To me, this picture of dad producing our first flooring boards commemorates the transition of  of an era of preparation into the era of actually doing.    For 2 years, and really - truth be told - 30 years, we've been working towards the point that we have just now turned the page on.

Dad is feeding in a 1" piece of wood that has been harvested, milled, kiln dried, edged, planed and - as pictured- molded into a piece of tongue & groove flooring all here at our home.  Pretty neat! 

Daniel finally putting in some freaking wood!  Yeah!!!  Beautiful day, got out of work - my other work - early.  All the tools/resources are ready to go.  Today we used the kiln, edger, planer, molder, flooring nail gun, a plethora of saws, and installed some really cool flooring. 

Mixed species mixed width floor with sealer and 1 finish coat.  The floor was designed to represent several different combinations. The part closest shows the combination of Maple, sweetgum, & oak. Towards the middle there is some contrasting patchwork.  Then there is a piece of poplar and some walnut (dark brown 4" piece).  On the far end, we alternated species each row.  Just playing around. 

We call this style of using all the native species,  The Forest Floor. 

The real truth is that you can't begin to do justice with the photos.  All I can do is try.   You just need to come see for yourself.

Mixing species each row (i.e. no patchwork). 

  Click photos with blue order to enlarge.

Species include Maple, Sweetgum, White Oak, Tulip Poplar, Pine, Pecan, Walnut.

At first I just alternated species each row.  Next, I started doing a little contrasting patchwork to demonstrate that effect.	Sealed and first coat of clear finish.
Click pic to enlarge	Click pic to enlarge
Entrance from the shop into the barn.	Then - when nobody was looking - Freedom sweeps in and claims all the credit!

     Tree Hugging Era begins.  Check in later for more.