Neat Redwood and curly Lytchee slabs just arrived!

Just showed up at the shop!
All three slabs are bone dry, 4-5 years air dried.
The Lytchee is full of great curly figure and the Redwood has burl and birdseye-like figure throughout.
Great looking pieces. Give us a call if any of them interest you.
760.434.3030

Parota Rounds and more!

How are these settings for ideas.

We decided to lay out some pieces here at the shop to display a few of our sale items and came up with these two interesting settings.

Parota Round slab top on a Redwood Stump base!

(This is a 40" x 70" table [approximate dimensions])

Bocote Slab top on a Redwood Stump base!

(This is a 18" x 38" table [approximate dimensions])

Again, these are just ideas we thought we'd share.

What do you think? We would appreciate your feedback!

How's this for a coffee table?!

Slab just SOLD to one lucky customer.
Can't wait to see the finished table!

Neat pieces found on a road trip to Northern California...

We always have our feelers out there looking for unique pieces of wood for all our customers.

Whether it's highly figured pieces of rosewood , uniquely shaped tabletop slabs, or old dusty stashes of wood sitting in forgotten lumber yards, we always get a kick out of finding those "ugly ducklings" that are just begging to be made into beautiful pieces of art.

Although we usually have a healthy supply of "fireplace mantle" stock here at the shop and on the "slabs page" of our website, very thick and dry material (4-6") is sometimes a hard one to find.

We found these four pieces pictured below on a recent road trip up to Northern California. They All bone dry with unique texture on the natural edge. Will look amazing as distressed fireplace mantels.




Here are the three big ones, from left to right-

Pine-6" x 11.5-19" x 97"
Live Oak-5.5" x 8-14" x 85"
Redwood-6.5" x 9" x 100"



Real nice natural edges on all these pieces!




Here is the "little" one-

Figured Claro Walnut-5" x 10-12" x 63"


Give us a call if any of these interest you (760.434.3030) or look for them to be listed on our website within the week

Wow! Redwood burl slabs just came in the door!

Just look at this figure (not even sprayed with alcohol yet!)

We will let the pictures do the talking. More info to come once we clean them up a bit more.

Click here to browse our online store.

Mitch's Birthday Present-Custom Surfboard by John Cherry

Here are some pictures of the custom Balsa/Redwood surfboard Mitch received for his birthday a few days ago-


11' foot glider shaped by local customer and friend John Cherry.




All the wood came from our shop including the redwood used to construct the stringers.



One of the many highlights include the amazing redwood burl nose and tail blocks.

Check out the neat resin leash loop in the top picture!




What good is a balsa surfboard without matching custom wood fins?

Look at this beautiful setup-



Old growth, tight grained redwood for the center fin and curly maple/curly redwood for the side fins!



Here is Mitch with his new board on its maiden voyage back on his birthday.





To see more amazing work by John Cherry, please visit his website & blog-

johncherrywoodcraft.com

woodenshipsbyjcherry.blogspot.com

Project in Progress!

We sold customer Jose Equez one of our Redwood coffee table bases about 4 months ago.

Jose is an excellent craftsman that always amazes us with his pieces.

Upon picking up this Redwood base, he assured us that this piece would be no different.

(The Redwood base Jose picked up 4 months ago)

Below is the partially finished base in the back of Jose's pickup.

According to Jose, the base has been silver coated and he plans to match it up with an elegant custom glass top.

(Partially finished base)

We have never seen this application done on one of our pieces and we are excited to see how it turns out..

Jose plans to sand and oil the end grain on the top side of the base so that the natural color of the wood will be visible through the glass top.





This one of those projects that you have to see and feel in person to really appreciate.

We love how every natural detail of the outside of the base is still visible despite being completely covered in silver.



Jose also has a clear vision of where the finished coffee table will end up-

"..in a contemporary San Diego home overlooking the Pacific Ocean..."

We can't wait to see the finished piece!

Stay tuned for pictures-

(Jose-Excited to finish his project!)

Before and After-Curly Redwood Slab

This curly redwood slab came into the shop about 4 months ago
from a sawmill up in Central California

As you can see by the weather appearance, it probably had been sitting out in a yard for years before it was brought down here to the shop.

All this curly redwood that we have been receiving lately is just amazing stuff!
Once sanded and oiled, the finished pieces just speak for themselves-

Just great looking wood.




Customer Randy Leopold purchased the above slab and this is what he created!

