Down by the Belize border-1986

Here I am next to a few huge Mahogany logs at a mill in Southern Mexico on the Belize border around 1986. These logs were trucked over from Guatemala through Belize. Not many are left.

They are milled into lumber and put into a drying rack standing up.

This allows the wood to dry naturally and take on a dark color. This method is not usually used today as suppliers want to KD the lumber to get it out faster. I have a pile of Mahogany that was dried like this from the 1950's.

Check out this board!!!

This Koa piece came to me in a purchase of wood that had been stored in San Diego since 1950. The former owner was a commander in the U.S. Navy and would bring back wood on the ship he was on. I also purchased some old Honduras Mahogany with nice color in the same load. It make you wonder what is still out there to be discovered.

******piece has been sold, sorry********

Tasmanian Blackheart Sassafrass

On one of my trips to Australia I had a chance to select some Blackheart Sassafrass. the stuff has a very spalted like figured. I sold a few slabs to Sam Maloof and he plans to make benches with them for his new muesum.

Give us a call @760-434-3030 if you have any questions/comments

Nice old picture of the old company truck

Here is the younger more slim Mitch of the late 1980's. My 1982 Chevy saw a lot of the back roads of Mexico hunting down wood. We would take it all over the US to trade shows!

Beware of Dog!!!

Katie: You might remember my dog Katie as she was with me for a long time. She passed away August 1999 at 19 years old. She came to work with me every day. Lots of my long time customers remember her.

One of our Bubinga Slabs

This dinning table is made from a solid 8/4 slab of quilted bubinga. The rails are resawn 1/4" ebony. The legs are also bubinga

Gorgeous Table made with Cluster Maple Slabs

Here is a table of booked matched natural edged maple slabs with
English Elm legs made by long time San Diego woodworker Del Cover. The piece is in Del Mar. Del has been a client of ours from the early days of our business.