Like a dog with a stick that's too wide for the door...

I'm still shifting hardwood up to my attic...but getting nearer to the big stuff on the bottom. This is a pair of 1", book-matched Ambrosia Maple planks about 12' long and 10" wide. Probably close to 50lbs and awkward as hell to maneuver, esp. from the top of the ladder.



The big plank to the left is a baulk of Black Walnut, 2" thick and 17.5" wide...about 8' long. The rest are mahogany and figured maple. Against the wall in the back are more Black Walnut boards with some BW shorts in the corner.



Today is Rosewood day, at least that's what is next in the pile. I'm guessing it is around 100lbs or more and the bulk of it is rough re-sawn to 8' X 7" X 1/8". I think this size is going to be mostly sides but they're stacked as they came off the log, so maybe some backs for smaller stuff (parlor, ukes, etc.). The cardboard box on top is marked "90% Brazilian Rosewood and it is primarily shorts, fingerboard size and shorter, some blocks and squares.

Yah, there's more maple and mahogany on the bottom of the pile. More 12' maple planks...



The guy whose estate this is was big into Gibson F-5 mandolin "re-creation" (although I don't think he faked any of those as I've seen his marked with his name) as well as re-necking Gibson tenor banjos to 5-string. The banjos he did are good enough to require very close scrutiny to tell them from 1930s originals.

He was also making Martin Dreadnought size guitars, so I opened up a box last week and discovered 30 guitar tops, all from the 60s...

 

Yah, he was a local engineer/hobbyist. I think he started building in the 50s. Miz Diane had worked with him. From all accounts, his workshop was a hoarders cave. When he passed, his kids dumped all his luthier stuff into a storage unit...and when I heard it was for sale, I went to look at it.

I bought the whole thing just based on the wood...but got all his tools, jigs, etc. He must have been involved with Martin Guitars at some point. He had a decade's worth of catalogs and warranty stuff. Probably a certified repairman.

 

I was very lucky! I'm usually left crying in my beer because the timing is off or cash is scarce, etc. There were several other buyers involved...but I think the family recognized I wasn't interested in flipping it.

Some of these boards are massive. I'm down to the last four and they're 18" wide figured maple 1" thick and 10 ft long. I'm leaving one in the shop that's 36" wide mahogany, 1" thick. I'd need scaffolding and a couple of teenagers...