New artisans at UTF

Hi Everybody!

So, the snow storms of 2010 have had the cumulative effect of slowing me down long enough to catch up on some much-belated blog postings!! There has been so much activity in the past year and especially since the completion of the carved tables we provided for the G-20 summit... multiple posts will be needed to keep it all in readable segments.

Fist off… a huge “Thank You!” to everyone that helped us bring the monumental task of completing these tables to fruition. We had over a dozen people help us out with this endeavor.. The outpouring of help and spirit of Pittsburgh people here is just amazing! It’s so awesome to be a part of such a community. Thanks again everyone.


We were honored to have a few new artisans take up residencies in "Studio" and start considering some of the great "City wood" we have available for consideration.
Earlier in the year Jim Ladner Custom Furniture began tenancy... and just in time too! Jim was able to offer us some of his time to help in the fabrication of the G-20 tables. Jim was instrumental in our on-time completion of this undertaking. Jim has also been using some of our “City Wood” walnut in a couple of his projects for his clients… and with wonderful results as these images show. The grain and character of these walnut sections just makes these pieces jump. Jim has also been reshaping salvaged joists to create cabinet doors for another project. Amazing work Jim! It’s great to have you in “Studio” and considering our city’s urban resources.


We recently welcomed Jason Kirker into the “Studio." Kirke, is an endeavor started by Jason Kirker, who has been creating lighting fixtures and other furnishings from salvage materials with his business. Jason participated in “Arbor Aid 2009,” along with over 20 other artisans. (Read more about this great annual fund-raising event supporting the work of Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest on their website.) You can check out some of Kirke's work on his Picassa gallery.

We've also had Jason Boone, Geoff D., and Greg, all of whom work with architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson join us for individual projects for their homes. And just last week we welcomed our newest resident, Krishnan Padmanabhan a graduate from CMU, into the "Studio" to begin the creative endeavor of taking his 2D work in another dimension.

Over the past year, we've had many other artists "In Studio" for individual projects... more on these great projects coming in our next posting.

Welcome to Urban Tree Forge everyone!

And may your ventures be filled with the prosperous ingenuity and creativity that helps you grow to new levels!

Next post, we'll show you some highlights of the many projects we were fortunate to see pass through our doors the past year...

New Opportunities

From Brookline

Indiana Township

Wilkinsburg Borough

We received a call from our friend Reid Crosby about this ash tree being cut down in the Brookline area of our city.. . When we arrived the Mcnulty brothers, Ryan and Kevin of McNulty Landscaping were busy working with Tim the tree man to remove this wonderful ash tree.
We are going to be losing many of these wonderful trees in the future because of the emerald ash borer. It's sad to see these wonderful trees leaving our forest. Considering the possibilities for using these now is going to be our challenge. These particular ash logs would make about 900 square feet of some super tough flooring, it's the same material used for great baseball bats, and tool handles... This would also make for some amazingly beautiful furnishings as we found when we opened this regal beauty. We are seeking opportunities to utilize this material somewhere in our great city. If you have a project you think may be appropriate for these logs please let us know.

Just today we received a call from Wayne the crane operator about this tree in Indiana Township. We haven't been to see her yet, but she sure is big and beautiful.
If this amazing tree is still sound, there are some beautiful opportunities to get creative with this root section. We will know soon enough. If you would be interested in using or creating with this section please
give us a call or drop us a line. Wayne tells us this tree was uprooted and laying across a creek. They had it removed to keep it from blocking the flow of the local creek. The roots are clean and she has been out of the water about a year now... an awesome sculptural possibility!!






We also received a call from our friend Joan King of the Wilkinsburg Shade tree Committee regarding a mulberry tree her landlord was having removed from her yard a couple weeks ago. We jumped on the opportunity to acquire some of the beauty that is the wonderful mulberry wood from our communities. This wood is both beautiful and extremely rot resistant... one of the best available! We've already had a client put dibs on one of these colorful slabs for a garden bench in their back yard. There aren't many of these available so if you're interested you should hurry ... these will not last long.

Urban Art Pittsburgh Style

In The Studio

We have So much going on in the studio lately as many of the artists in residence here have been busy creating many new and exciting projects!

