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 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.

A quick note

Hey everyone,
We came across about 800 or 900 board feet of 4/4 material from Peters Township. We have a mix of oak, cherry, elm, and locust. Now there's an interesting looking floor!!? Anyone have any projects for this please let us know. Just came out of the kiln this week and ready to be used.
As always, first come...