Fabulous looking replica of an early Hawaiian style "plank" surfboard.

Look at that color and figure on this one!

We knew this particular slab had some nice figure
but that rich color only comes out when redwood is properly oiled.

We are constantly receiving new batches of this amazing stock in assorted sizes.

Please see the "Slabs Page" on our website
for an up-to-date list of all our Redwood Slabs

Or feel free to give us a call if you have any other questions.
760-434-3030

Batch#1-Redwood Slabs

 Redwood Slabs

ALL AVAILABLE SLABS ARE NOW LISTED ON OUR ONLINE STORE

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT WE HAVE IN STOCK

Click here for an up-to-date listing of all slabs that are currently in stock

Below are example photos of what our Redwood slabs look like: 

Curly Redwood slabs

Curly Redwood from Old Central California logs cut down nearly 100 years ago.
This stuff is drier than dry and has some pretty nice figure.

These slabs have been sitting outside on a plot of land for years, and you can still see all that curly figure through the water marks, dirt etc

Can you imagine what they will look like once you sand them?


The following closeup shots are of wetted section to show figure, but will get stronger once sanded.

************************************************



see below for examples of some of the other slabs we received in this past shipment.
Although these particular slabs have sold,WE CAN GET MORE!

Just contact us for more info and we can put your name down on a waiting list to get priority when the new load comes in.
760 434 3030
tropicalexotichardwoods@yahoo.com

Obviously the new stock will not look exactly like the pieces pictured below, but they should be pretty close

Curly Redwood and Figured Walnut Slab

These guys just came in today.

Gorgeous bone-dry Curly Redwood up to 10 foot long!

& a very figure semi-round Walnut Slab

Stay tuned for our New Stuff email next week for more details or come on by and check it out yourself

Batch#1-Other Slabs at the Shop

Other Slabs
Here at the Shop

ALL AVAILABLE SLABS ARE NOW LISTED ON OUR ONLINE STORE
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT WE HAVE IN STOCK

Min Koide- 11-02-1926 - 11-23-2008

Sadly, our good friend and longtime customer Min Koide passed away last month. As far as Mitch can remember, Min was one of our very first customers and can remember selling wood to him when Tropical Exotic Hardwoods was nothing more than a few pallets of wood in a storage shed.

Min was a very special person and a remarkable woodworker to say the least.
Yesterday we visited a memorial at his exhibit in Balboa Park here in San Diego, California. Before falling ill, one of Min's last requests was that no matter what happened, his exhibit would go on and his artwork would be enjoyed by the many visitors to the Japanese Friendship Garden located in Balboa Park.

Below is a sampling of some of his pieces that are on display until Feb. of next year.

We encourage anyone who is interested in woodworking to visit his exhibit and enjoy the works of this incredible woodturner.

"Wood Bowls of Min Koide"

November 2, 2008- February 27, 2009

Japanese Friendship Garden

Balboa Park

San Diego, California

Click here to go to the website of the Japanese Friendship Garden

Gorgeous pieces out of Masur Birch

This was possibly one of Min's last pieces. We remember Min purchasing this piece of Black and White Ebony in July of this year.

A couple pieces made out of Cocobolo. The larger one is of a Cocobolo Crotch.

Turning a piece like this is amazing. The skill and experience needed is just mind boggling. Min was a true master.

Here is a set of three hollow forms out of Mexican Kingwood.

When most look at Mexican Kingwood logs they are too scared to try and work with it. All they point out is the cracks, sapwood, bark inclusions, and any other excuse that keeps them from turning this exceptional wood.

Min was able to recognize the beauty in each piece and realized that certain flaws were just part of the nature of certain woods. Here he incorporates the sapwood and voids in vertical bands around the piece and does it in such a beautiful way that it is almost impossible to capture in a picture.

This is a one many Macassar Ebony Bowls that Min created out of a large log that he purchased years ago. Mitch remembers delivering the piece to his residence and according to Min's son Gary, whats left of the log is still sitting in his workshop waiting to be turned.

This is another late piece by Min. He purchased this Ribboned Purpleheart from us this summer and might easily be the last piece he did.

This is done out of a solid Pink Ivory Log section.

Just one of the Numerous Cocobolo bowls Min has turned throughout the years.

Spalted Maple Bowls

This piece is incredible . A chest of drawers Min made for his mother when he was sixteen out of scrap redwood and pine that he found. This was made while he and his family were placed in a Japanese Internment camp during World War II.