Jenifer Bechak has been working with our new oxy acetylene torches creating some beautiful bent metal work for a project she has been working to complete.










Olof Berner and James Sichak have been collaborating together for a cool project using some City Wood, salvage wood from industry and some driftwood recovered from our rivers. It's still early on in theis project, but you can see the great flow between these artists already.










Nate Lucas is working on a couple projects here as he works to complete a coffee table for one client, and a set of oars for another client.












James Sichak has been working to create some new jewelry items, preparing for the regional festivals season, and working on Urban Tree Forge projects in addition to his collaboration with Olof Berner.

I have had a couple projects going on myself in the studio. First I started working on a branch section from the Smithfield East end Cemetery sycamore tree and have been working this into what may be deemed my version of Bench 2009.















With my second project, I had another great opportunity to demonstrate with the Children's Museum for two days, and used the time to get things moving forward on the Moon River headboard sculpture after a full year of drying. I am hoping to complete this as 3 Rivers, a sculpture, in time to submit it for consideration for the Pittsburgh Tech Council's June 15 Minute Gallery show... submissions are due in two more days!!! I wonder if this would be considered suitable as public art?
Still lots to do to get this one ready! Better get back to this or I won't have anything to submit regardless of what it is!

Urban Tree harvest

This...
Is City Wood!!

We spent the past couple weeks getting some of our store of logs milled for upcoming projects we will be workiing on over this summer. We have some amazing large sections and some unusually wonderful grain character showing up in much of our material that is just going to make for some beautiful and unique furnishings and some great millwork.

As you can see, these amazing 4/4 oak slabs are almost 24" across and are in excess of sixteen feet long. We have another similar to this over Nineteen feet long. We have more amazingly rich material that was returned to us from our beautiful city forest as well. We have enough oak here to provide in excess of 5000 square feet of oak hardwood flooring, and more on the way.


We also found some tremendous character. Check out this beautiful crotch material we uncovered in one of our oak logs...







And this great section of walnut is destined to become an awesome top for a buffet, coffee table or even a sculptural wall hinging as it has such tremendous grain character.








The trees from in our city are larger than most forest resources because we strive to keep our trees alive as long as we can, not for a sustained harvest or for logging purposes.

Rich Haviland our friend and sawyer has a little wrestling match here as he works to get one of our city logs onto the mill to be sawn.
With Rich Haviland there to help us load the milled material, we were able to deliver 5000 board feet of hardwoods to the kilns at Ritenour Lumber in just one day this week... What a long day that was! Two full truck loads of slabs and milled lumber for projects within our great city of Pittsburgh!




Our first load contained a whole stack of whole width slabbed oak trees that were cut 2 inches thick and are up to 40 inches wide. Two of these slabs are destined for a local Carnegie Library project and two others for a residential project in the Shadyside section of Pittsburgh. The rest of these amazing slabs are available for consideration for projects. The remainder of the load was all 8/4 (2 inch thick) milled lumber we intend to utilize for the manufacturing on doors and table slabs

Our second load was a tremendous mix of the material we milled with rich Haviland at his saw yard. We have some amazing walnut as well as some oak, maple, and another log of slabbed whole width oak. These slabs are also in excess of 36 inches wide...

Our city trees are just yielding some amazing material for us!! We are so fortunate to be in a position to utilize this often overlooked natural resource here within our community.

We had tho ask Paul and Buck at Ritenour Lumber to hang around a little after closing for us to get our second load to them. They were gracious and accommodating in working with us to help make our project work... Thanks folks!This is one piece of wood, not a pile of logs... interested?

Stay Tuned... There's More Happening!!

Sustainable opportunities

A Norway Visit

We made a short journey this weekend to meet with John and Barb D. in Natrona Heights to look at a couple trees that have to be removed from their yard. In the family for 3 generations, the required removals has the family saddened for their pending loss. The Urban Tree Forge would be honored to reclaim this beautiful older Norway maple for the gorgeous "City Wood" within for a piece of furniture. This wonderful "Cambridge Norway" has some tremendous character which will provide one of a kind slabs with amazingly unique lines. Certain to be a centerpiece in any home or office.
They also have a tall cedar in the back, the sister to which recently received a critical lightning strike bringing about it's early demise. There aren't too many cedars in our urban forest. This tall slender "Natrona cedar" has a number of possibilities for lumber, shelving, or millwork for any room you would like to have stand out from the crowd. Please consider these trees as possibilities for your next project or in your home.

