Ash Slabs

Our Quality Standards

• We only cut from high quality logs. 50 percent would grade as veneer or stave logs. That's why we don't cut or sell any lower grades. We don't see them in the better logs. A bigger better log gets bigger boards. We specialize in quarter sawing red and white oak.
• We don't cut nearly as much as our competitors, but we take extra time and care handling the logs and only buy fresh cut logs. Our competitors buy in large lots and take it all. Their logs are usually not end coated when they are fresh cut, you may get end-checked wood. Their logs sit for months in the hot weather before they are cut. We mill maple within 1 to 2 weeks of being felled and oak within 4 weeks.
• Our wood is checked daily for moisture loss immediately after being milled. It doesn't sit around in piles in the hot sun checking. Our wood is protected during transport to avoid over drying by the wind. White oak can surface check in hours this way. You don't see those surface checks after the wood has dried because the checks have closed up.
• None of the wood we dry is air-dried outside before being put into the Kiln. Air-drying causes too much degrade, especially in the oak family. You cannot control the weather and take the risk of over drying, re-wetting by rain, or under drying.
• We keep our Kiln Dried Wood in conditioned air to keep it at 6-7 percent moisture content. The most important thing to realize about wood is just because it is dried correctly down to 6 and 7 percent moisture content, doesn't mean it will stay there after it is pulled from the kiln and piled in an open warehouse. That is what our competitors do.