Descending Ashtray

Last weekend, I did something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time - get to know a sawyer. I’ve been on a big local kick lately, and finding someone close to home who cuts wood close to home seems to me like the environmentally appropriate thing to do, and I like the idea of my work being grounded in the place I call home.

Tyler Evans of Urban Hardwood Recovery works by day as a computer guy, something I know a little bit about, and as I do, he seems to find a certain satisfaction in working with his hands. And a chainsaw. And some pretty advanced thermodynamics, in the form of a home-built, industrial strength wood kiln that resides in his backyard. When Sarah and I visited, Tyler had a full load of Oak going, in the middle of a 4-6 month drying cycle. The kiln, tucked behind his unassuming suburban house, is capable of drying two stacks of lumber 23 feet long, five feet high, and about nine feet wide. That’s a lot of lumber, way more than even the most dedicated hobbyist could use. So he’s taken to selling it, out of his home.

The lumber all comes from the Portland area, as the name of his company might indicate. Property owners call Tyler when a tree falls down or wants felling, and he comes out with a chainsaw and trailer to remove the tree. He then takes the wood to another guy with a bandsaw mill who slabs the tree into lumber up to four inches thick (try finding 16/4 oak at your hardwood supplier sometime), which Tyler then carts home to air dry before kilning. Depending on the situation, he slabs some trees himself with an Alaskan Mill.

As you might imagine, Tyler has some pretty good stories to share of hidden items within the trees he removes. He showed us a railroad spike and toy car which had grown into the trunk of a tree, probably after being placed there by a small child somewhere along the way. Bullets and nails are also especially common, and like toy cars and railroad spikes, often damage the bandsaw blades.

The selection on hand Saturday included Oregon Cherry, Black Walnut, English Walnut, Spalted Maple, and lots of other interesting pieces that you wouldn’t typically see in a lumberyard. While we were there, a guy showed up and bought some lumber that only a mother … err … woodworker could truly love, including some old barn wood rescued from Tyler’s fire pile, and a piece of White Oak with flame, curl, tiger … pretty much any hard-to-plane grain pattern you can think of … all in one board. This slab of spalted maple burl was particularly impressive - about 12 inches thick and 2 feet square. It will make quite a bowl for someone.

I went home with a really nice piece of 8/4 spalted maple about eight feet long and 12 inches wide, as well as an incredible bit of 8/4 Black Walnut of roughly the same dimensions … all for the very reasonable price of $150. Turned into veneer, those boards will go a long way. Plus, wood from other lumberyards would be more expensive, and without the stories I got to hear while browsing. Urban Hardwood is not the kind of place you go to stock up for a project; rather, it’s the place you go to imagine your next project. If you’re a woodworker in the Portland area, I suggest you get to know Tyler. If you’re not, seek out a local sawyer for your next project.