To finish or not to finish that is the question...

Most people come into our store with a design in mind and think they will walk in and pick a piece off the shelf go home put it up and Bam! they have a mantle or a shelf or table top.

This preconceived notion is so far off from what actually happens. It goes more like you come in and tell us what you think your sure you want and then we go into the wood room in our main office and that's where it starts. All of a sudden you don't know what you want but you need it now and your contractor already starting the project and panic ensues... so when we tell you its a minimum of 6 to 8 or even 12 weeks before we can get a custom order to you finished and ready your shocked... Most people are like I was when I first started here at California Hardwoods and thought a 6' round pine table was simple, that walnut that's 12 foot long and 3 feet wide was common, or that hand planning a big piece of wood pssh simple... Wrong especially the planning thing definitely wrong on that one( my arms still hurt. )So again those preconceived this will be quick and easy is so not even close.

Anyways I figured I should maybe help out my must have now-ers and new wood workers by going through just what making that perfect one of a kind wood piece entails.

We start with the wood of course...

Biggest factor to remember is wood must be dry. Once we mill it no matter the species it must sit on what we call stickers and air dry or be put in a kiln. The reason behind this is if it is still wet there is a risk of cupping, warping and checking which in laymans terms means bending and cracking. No matter the type of wood it must be milled and dried. Which can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 years, depending on method and species.

Size is a huge factor in time to finishing. Things like do we have it in our yard already r do we have to find it and if not can we source it from somewhere else.

Next we have to plane it or take it to a huge sander because the saw mill leaves saw marks in the wood and you definitely wont have a smooth finish with that. Us personally we don't have a huge sander and our planer is kind of on the smaller side so we go and use a local cabinet shop and schedule the use of their sander, so yet again time.

So now its smooth enough to look at and no more deep saw marks however I wouldn't run my hand on it just yet. Our next step depends on you. Do you want resin fill in some of the imperfections like the knots or cracks and how big is the piece how deep are the are the spots to be filled and various other factors make a huge difference. Say your mantle needs to be 3 " thick and 8" deep and 54" long which is about average size, but the wood you fell in love with needs to be cut down and straight lined and there is a couple deep cracks and a few knots, so first we cut it to size and pour the resin, each resin pour takes a couple hours to set up and we usually have to do a few pours especially if cracking or checking is deep or there is a lot of them. So now were all filled and ready to sand again, this time we use our sander and sand down to 220 grit and finally its touchable but far from finished. We also faux the edge if its cut off and we smooth out the front and round off knobs from branches. All of which takes hours and hours to get completed especially since Chris and Dave care so much about how your piece looks essentially it really is a work of art.

Once its sanded smooth and ready for finish we usually call you if you brought in a stain for us you want used and we do a test spot and get a yea or nah before we even go forth. Usually we will do a couple coats of finish and each coat takes anywhere from 1 to 12 hours depending on manufacturer and wood species. once were sanded and stained your finally done and now its ready to go home. Don't forget brackets if its a mantle or shelving. We usually have you order if its a bracket from the company we use and they are routed into the back for easy placement but that also takes a couple hours to do.

Well thanks for reading and hopefully this helps with your planning and finding that dream piece. Hope to see you here at California Hardwood Producers!!!!