Only woodworkers would find distinct pleasure in hanging around some 100,000 board feet of lumber and wood from all over the world.
This Saturday members from the www.LumberJocks.com community will gather at our store in Phoenix to talk woodworking, share projects (and maybe table saw wounds), and eat some food.
Down in Paraguay, nothing beats an ox cart for hauling tropical logs to the mill
In 1999 Keith, the owner of Woodworkers Source, went to Paraguay to visit a sustainable yield lumber project. He came back with a container load of unusual woods following shortly after.
When we bring in unusual woods, it’s often with a bit of stand-back-and-wait because even though we’ve seen a sample piece (or maybe not at all), it’s often a surprising what really shows up on the truck. 
Tom Garden with one of his newest handmade basses featuring quilted maple and a sleek lightweight design and top of the line hardware
Ask any bass player, and he’ll tell you that his job is the least respected in the band. Musically speaking, the bass takes care of the low end; and those who don’t know any better may think this position really is low end. Did Elvis play bass? Willie Nelson? Guys like Jimmy Page and Carlos Santana didn’t exactly summon an entire generation toward bass playing – they inspired kids to pick up a standard six string for stadium-filled solo guitar playing.
The bass gets little attention. In the movie “That Thing You Do” the bass player in the band never had a name, and gets credited as, “T. B. Player.” Now that I think about it, there’s no video game called “Bass Guitar Hero” either, as far as I know.
But when you hear someone like Victor Wooten play the bass, you just might be inclined to go, “Wow, I never knew the bass could sound so refined.” There’s hope yet.
Jose Valencia, author of "Carving Gunstocks"
Master gun stock carver, teacher, and author Jose Valencia published Carving Gunstocks Power Techniques in which he shows readers how to create stunning and unique carvings on rifle and shotgun stocks. And he’s bringing his talent and knowledge to Woodworkers Source this week on Friday and Saturday (October 16 and 17).
Jose's book
You can see Jose only at our Tempe store at 645 W. Elliot Road, Tempe, Arizona 85284 (click for a map) starting at 10:00 am on Friday and Saturday. He’ll be showing some techniques, displaying some of his incredible carved gunstocks and signing his book.
Come on down, say hi, and see what Jose can do.
Visit Jose’s website at www.josevalenciastudio.com
Mesquite frame finished and hung
Those who work with mesquite may appear a little nuts to woodworkers who are used to the likes of cherry, walnut, oak, and similar woods.
Mesquite’s beauty comes from a different breed of criteria other than clear wood. Namely the worm holes, splits, checks, knots, and bark inclusions that characterize the tree and her timber. “High quality” has an entirely different definition when it comes to mesquite lumber.
Some years ago, I had a customer lodge a demand for mesquite that was 8″ wide and totally clear – he needed a lot of it too. I had to tell him, not out of opinion but of fact, “If you absolutely need it that wide and that clear without cutting or gluing, you don’t want mesquite.”
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