In the world of figured hardwoods, there has always been this spectre hanging around in the shadows.  It presents itself in the inevitable clash between the imagined look of the lumber and what actually turns up at the plant or workshop.  Many years ago I sold figured and exotic hardwoods to a variety of woodworkers.  If, for example, I took an order for “bird’s eye Maple”, I would often get the complaint that the lumber was either too figured or not figured enough.  Once, we shipped about 50 board feet of Ash to a large store fixture manufacturer and it was gorgeously figured, unusual for Ash.  It was part of a much larger delivery of Ash, but I received a call from the buyer who said that their shop loved the figured Ash and made a prototype of a table from it for a large retail chain.  Naturally, they showed the table to their customer who loved it and said that they would take 800 of them as soon as they could be produced.  The buyer called me the next day and said that he wanted to buy thousands of board feet of Ash “to match the figured Ash from the last load”.   He was crestfallen when I explained that there was no chance of replicating that look out of our general supply of Ash in the warehouse.  If I called our supplier he would say the same thing.  That lumber represented one anomalous tree that stood in the forest for nearly 80 years developing, for whatever reasons, that beautiful “curl” in the grain.  Thus is the nature of figured hardwoods, a group in which Frank Miller Lumber is a very big player.

There are rules of thumb for how quartersawn hardwoods are supposed to look based on the angle of the end grain as it relates to the face of the board.  There are rules also, in White and Red Oak, about how “quartered” and “rift” appearance is designated.  It is very difficult to meet every customer’s expectations for how much figure is enough, in the case of “quartered” or how little figure shows in “rift”.  In a conversation today with a colleague, she compared figured hardwoods to flowers.  While it would be good, she supposed, if every rose looked exactly the same, it was an unrealistic expectation.  If you can let that uniform expectation go and revel instead in the varieties of rose hues and shapes, you will be amazed at how beautiful a garden can be.

I will continue to extol the many virtues of quartersawn hardwoods, not in their uniformity, but rather their unique and varied appearance qualities.

I have an immensely interesting job.  I get to talk with designers and architects about using American hardwoods in projects all over the world.  After several years I am finally being invited into design meetings as hotels are taking shape.  There are several projects with which I am involved now that are for well-known international architecture and interior design firms who are doing work for equally well-known hotel companies.  I am not at liberty to give names of firms or the projects, but trust me when I say that these projects are immensely complicated.  The hardwood component in the form of millwork, furniture, flooring and cabinetry requires a great deal of consideration because of the various grades that are generated out of each log that is cut.  I preach that it is prudent on a large project to connect to the mill in order to establish the realities of the resource and how it relates to the project timelines and budgets.

Quite often the hardwoods are discussed very early on in the project and if a specification is at variance with the realities of the resource, no one from the hardwood industry is there to say so.  Now I am there to help filter the unbridled imagination of architects and designers through the often painful “funnel of reality” so that the aesthetic vision for the hardwoods jibes with the end product.

After three days in New York this week I came to the conclusion that the organizing all of the information involved with a huge hotel project is a bit like herding cats.  You can have one aspect of the project settled, then a different aspect changes and a domino effect of changes have to take place to accommodate that change.  There are endless proposals and reworks based on budget price points and owners ever-changing aesthetic or operational sensibility.   The natural variation in hardwoods needs to be built into the design process at several different cost levels and this requires careful thought and precise wording in proposals.

Recently. in a design meeting about a very large hotel property in Saudi Arabia I was asked if Quartersawn White Oak could be used not only in the guest room floors, but in the bathrooms as well.  Because of its resistance to water and stability in Quartersawn form, I said that with careful installation it could be used in the bathroom up to the sink.  The lead designer said that she wanted to use Quartersawn White Oak in the shower floor and around the toilet as well.  I had to tell her that while it would be an interesting experiment in one bathroom in a private residence, doing it in 350 guest rooms in a 5 star hotel represented a high probability of failure.  In the end, the fact that Quartersawn White Oak couldn’t be used in the showers and around the toilets literally changed the design for the guest rooms and therefore the entire aesthetic design of the hotel.

