Lots of ash for a future workbench

Continuing the recent theme of lumber aqcuisitions, here's one from a couple of years ago that I never posted. I forget how many board feet of ash I got, but I remember that I figured out it was about 400 Lbs.

Not a bad haul

shorter, wider boards will become legs

 I'm planning to build a Roubo-style bench once I finish some other projects. I was pretty impressed at the massive selection at Highland Hardwoods in Brentwood, NH (no affiliation). They didn't mind me picking through the pile for about an hour to find all the right widths. There were other choices in the running, but the emerald ash borer may have made my decision for me, as I ultimately could not resist this ash at less than $2 per board-foot and few flaws. Certainly a nice species for a workbench. 

The 7' lengths after arriving in my shop. Yeah, that looks like enough for a workbench top.

Visiting the lumberyard is more fun with a friend

Today I took my friend Frank on an exploratory mission to figure out what type of wood we might want to build a rather odd portable bar. We ended up finding a nice purpleheart board 12" wide and 17' long at Anderson Mcquaid (no affiliation) in Cambridge, MA. I had no idea those kind of sizes were even available, but we found it reasonably affordable. I always like my trips to lumberyards enough to prolong them, but even more so with a friend along.

Scott: "We must look like a couple of yahoos right now."
Frank: "Scott, we're using this lumber to build a purple and yellow glow-in-the-dark bar-top to bring to [...]. We *are* yahoos."

OK, readers, I'm heading back down to the workshop. Don't forget to smile.