I just finished this crown mount on a nice Mulie taken over 50 years ago in Oregons' Steen Mountains, the same territory Chester Stevenson hunted in. ("From the Den of the Old Bowhunter") I drove to town today to find a nice board to make an arrowhead shaped plaque for the antlers and happened to drive by our local "Habitat for Humanity". Something told me to see if they had any old boards I could use, so I walked in and headed to an area that had used and discarded lumber.

Here's what I found. Two boards, very rough cut on both sides with a chain saw mill. One is 7'long and 11" wide and the other is 4'x 12". I couldn't tell the species because of the dirt, but I took a chance and asked the clerk, "How much?"

Rats! Well, you get the idea. Here's a close-up. Forgive me if it's sideways.

Here's what the short one looked like after running it thru my planer...

Another look white outside...

Oh, by the way, the price was $1.00 per linear foot!

Oh wow....

Heck with the mount, thems limb veneers, right there! Nice score!

A good deal for a good man, nice.

Sweet!!!

Walnut?

I'm with Ben, cut them up for limb veneers and I'll buy 4 of them from you! Heck I'll even send you a nice piece of blued Pine to put the horns on.

Very nice

Really nice.

A buck for a linear foot?!! A crappy construction pine 8'2X4 is $8+ bucks around here. Good for you!

That racks looks hybrid...cross between a mulie and whitetail.

This all reminds me of a true story of my grandfather's... concerning an old geezer in town here who was using his outhouse, when suddenly someone started ripping one of the boards out of the back of it! The culprit was Fred, a neighbor who made fiddles, and he had noticed that one of those boards had a natural ribbon grain to it. The owner of the outhouse tried to protest, but Fred wouldn't hear it--he said, "you can use any old board on your outhouse; this here is fiddle wood!"

I went back to the store to pick up the last piece of curly Walnut, but it was gone, so I went into the Goodwill Store next door and found this!

50", about 20#, no markings at all. They maybe under the limb pockets. Like new, this will make some kid very happy!

Here's some photos of the curly (fiddleback) Walnut after running it through my planer. There are some spectacular risers and limb veneers in these boards, just waiting to come out and play! Richard

Looks like Claro Walnut. Nice figuring!

Beautiful walnut Nemah!

Thanks for that story Kerry, it made my day :).

I remember a couple years ago in January, I was on vacation. Richard sent me to some of his favorite wood places in the northwest. I was impressed. I bought some and sent it home. Some of it got there before I got back home. Good looking wood. Richard, thanks for sharing. JF

Looks like great material for a 38# lefty!!

or a 45# lefty!

All done! 3 coats of Tung oil and a coat of Johnsons' paste wax. Notice how dark the Walnut turned.

Here's the first riser I'll make out of the new wood. It should turn out the same shade as the antler plaque. What wood should I use for the I-beam? Richard

You know I would have to pay $6 to $10 a board foot for that here. That’s furniture wood.

RonL

A figured maple

I agree, some kind of Maple or Myrtle is always nice

Bocote

When I lived in Tasmania in Australia I worked on a dam site and on week ends we were permitted to pick up Huon pine wood which is normally protected wood specie.As long as the wood was laying on the ground we could have it.when I left Tasmania in my pick up I had 6 sizeable 8' logs about 12" to 18" diameter.My poor pick up would only travel at about 45 to 50 mph and sat real low almost tires rubbing on the wheel arches.I drove for about 1.000 miles like that and did an overnight ferry crossing too.That wood commands about $5-6.000 today.It takes about 900 to 1000 years for Huon pine to grow that big.I like your wood .Looks like you scored well. Enjoy it Cheers Osr

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