The Hunt for Red Oak-tober...or Grey Ash, or Black Walnut...

I stepped over my first cattle guard today.
The prize on the other side?
WOOD BABY!

Meet Glenn Beck (really, that's his name, awesome, right?)
Mule Skinner, Doggie Lover, Chicken Owner, Mill Worker, Furniture Maker, and nicest guy ever!

Does the lumber in all of these piles look the same to you?
It did to me at first, too!
Everything is weathered, so it has that lovely crusty gray, aged look on the outside, but once it is planed or hit with a sander (or pocket knife), the look completely changes.
My plan is to use a belt sander to lightly sand down some of "the woods" off my wood, but only enough to reveal the beauty hiding underneath. I like the character of weathered wood.
Can't see the beauty hiding underneath? You will when my table is done!

Pictured above by Glenn: Cherry...those planks were 2 inches thick and SO HEAVY! I would LOVE to have a chopping block made from one of those fat boards. I might buy one and make a set of benches. Cherry is so pretty, and SO expensive to purchase in planks (if you can even find them) from a hardware store. I think these are just TOO fat for my table top, though.

Black Walnut I really wish I had taken photos of some of the furniture he has made with this. BEAUTIFUL. Black Walnut is dense enough that if left outside on the dirt for like a zillion years, only 1/8 of an inch would deteriorate. A table made from these bad boys would be around for generations (should my children fall in love with it the way I will. If not, well then when I've passed on they can rip it apart and fashion me a reclaimed coffin that will rot slower than I will.) I had pretty much made up my mind that I would be using this for my table, but then I saw the ash...

Ash-notice the light spots? That is what is hiding beneath the weathered layer. I can sand as much as I want off, or leave it looking old and crusty. How will I ever decide?! I originally was turned off from ash because it is SO light, and I thought it was too soft of a wood. Turns out that Ash is a harder wood than pine...which is what I would have purchased from Lowe's (for more $).
Cedar-obviously, this was recently planed and I would have to "weather" it myself. Isn't it beautiful? Glenn had just finished a table and chairs made from this wood and it was really cool.

I couldn't make up my mind, so I decided to wait, think about it for a few days, and go back with my mind made up and the trailer ready to load.

I DID come home with a dozen farm fresh eggs, though.
Omelets coming right up.