Carlisle Wide Plank Floors
14 June 2011
“Not the Same Thing”
A few years ago I went to my local wood supplier in search of wood for a project and came across several Honduras Mahogany planks that were some fourteen inches wide. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven, simply because it’s just damned near impossible to get wood that wide anymore. I brought it home and have it still, waiting for the exactly right project to unleash the majesty of this wood.
Of course, non-wood workers may not understand how that sort of thing makes a heart like mine go pitter patter, but I am also running some photos in this blog that will better illustrate what I’m talking about. Because what we have here is even better than the wood I purchased. That was from a newly fallen tree. Many of the floorboards in these pictures are old growth lumber that has been repurposed. It is appalling to see the waste that so often constitutes lumber harvesting in this country, and by that I mean, not so much the harvesting, but what happens to trees once they’ve been cut down.
Plans change, especially those for entire cities, and the buildings that were built a century or two ago are sometimes demolished to make way for the new. They used to just trash the entire building, which is a most wasteful venture when one stops to consider the usable lumber and other items contained therein. Well, as I say, they do things a bit differently these days, and one of the companies that is leading the charge in this regard is Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. Their reclaimed flooring has a
chieved full FSC certifications for the chain of custody, meaning each board has been in its care from old building demolition to new customer purchase. They even provide a commemorative personalized portfolio that sets forth the history of the wood, which just has to be the ultimate conversation piece when you’re showing off your new floor!
Carlisle Wide Plank Floors is located back east, but they have a number of outlets across the country and are also in a number of showrooms. Those who are not near an outlet can simply make arrangements over the phone, which includes wood species, dimensions, quantity, and so forth. The wood is then shipped to your location. It’s the sort of thing that lends itself to do it yourself projects, because the work itself is not that outrageously difficult, and because they have fairly detailed instructions on their website.
What I like about their wood, of course, is simply the wood. A good share of the product that is available from Carlisle Wide Plank Floors is old growth wood, and is available in lumber as wide as twenty inches and as long as sixteen feet. What that means to a floor installation, though, is heaven itself pretty much. I have seen my share of typical, run-of-the-mill wood floors with three inch wide boards, and they’re fine. Truthfully, I don’t pay that much attentio
n to them, simply because a wood floor like that has very little soul. And I speak as one who simply cannot pass a piece of wood furniture without running my hands over it. In fact, if the opportunity presents itself, and the piece looks like it will reward that kind of inspection, I will open the drawers to see how well they’ve been fitted.
I’m not looking for a job, but I’m the kind of person Carlisle Wide Plank Floors likes to hire for their wood milling operations, because what they have is people who truly love wood. There’s a huge difference between a sawyer who punches a time clock and one who has a passion for the wood he’s sawing. The latter takes more than an interest in it; he is much concerned to insure that the wood product he produces is the absolute best available, and how wood is milled makes all the difference in the world.
But don’t take my word for it. Look at these photos. Now imagine them as typical, bland, three-inch wide planks. Really, it brings to mind the impassioned reply French writer and confirmed coffee addict Honore de Balzac made when told that the coffee he wanted right now would, instead, be arriving shortly. “But that’s not the same thing! I mean, it’s not the same thing at all!”
Joseph
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