When we built the house a few years ago, we were dreading the cost on cabinets. Looked at Lowes and they had some knotty hickory cabinets on display that we liked, rustic. There is an older man who builds cabinets locally (Jack), I had forgot about him. A friend mentioned that Jack had built the Red Oak cabinets in his parents house, said they looked good and were cheap. I called Jack and he said he had some spalted hickory. We'd never heard of spalted wood. Jack build a cabinet door from it and let us take a look. At a glance, we loved it. Told him the more knots/dark streaks/worm tracks the better.
Jack is a man's man. He was 70 y/o when he built my cabinets. The hickory came from his own land. He sawed in on his own saw mill. He dried it in his own homemade kiln, fired by the natural gas from his own NG well. Planed it down, then went to work. Jack is a Bad A$$ . He's been doing this kind of stuff his whole life. He was only missing one finger. He said that didn't happen until he was 68. Got it with a shaper, It didn't cut it off, it de-gloved it. He said all the bone was still there, looked like piranhas had got it. He did all my cabinets- kitchen with island, both bathrooms, laundry- for $3000 . Plus $100 because we added a lazy suzan after the bid. I furnished the counter tops and me and him installed them and set/hung all the cabinets.
Those look great! I love the character that spalted wood develops. And all you have to do is be patient, and let ma nature do her thing for a little while! I have a gold mine of spalted maple lumber that I'm working on out back. Just a few large, straight red maples that came down on their own, and have sat on the forest floor for a few years. There are worm holes like that in the sap wood, and the heart wood gets some really nice red and blue streaks through it. I think I'll end up with enough to do my kitchen floors, and then some!
There's no spalting, but the cabinets we got recently are rustic hickory and we like them a lot. Our cabinet guy had us sign a paper from the manufacturer saying that we understood what we were getting. I think some people don't realize how crude looking they are. There are a few places where holes go all the way through the doors at the knots.
That is truly some beautiful wood & woodwork. It's history & Jacks story make it even better. Well done to both of you.
Hickory is sure rough on saw blades,router bits & shaper cutters.Even carbide tipped ones.Not to mention hand tools like chisels/gouges,drawknives,spokeshaves & plane irons. Well worth the extra effort though.
Love those cabinets! I had hickory cabinets in my former house, not that rustic, but I loved the colors and patterns in the wood. Hickory is a pain in the butt to work with.
I remember Jack talking about how hard Hickory was to work with. He said, when planing it you had to go very slow taking off very little at a time. Otherwise, the planer will chatter giving the lumber gets a rippled look.
Really beautiful looking wood! I love that kind of stuff, the more character the better. I wish Jack lived out by me, I have some work for him.
Those are beautiful cabinets. Spalted wood is loaded with Fungi that gives it the beautiful markings. I will use my respirator and dust collector for precaution. I prefer to work with old and weathered lumber with lots of character.
