Howdy and a broad question
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:49 am
Since there doesn't seem to be a new member forum, I'll post this here. Howdy! Let me say right up front, I am more of a consumer of instruments (they tend to come to me and never leave) than a builder. I have built a couple of simple kits, but I'm not sure that really counts. I am a maker of custom knives and other edged tools, sort of a specialized Blacksmith. You can find some of my work at www.5elementsforge.com. So the question has to be, why am I here?
Over 20 years ago a family member was working for the oldest golf club in Seattle. When they decided to rebuild the club house, we were allowed to go in and salvage pretty much anything we could carry. The club house had been built in the '20's and was heavily cased in Philippine mahogany. We took many loads of this material out, and I ended up with it. The long planks are gone, but I still have a ton of smaller (up to 8ft-ish) stuff in my wood loft. Last year I made a window bench with some of it, and I milled some long pieces out of some of the door frames.
The material is hard, dense, and straight grained. I think you could make baseball bats out of it, it is really dense.
So I got to thinking that there might be makers out there who could use this stuff. Now, if you were to tell me that you don't want to work in salvage, I would completely understand. Certain makers in my world make knives out of pretty much anything that is remotely steel. without regard for whether or not it makes a good knife, so I get it. OTOH, if there is any interest in this material, it should go to someone who can make use of it.
I would willing trade all of it, and it's a lot, to someone who can use it, in return for an instrument (you knew there had to be a catch). I have an interest in a tenor guitar (or a bass uke), or an irish bouzouki, or, and this I know is a reach, a weissenborn lap guitar. I could even sweeten a deal with some bespoke knives or bench tools.
So if there is some interest, I can take pics, and even provide some samples, and we can talk. And if there is no interest, I understand and thanks for listening.
Geoff Keyes
5 Elements Forge
Over 20 years ago a family member was working for the oldest golf club in Seattle. When they decided to rebuild the club house, we were allowed to go in and salvage pretty much anything we could carry. The club house had been built in the '20's and was heavily cased in Philippine mahogany. We took many loads of this material out, and I ended up with it. The long planks are gone, but I still have a ton of smaller (up to 8ft-ish) stuff in my wood loft. Last year I made a window bench with some of it, and I milled some long pieces out of some of the door frames.
The material is hard, dense, and straight grained. I think you could make baseball bats out of it, it is really dense.
So I got to thinking that there might be makers out there who could use this stuff. Now, if you were to tell me that you don't want to work in salvage, I would completely understand. Certain makers in my world make knives out of pretty much anything that is remotely steel. without regard for whether or not it makes a good knife, so I get it. OTOH, if there is any interest in this material, it should go to someone who can make use of it.
I would willing trade all of it, and it's a lot, to someone who can use it, in return for an instrument (you knew there had to be a catch). I have an interest in a tenor guitar (or a bass uke), or an irish bouzouki, or, and this I know is a reach, a weissenborn lap guitar. I could even sweeten a deal with some bespoke knives or bench tools.
So if there is some interest, I can take pics, and even provide some samples, and we can talk. And if there is no interest, I understand and thanks for listening.
Geoff Keyes
5 Elements Forge