In the coming months I will be out in the world of architecture and design, helping to “herd cats”.  I will share more stories like this, representing the challenges and successes of that process, with you.

Hardwood Floors Offer Beauty and Versatility

While some manufactured flooring attempts to imitate hardwood, there no substitute for American hardwood floors made from verifiably sustainable American hardwoods.

There are myriad hardwood flooring choices available in today’s market and American Red and White Oak are among the most popular choices. Bamboo is often touted as a rapidly renewable alternative to American hardwoods due to their 10-year growth cycle.  However, Bamboo is not a hardwood at all, rather a grass.  The carbon footprint of its transformation from grass to a flooring material is far greater than of any hardwood.  This transformation includes the use of adhesives and production methods that are far from environmentally friendly.  American hardwood floors are the most durable, sustainable and beautiful floors available.

Hardwood Sawing Methods Make a Difference

The way in which wood is sawn determines its appearance. Plain or “flat” sawing is the most common hardwood log sawing technique. Sawn from the outside-in with the log’s growth rings parallel to the board’s broad face, plain-sawn lumber typically features a more uniform, arched grain pattern, commonly known as “Cathedral grain”. While plainsawing produces wider boards than quartersawing, it is prone to cupping and warping over time.

Quartersawn hardwood has a more distinct straight-grained look, as it is cut perpendicular to the tree’s growth rings. This process produces quartersawn hardwood’s most important characteristic – a “shimmering” effect, created by the increased exposure of the log’s medullary  rays.  The perpendicular geometric relationship between the angle of the log’s growth rings to the face of the board is what makes a quartersawn floor more stable. Expansion and contraction of quartersawn wood will only occur vertically, therefore reducing movement in width, cupping and warping.  As a result, quartersawn hardwoods are often used in high-traffic environments and regions where the climate experiences more volatile humidity.

The Hardwood Advantage

Aside from their natural beauty and durability, hardwood floors are relatively easy to clean and maintain, while eliminating carpet-captured allergens. They are also adaptable to just about any type of décor.  Hardwood flooring increases the value of a home and is very attractive to prospective homebuyers.

Hardwood floors have stood the test of time.  There are quartersawn oak floors around the globe, for instance that are still in service after centuries of use.  A friend just returned from France where he toured some chateaus in the Loire Valley that get more than a million visitors per year.  Those visitors are walking on Quartersawn White Oak floors that have been there for more than 500 years and they are still beautiful, flat and tight.  Aesthetically and practically, hardwood has been a preferred flooring surface throughout the ages in every corner of the globe.  The most beautiful aspect of hardwood floors is that there is nearly twice as much hardwood growing in the US now than was growing 50 years ago.  This is a truly sustainable, durable and beautiful product.

Thoughts about the three main similarities between humans and trees:

American Hardwood trees are like humans in three distinct and profound ways:

1. Both are mostly water
2. Both have a peak life span of approximately 80 years
3. Both are completely unique

Let’s talk about items #2 and #3.  While humans can live longer than 80 years, trees can also.  However, past this peak life span,  trees and humans are both vulnerable to disease and injury, generally declining in health.

A symbiotic relationship exists between trees and humans.  Humans breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, while trees breathe in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen.  During a tree’s life span it has been absorbing carbon diligently and when it passes its peak and declines in health it begins to leach its stored carbon back into the atmosphere.  While it seems counterintuitive, proper sustainable management of the forest begins with the extraction of the trees closest to their peak life.  In harvesting those beautiful, healthy mature trees when they have basically stored all of the carbon they will store in life, you not only allow for sunlight to get to the forest floor, thereby encouraging fresh growth, but you capture the carbon in that tree forever, even as the tree is transformed into various wood products.  The only way the stored carbon in hardwood products will ever be released is through fire.

The forests of the United States have been well managed for more than a century through “selection cutting”, which means the extraction of the mature trees rather than clear cutting.  By taking only those trees closest to their peak life, new growth takes its place.  For every tree that is harvested in the United States, 1.9 trees take its place through natural regeneration.  As a result of this careful management of the forest resource, there is nearly twice as much hardwood growing in the United States now as compared to 50 years ago.

