Where did you get this oak?
The farmer said, “Used whiskey barrels.”
The cabinet maker straightened.
“What distillery?”
“Mixed lot from a failed business.”
“How many?”
The farmer paused.
“Quite a few.”
The cabinet maker looked at the table again.
“Can I see them?”
They walked behind the barn.
The farmer opened the drying shed.
Then took him to the covered barrel rows.
The cabinet maker became very quiet.
He understood lumber.
He did not see trash.
He saw old-growth characteristics in some pieces.
Color.
Char.
Curvature.
History.
A material furniture customers could talk about.
He lifted one stave.
Looked at the blackened interior.
Turned it toward the light.
“How much?”
“For what?”
“Twelve barrels.”
The farmer had not expected the question so quickly.
The cabinet maker said, “Ninety-five dollars each.”
Twelve barrels at $95 would equal $1,140.
More money than the farmer had paid for all 1,140 barrels combined.
For several seconds, the farmer simply stared.
Then discipline replaced surprise.
He had made one good table.
One cabinet maker was interested.
That did not prove a market.
He said, “Take six.”
The cabinet maker frowned.
“I asked for twelve.”
“I heard you.”
“You have a thousand.”
“I have material I don’t fully understand yet.”
“I’m paying cash.”
“I know.”
“Then why six?”
“Because I want to know what happens after you use them.”
The cabinet maker smiled.
“You’re testing me.”
“I’m testing the wood.”
They agreed.
Six barrels left the farm.
The farmer wrote the sale in his notebook.
Buyer.
Date.
Barrels.
Condition.
Price.
Then he waited.
Several months later, the same cabinet maker returned.
This time he was not there for machinery.
“The pieces sold.”
The farmer nodded.
“What pieces?”
“Two tables. Cabinet doors. A small bar top.”
“No trouble?”
“None.”
“Warping?”
“No.”
“Cracking?”
“No.”
The cabinet maker looked toward the drying shed.
“I want thirty.”
“How much?”
“One twenty-five each.”
The farmer did the calculation.
$3,750.
He thought about the next mortgage payment.
Then about the drying schedule.
He did not sell everything the man wanted immediately.
He chose only material he trusted.
That was the beginning.
Word moved through woodworking circles more quickly than the farmer expected.
Craftsmen talk.
Especially when they find unusual material that gives their finished work a story.
A cabinet maker in Columbus told someone in Dayton.
A furniture builder told a craftsman in Indiana.
Then Kentucky.
Then Pennsylvania.
Buyers came to the farm.
Some wanted whole barrels.
Some wanted selected staves.