My First Trip to Hearne Hardwoods

Since day one of working at the shop, I have heard nothing but praise, excited description, and anecdotes from my fellow Lohr Woodworking staff members about Hearne Hardwoods. After 8 months of building positive, high expectations, I finally got the chance to take my first trip out to Oxford, PA to see it for myself.

Spoiler Alert: I was not disappointed

It all began as a live edge, burl slab shopping mission for a recently commissioned project. Because they are credited as being "one of the largest specialty lumberyards in the world," Hearne Hardwood was the destination for such a purchase. Beyond that, Jeff and Rick Hearne have a friendship dating back to years when I was learning my multiplication tables so, it was just as much a trip to visit an old friend.

The part of the mission to find the perfect material for the project was successfully completed. A selection of incredible slabs that matched the guidelines for our project awaited us in one of the massive hangars that are loaded with collections of stacked and dried material. I can't even begin to tell you how extensive their selection is. The project we were shopping for had specific requirements and, the very patient, Ed let us move all the slabs around, inspect their twists/curves, and photograph every possible book match pair. We settled on the beauties you see pictured. By lunchtime, we loaded up the truck with two beautiful live edge, Big Leaf Maple burl slabs! But, alas, our trip did not end here! The rest of the day was composed of a continuation of the most magical woodworking-related adventures I've had to date.

First, I saw the most massive band saw mill that man has ever created. Although the previous statement may be slightly apprentice-naivety induced exaggeration, it is a 67" vertical band saw mill and, as you can see, it's huge.

The gentleman running the mill sits in a booth and controls the machine as it moves the log around, rolling it this way and that way until it's positioned perfectly. Then, the log is wheeled through the band saw blade like butter through a warm knife. It was incredible.

Next, we were given a tour of the house. Although we were warned of it's status as a "construction zone", it was still more beautiful than I can put into words. So kindly escorted by Brian Hearne and Ric Allison, we were led upstairs to meet this beauty; A Ric Allison sofa nearly complete and as stunning as they come. Behind it, stands a banister with Allison-crafted spindles. I can't even wrap my brain around how objects so breathtaking are made yet but, like Jeff's work, they serve as one hell of an inspiration.

Above the living room hovers a catwalk that sits gracefully atop the ceiling beams. An equally-as-beautiful staircase led the way to the catwalk that curved it's way toward a bedroom. The lighting, the ceilings, the walls, the floors; everything about this house was just astounding.

As I had the chance to sit and chat with the man-in-charge, Rick Hearne, as well as Ric Allison and, of course, Jeff Lohr over lunch, I felt surrounded by sheer woodworking genius. As I ingested my chicken ceasar wrap, I listened to these inspirational men just chat over lunch. What was so humbling though, was that they are so kind, personable, and dare I say 'normal'. The idea that such beautiful art and master knowledge of the craft can come from the hands and minds of these gentlemen makes the intimidating woodworking world in front of me seem so comfortable and accessible. Needless to say, my motivation is on an exponential incline.

Then, it was onto the offices. Naturally, every desk in the place has a gorgeous live edge top and a flawless base to match. Every corner as something wooden to admire. Upstairs, we found a George Nakashima table surrounded by seven matching chairs. I had to be reminded that although this a piece of sought-after art, it is also a piece of furniture and furniture is meant to be sat on, eaten off of, and used in a functional way. Let me tell you, that chair is the most comfortable sitting apparatus I have had the pleasure of sitting in (and I have crashed a few quality beanbag chairs in my day). Full disclosure: Even with my huge stature and whopping 113 lbs, I still sat and stood very slowly and carefully as I was self-convinced I would ruin something.

It seemed as though everything I saw throughout my visit was more incredible than the last. It was truly an honor to meet the Rick, Brian, Ric, and all the Hearne Hardwoods staff. I am happy to have snagged this photo with Rick in the office beneath the head of a deer that his son took down with his bare hands in self defense. That statement alone should be some insight into the level of awesome my day reached on Monday. I had built up some high expectations from the flattering words of my co-workers but, my expectations of Hearne Hardwoods were met and exceeded.

I want to thank everyone that took part in my first trip and was so kind to me. My interest, passion, excitement, and inspiration for woodworking continues to grow daily because of people and places like this. I can only hope that in the near future I will get the chance to take a another trip out to this woodworking paradise tucked into the hills of some Pennsylvania Amish country.

Powderpost Beetles

This week we hosted an epic battle at the shop: Lohr Woodworking Staff vs. Powderpost Beetles

It all began when Rob found some powder piles amongst the oak boards we have in the stacks in the shop. He found a tiny dead bug and sent me on a fact-finding mission to confirm the type of wood-boring insect we were dealing with. Essentially, the powderpost beetle larvae feed on wood (primarily sapwood) and reduce it to a fine powder, hence their appropriate name. The biggest issue with this is that if we have live beetles in the stacks, they'll spread and damage the hundreds of boards that reside here. Needless to say, the beetles needed to go.

First, all boards that had any beetle holes or powder cones and piles needed to be removed, so we pulled out all the boards in that section of the stack and sorted them. The powder covered or eaten boards were taken outside and the rest were stacked outside the racks.

We located the highest shelf that showed reminisce of beetle feasting and pulled all the boards on that shelf and those below it. As you can see, there were more than a few boards that needed to be pulled.

The next part of this adventure required me to conquer a long-standing fear of spiders. Once the boards were out, my services were required to crawl into the stacks and vacuum anywhere and everywhere around the effected racks.

As I remained very aware of every spider web and every shadowed crevasse that had gathered over the years, the shop vac and I took to the inner depths of the lumber racks. I was careful to vacuum each beam as well as the boards along the sides of the emptied rack.

Now, what to do with the eaten and potentially infested boards? Well, they need to be de-infested so we can see what is left of useable wood. So, we brought the boards down to the kiln. As we stacked the boards on the cart, they were sprayed with insecticide. Using Timbor, we used the spray mixture to hit all the edges and faces of each board before stacking on the next layer of boards.
When all the boards were sprayed, we covered them in plastic for the night to make sure the solution was absorbed as much as possible. The following morning, we removed the plastic and replaced it with a black carpet and slid the cart into the kiln. At a toasty 145 degrees (as of yesterday), the kiln will house the boards for a few days to ensure that any and all larvae and adult beetles are exterminated before we bring the boards back into the shop.

According to my research, powderpost beetles lay their eggs in or on sapwood and they eat their way through the wood as they grow and develop. The larvae look like the little guy above. The holes we see in the wood's surface "are exit holes where adult beetles have chewed out of the wood after completing their development," says the University of Kentucky. The adults emerge from the wood 1-5 years after their eggs have been laid, usually during April - July. Perfect timing, guys, you seem to be right on time. You can see what the adults and their emergence holes look like above, as well. As I said, they prefer to dine on sapwood and they can infest wood for generations as they continue to lay eggs and leach away all the nutrients and strength from the wood. It's incredible the amount of damage these tiny little insects can do.

As the boards cook in the kiln, we are hopeful that our strategies have won us the battle. Have you ever come across powderpost beetles in your home, furniture, or lumber? Did you have a different approach to eliminate the harmful bugs? We'd love to hear from readers about your experiences since it's an issue, as woodworkers/wood lovers, we're all bound to all share!