While I was visiting with John and his family, I had the opportunity to take in the gloriously majestic elm lined Carlisle street in Natrona. This street is a cathedral of one hundred year old elms that invoke a humbling sense of spiritual grace. I highly recommend anyone traveling through the area take a few minutes to stop and behold the awe inspiring beauty that these trees add to their neighborhood. Congratulations to the forestry folks in Natrona for the wonderful care provided to keep these national treasures alive and healthy.
















Behold the Majestically spiritual grace of the American Elms that dwell here.

Moon Willow moving

Hey everyone, thanks for checking in.

Yesterday we milled and then moved Moon Willow to the Urban Tree Forge for fabrication. Lots of heavy lifting! I can hardly wait to get a forklift for the shop, and our jib crane installed... will make some of this less challenging... I hope.

Check the first picture as we prepare to slab our willow with an Alaska mill... That's a 5 foot bar on the Stihl sitting on the back of the truck. We needed it to be able to span the "Y" of our headboard. Then we decided to test the limits of the truck, not to mention the tolerance of our friend officer "Ed" over in Sewickley as we loaded the headboard onto the truck for delivery to the Urban Tree Forge. Wayne Blumling has been great to work with and ever patient as we utilized his yard for the first stages of this project. Thanks again Wayne!

Tomorrow we'll be on Washington Blvd... laying out the pieces for the bed and commencing with the fun part... making this come together...

Moon Willow Point:

Moon Willow Point... closer to reality today!!
Hey everyone,
Spent our Saturday afternoon with Wayne's Crane service getting some urban forest logs ready for a local sawyer, Rich Haviland to come mill them for us... We have 5 logs of oak from two trees for a potential flooring project and the willow is destined to become a bed with a sculptural headboard representing Pittsburgh's 3 rivers and point.
The great thing is between the oaks and the willow I should have enough revenue to plant at least 6 trees, maybe 8. Hopefully 2 street trees and the remainder in our parks or greenways.

In the morning I went to a local tree planting event as a tree tender volunteer representing Friends of the Pittsburgh urban Forest... The event was a Tree vitalize planting in conjunction with the Mt Washington CDC from what I understand.
Alas,... I soon learned the planting was to be Sunday and not Saturday. I spent a good hour or more looking before I found anyone. I found 2 members of the CDC getting mulch dropped off @ the site and learned I was a day early.
Since I wasn't able to be of service to these folks this day, I took a walk back into the scenic byway park and planted some seeds of my own:
I planted 6 oak acorns, 4 beechnuts, and a horse chestnut. I wanted some of these planted as a little something in remembrance of my brother Eric for his birthday. Happy Birthday Eric!!
I noticed our woods are in some dire straights!! I saw vines growing up many of the trees and I can see they cause much stress in our local forest. Many of the trees prevalent in our woods also seem to be of a very limited range of species. I think perhaps many species had been harvested in our city's younger days and have not recovered.... I sure hope that I can contribute to the recovery efforts...
More to come people, please stay tuned!!

everybody wants a log!

sycamore maple, sycamore oak...
Everybody wants a log!

Urban Tree Forge got to spend a couple days in Allegheny Cemetery this week working to recover some hardwood from our urban forest. We'd sure like to keep this material from becoming landfill.
Anybody need a table? A sculpture? A chair or a bed?
I also got some pieces for our sculptor friend Elvire Peake from The Clay Place to choose from for one of her sculptures... should become a nice collaborative effort and we'll be honored to be of assistance to such a wonderful Pittsburgh artist.
In addition I individually submitted some works for consideration for acceptance to the Craftmans Guild of Pittsburgh.... and as of Wednesday of this week... I Was Accepted!! Woooh!! Hooo!!