cut. We take that top piece off, take a look at the grain, which is the best part when we're looking forward to the most. Lip the log over and start taking cut by cut, little by little. Austin, go stand over by that log, put your arms out. Check out the size of this tree. And Austin's a big dude. That's a big dude. Six, six. So this is the most exciting part for us. Being able to take off that first cut always surprises once we take the top off, but we're going to drive the forklift in here, pick it up and see what we got inside. Oh, yes. It's really nice. You can see tons of burl here on the outside, which is what we expected. This is what we call muscle or curly figure. This entire log is figured and burly. I mean, this is incredible. Wow. We need to pour some water on this thing and see the grain pop. So Dylan just texted me. The anticipation is killing me. So I think we're going to FaceTime him and let him see the water popping the grain for the first time. Hey, How you doing? We got a treat for I'm going to flip this around for you and we're going to get the action started. Okay, go ahead. Look at that. I don't know. It's got all these squiggly lines and figure in it. Look at that. Look at the burl in this thing. This is an incredible piece and it's actually perfect for you. It's All right, boys. Talk to you soon. Thanks. Bye. So one cool thing we do want to mention is n So what we're going to do is pour a little water. That's basically what is formed on the inside from these sharp outside edges. Black Forest is unique in that they get to use these edges in their pieces. They can encapsulate them in resin and really showcase the intensity of the outside edge of the tree where you would never, ever get to see that done because they're so dangerous and sharp. In this particular log, we actually have this pin and burl through the entire thing. So we're making our way into the second cut here. We're cutting the slabs four inches thick, which is a little thicker than our conventional thickness. Black Forest really wants that extra meat. What we're going to see here on these cuts is more of a bell shaped style slab. Not really a typical dining table shape, but what Black Forest will do is fill that negative space with their resin and enable that to be whatever shape they want. So they can really create any shape from the strange stuff that we get from the log. So we're not going to be able to show you the full cutting of the log. It's going to take us a few days to get done. Once we're done, we're going to put the slabs on sticks. It's going to air dry for a couple years at least, and then we'll throw it in the kiln over there. What Black Forest is doing here is basically making a large investment over a long period of time with us. It means a lot. It's not lost on us that this relationship is sound enough that we can work together for the next two, three years and beyond. So we're super excited to see what kind of incredible finished pieces they develop from this tree. An unbelievably unique piece that we rarely see here.