I got to visit Texas Kiln Products Direct Mill!
This is a business that I am pleased to support!
Nice friendly Service,
Finished Goods, large and small.
They have lovely wood too!
For all of those who envy us our mesquite, osage, pecan and juniper (we call it cedar,) never fear, they will be happy to ship you some.
Bob
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Hello Bob;
So the difference between them and other local mills is that they also kiln dry their lumber. I noticed on the webpage that they have an email request link for current pricing – but they do not keep a page up with pricing on it.
Did you notice whether their kiln-dried prices were much higher than the local mills without kiln dry????
Thanks!
Skip
You are always welcome, Skip! The prices are quite reasonable. I purchased several magnificent chunks of wood, and I am poor and cheap. In this case their wood is planed smooth, straight, and with large clear regions. They also have a few barrels of turning blanks, that I was unable to resist picking a few lovely sections from. No digging, the barrels are chock full of great sections of wood. I also loved the range, they had light toned mesquite, very dark mesquite and extraordinarily large sections of mesquite. I also got a lovely chunk of pecan that I am looking forward to using.
Bob
Excellent report Bob!
You know I am a sucker for Texas native species… I don’t know what will happen to me if I get hooked on kiln-dried stock! I am in the midst of a major handle rehab overhaul on all my tools, and will eventually work thru my little bit of mesquite stock. While all of my dogs will use the pallet-wood white oak (probably post oak) I have for handles; I want to stay with mesquite for the good ones…. Based on your report, I’ll give kiln-dried mesquite a try next time to see if I notice an improvement. And the idea of having a set of tools in light color and a different set in dark color is interesting I must say….
Of course, I have those bodark limbs drying out from Ike damage last year; I’ll try them for handles eventually too….
Do you know if these guys stock quartersawn mesquite? I’m thinking of using it to make a set of hollows and rounds. May be a bit hard, but I think it would be wonderful to use a native Texas wood to make my molding planes!
Thanks…
Quartersawn mesquite is not really a big issue. Mesquite shrinks and grows in all directions pretty much the same. So for expansion it is not an issue. A lot of mesquite is more like burl than anything else. That said I have gotten nice chunks from them that would count as quartersawn.
Bob
Hey Bob,
Thanks for the great report. I will certainly look at this place for some material for my projects.
Thanks…
Darrell