Thursday, June 24, 2010 #

Story of the Redwood

During the turn of the last century, there were many things blossoming in Northern California.
Not long after the 1906 earthquake destroyed much of San Francisco, the tide turned toward
reconstruction.  The miniboom created by the rebuilding of our favorite City helped create many new and formerly unknown enterprises.
 Contra Costa County, still a virtual wilderness compared to San Francisco
offered bargains galore in real estate.  The result was an area filled with sunshine, roads, ferries and hardworking men and women who saw opportunity in the floral nursery business.
Cheap land was soon covered with greenhouses growing flowers from all over the globe.
Flowers need water and water needed to be stored in what later became Richmond, California.  Winter rain led to summer drought.  A common solution was the construction of huge water storage tanks made out of the cheapest material of the day--redwood.
In 1914, Nurseries came into being.  Shortly thereafter, they built tanks from clear-heart, vertical grain redwood.  Today it is know as old-growth and no longer comes from trees.
In 2010, PALS International purchased the dis-assembled water tanks from 100 years ago.  They were de-nailed, de-bolted, de-white washed, and de-located to EarthSource Forest Products in Oakland, California.
The same wood which for almost a century stored the water to drip into the roots of begonias and tiger lillies is again available for the hundreds of uses redwood has served in California for (an exaggeration) potentially 2500 years.
If you come down to West Oakland and visit EarthSource, any one of our staff can help you select the small timbers, dimensional lumber, or boards you need for your project.
All of this wood is Smartwood Rediscovered!  This means that the source of supply can be traced back to the original use or growth and can be certified as salvaged lumber made available from sources that did not help promote urban sprawl. In other words, this lumber did not come into existence due to the construction of a sub-division, a new freeway, an angry attorney, or your neighbors view.
Some of the lumber is known as comb-grain, which means more than 35 growth rings to the inch.  Some of it has been soaked in water for so long that the character of the wood has changed.  What was once a vibrant, fresh redwood is now a vibrant, dark hued, well aged cabernet of timber. 
If you are a connesiour of fine woods such as this, come down and talk to me.  I am an enthusiastic, semi-agressive salesman who depends on things like this for his livelihood.  Give the wood and the wood guy a try.
jeff
 

posted @ Thursday, June 24, 2010 12:00 AM | Feedback (1)

Monday, June 21, 2010 #

Guatemala Adventures

Guatemala Discovery
I recently had an opportunity to visit Central America on a buying trip.  I was accompanied by Keith Menasco, the Branch Manager of EarthSource in Oakland, and Junavie Barredo, the chief of all things money.

We have a number of FSC Certified sawmills in the region and meet with them regularly. 

The FSC certified forest products which we obtain there include Genuine Mahogany, Machiche, Santa Maria, Rosewood, Spanish Cedar, and Chichipate. 

 

Mahogany is always our primary seller and we are able to offer FSC certified mahogany 24/7.  We do not carry genuine mahogany which is not FSC certified.

Our 2nd most popular product from the region is machiche.

It is, without a doubt, my very favorite wood and is the most versatile wood I have ever seen.  Most of what we sell is in the form of exterior decking but it is one of the finest furniture quality species of them all.  Some of our best clients, including Berkeley Mills, find it unbeatable when it comes to machineability, stability, hardness, luster, depth and character. It has been used all over the USA, wherever sustainability and performance matter.  The University of California has used it on so many campuses that they were voted the #1 consumer of sustainable forest products in the nation.

I am running out of room here, but I am happy to go on practically forever if you pay EarthSource a visit sometime soon and ask for the Grand Tour of the Urban Jungle, led by Marion.

jeff

posted @ Monday, June 21, 2010 12:00 AM | Feedback (0)

Company founder, Jeff Hunt writes the EarthSource Blog to share his experiences in responsible business, sustainable forestry, lumber reclaimation, and to showcase company news.