The third and most important similarity between humans and trees is that each tree, like each human, is unique and beautiful in its own way.  To assume a post-industrial revolution mindset in the design process, that all hardwood flooring, for example, needs look the same, is to invite heartache and disappointment.  Every tree, based on the soil in which it grew, the length of its growing season, and general environment will develop different colors, no matter how slight.  If a designer or architect revels in the unique nature of hardwoods instead of fighting this natural variation, they will be rewarded with a space or piece of furniture that will never be duplicated.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to be a part of the hardwood business can feel proud of the fact that with every tree harvested, rendered into boards, kiln dried and made into flooring, millwork, doors or furniture, we are actually making forests healthier and bringing beauty to the world.

I have told architects for several years the sad story of a large home being built in 2001 for a very famous celebrity. When I was still selling lumber for Frank Miller Lumber I was called by all of the hardwood flooring suppliers in the region, all looking for lumber for 10,000 square feet of rift sawn white oak flooring for the house. Simply put, the specifications for the rift sawn white oak flooring could never be met. I told everyone the truth in the hopes that the specifications would change and come down to reality. The specs didn’t change, because one distributor kept calling mills until someone said “we have that lumber”.

The flooring manufacturer was shipped lumber that did not resemble the specification except that it was white oak. Now desperate, he tried his best to satisfy the contractor, who tried to satisfy the celebrity homeowner. Making a long, painful story short, no one was satisfied. The hardwood flooring manufacturer went bankrupt waiting to get paid and the contractor wound up in court for years, fighting for the remaining $1.5 million owed on the job.

Why did I title this blog “The Bugatti Veyron”?  Because the Bugatti is my dream car, in the same way this house was a dream house for this family.  Let’s pretend I had $1.5 million to buy this car and put down a hefty deposit, ordering a cobalt blue Bugatti.  I would have to wait 9 months for the car to arrive, as only 6 are imported each year.  A call from the dealer tells me that my car has arrived.  I go to the dealer, give him the balance owed and he hands me the keys.  The dealer then points to a cherry red Bugatti in the lot, not the cobalt blue Bugatti I ordered.  When I complain about the color, the dealer says that while it isn’t the color I wanted, it is still a Bugatti.   I have the option of waiting another 9 months in the hope of getting the color I want or driving away in the red car.  Of course I take the car.  However, no matter how much I might love my Bugatti, I would still be upset every time I get in it, because it isn’t what I ordered.

The same would be true for the family with an expansive floor that doesn’t look anything like the floor they ordered. Yes, it is still white oak, but no one told them that they couldn’t have the special rift sawn white oak flooring they ordered until it was too late. The moral of the story is to minimize heartache and disappointment by running reality checks on your aesthetic vision at the very beginning of the project.

As I travel all over the U.S. and around the world talking to architecture and design firms, I have been struck by the unbelievable volume of planned construction of five and six-star hotels in the next five years.  One hotel group has 80, yes 80 hotels scheduled for China in the next five years.  Another has 15 planned for India in the next five years.  These are only two hotel companies and two countries.  When added together, the scope of planned building is mind-boggling.  All of these hotel properties are massive undertakings.  For example, a hotel in China that is under construction will have its reception desk on the 101^st floor.  I am advising on a large hotel in India, one in Saudi Arabia and another in Qatar.  When I consider the amount of man-hours and intellectual capital involved with the design and construction processes and multiply that by the number of projects on the books, I find it extremely hard to comprehend.  One large international hotel company with whom I am working established an office in Dubai in early 2011 and had 40 projects immediately and now, half a year later, they are working on an additional 40.

There is a place for American hardwoods in many of these properties as a sustainable and beautiful interiors material.  I was asked this week about using American hardwoods in environments that aren’t “controlled”, such as in Singapore, where I was speaking.  My natural reaction is to say that all indoor environments are controlled, but upon quick reflection, I realized that there are many living spaces in tropical climates where windows are open most of every day.  In those environments the most logical choice would be quartersawn Red or White Oak which will only shrink and swell in thickness rather than width as it adjusts to the moisture in the environment.

As all of these hotel projects take shape it is my mission to make sure that sustainable American hardwoods are considered.  There are significant opportunities in the next five to ten years and as an industry, we should be at the table.

