You walk into our shop in Tulsa and the first thing you see is rows of hardwood. Domestic, imported, plywood, slabs, and the best finishing products on the shelf. It's a lot of wood. So most people are surprised to find out the wood is only part of what we do.
We help you turn boards into something. That can mean a quick cut so a 10-foot board fits in your sedan, full shop milling so you can skip straight to joinery, or us building the whole piece for you. Below are the three services we run day in and day out, and the questions we get asked about each of them most.
1. Quick Rough Cuts
The first service is the one we never get asked about ahead of time, because nobody knows it exists until they're trying to fit a beautiful 12-foot walnut board into a Camry. If you buy a board from us and it's too long, too wide or too unwieldy for the ride home, we'll cut it down to a haulable size before you leave.
It's not precision work. It's a "make this fit your truck bed" cut. If you need true, square, ready-for-joinery dimensions, that's a milling job. See the next section.
Will you cut my boards down to fit my car?
Yes, that's the whole point of this service. Drive up with a sedan, a hatchback or the back seat of an SUV, and we'll figure out how to get the wood home with you.
Do you charge for rough cuts?
Usually not. A quick cut or two to break a board down for transport is free. If the request turns into a long list of precise cuts, we'll let you know and walk you over to the milling conversation.
Should I call ahead?
No need for a single rough cut. If you've got a whole truckload, a call ahead means we can have someone ready for you when you pull up.
2. Full Milling
Where rough cuts end, milling begins. Full milling at our shop covers jointing, planing and custom dimension milling. Those are the three steps that take a rough board from "raw material" to "ready for the joinery you actually want to be doing."
Jointing flattens one face and squares one edge. Those are the reference surfaces every good build starts from. Planing brings the opposite face parallel so your stock is a consistent thickness. Custom dimension milling is everything after that: ripping to width, crosscutting to length and sending you home with parts that match a cut list.
A lot of weekend woodworkers come in, buy beautiful 4/4 walnut, take it home and remember they don't have a jointer or a thickness planer in the garage. Bring us the cut list and we'll close that gap for you.
Do I have to buy the wood from you to get it milled?
No. We'll mill lumber you bring in, as long as it's reasonably clean. No embedded nails, screws or staples. Metal kills planer blades and that's expensive for both of us.
What do I need to bring to get my lumber milled?
A cut list helps a lot. Even a rough one works. Something like "I need eight pieces at 24" x 4" x ¾" for a cutting board" is enough for us to work from. If you don't have a list yet, walk in anyway and we'll help you build one.
How long does milling usually take?
Most small jobs are same-day if the shop isn't slammed. Bigger jobs we schedule out. Either way we'll tell you up front what to expect. We're not into surprises.
3. Custom Projects
The last service is the one where you walk out empty-handed and we keep working. Custom projects means we build the finished piece for you. Dining tables, kitchen islands, cutting boards, conference room slabs, cornhole sets, signage, gifts. If it's made of hardwood and you can describe it to us, we can probably build it.
This is the work I love most. Working out of a Tulsa shop, building something that's going to outlive everyone in the conversation. I take it seriously and I like clients who do too.
Where do I start if I want a custom piece?
Easiest way: fill out the Custom Projects form on our website. Tell us what you're picturing, roughly how big, what species you have in mind (or ask us, we'll have opinions) and your timeline. We'll get back to you with questions and a ballpark.
Can you match wood to a piece I already have?
Often, yes. Bring us a photo or a small offcut and we'll show you what's in our racks. Spalted sycamore matches differently than canarywood matches differently than walnut. There's no one answer but we'll get you close.
How long does a custom build take?
A cutting board can be a couple of weeks. A dining table is usually four to eight, depending on what we're milling, drying and finishing. Slab pieces sometimes wait on the slab itself to be ready. We're honest about the timeline before we start.
Ready to get a service started?
The easiest way to talk through any of these is to come see us. The shop is at 8206 E 41st St, Tulsa, OK, and we're here Tuesday through Saturday. Or call us at 918-928-9792.
We'll see you in the shop.
-Andrew