I have been assisting some designers and architects in the past year who find themselves up against the clock on a job where hardwood specifications aren’t being met. I tell them the problem is that it’s very rare that the people who are trying to get the job will actually tell the truth about what is and is not possible.

Imagine a scenario where you get three hardwood flooring companies together to bid on a job that is simply impossible to produce. This could be for myriad reasons — the widths and lengths aren’t in synch with the species, the color won’t be perfectly matched to your sample or the time line is simply too short. Now imagine that two of the company reps say they can absolutely produce exactly what you have specified. The third rep ponders for a minute and says that it can’t be done for any price or any time frame. My advice is to dismiss the first two people and talk to the last guy who was willing to walk away from the job.

Everyone wants work, and if someone is willing to pass on the job, they must have a good reason. They can help you re-imagine the space in such a way that it will be unique and beautiful, even if different than your original vision. It is much better to do this exercise at the very beginning of the project than find out at the tail end that the job was never going to look the way you envisioned it. No one wants to have to go back to the client 18 months into the project to renegotiate the look of the space, now based on reality. A bit of work up-front with experts will save a great deal of heartache later. Ask for a truthful evaluation of your hardwood specifications.

The Barnes Collection is considered to be the most valuable private art collection in the world, valued at anywhere from $25 to $40 billion. It is also possibly the largest, with more than 2,500 objects, including over 800 paintings by artists such as Degas, Picasso, Matisse, van Gogh, Cezanne and Renoir. In 1922, the collection was housed at the institution, which was founded by a successful chemist named Albert Barnes. I went to school across the street from it in Merion, Pa. I was always curious about the collection, but never able to see it, since the Foundation didn’t want a bunch of school kids wandering around the building. That changed today, as I found myself inside the Barnes Collection’s new museum on Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

The building was designed by New York architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, and it is nothing less than spectacular. One of the key elements of this iconic museum is the 30,000 square feet of quarter-sawn white oak flooring made by Muscanell Millworks, using FSC^® oak lumber from Frank Miller. Frank Miller was involved in the project from the beginning, keeping the supply on track and helping the architects realize their aesthetic vision. During my visit, one of the project managers told me that Frank Miller’s quarter-sawn white oak was the most beautiful hardwood he has ever seen — and he has been in the construction business for more than 20 years. The flooring installer echoed those sentiments. It has been an honor to have our hardwood included in the design of the Barnes Collection Museum. We are thrilled for Opening Day on May 19^th and hope you will have the opportunity to visit the museum to see the finished floors firsthand, along with other remarkable pieces of art.

When I talk to architectural design professionals about using sustainable quartersawn hardwood in their designs, I always stress the importance of connecting to the source of the lumber. By connecting to the source, you can develop specifications for the project that are based in reality. If left to the various contractors and subcontractors involved, the final project will often bear only a faint resemblance to the original vision.

As a designer, it is important to know the realities of the resource and rely on the experts to help you. If American hardwood has a place in your aesthetic vision, let Frank Miller Lumber help you to make it a reality.

I have 25 years of experience in the hardwood industry, 16 of which have been as a representative of Frank Miller Lumber, the world’s largest quartersawn hardwood sawmill.

For the past several years I have been on a crusade of sorts as a consultant to architects and designers across the U.S., teaching them about the wonders and realities of sustainable U.S. hardwoods and the most beautiful form of those hardwoods, quartersawn. I tell architects and designers that it is my job to inspire the use of U.S. hardwoods in their designs where such inspiration might not exist. Further, I will teach them the differences between plainsawn and quartersawn hardwoods, helping to find the appropriate use for both.

The challenge is to take the unbridled imagination of designers and squeeze it through the funnel of reality so that the vision can be realized in the end. As is true of humans, every tree is unique, and there are limitations that need to be taken into account during the design process. Just because you can imagine 10,000 square feet of rift white oak flooring with a 10-inch face, all color matched with no medullary ray, it doesn’t mean it is possible to produce.

I will keep you apprised of my travels, observations and cautionary tales here in these blogs and on my Twitter feed, @QuartersawnGuru.