Western Maple Wow

   As a young man trying to learn how to run a sawmill, I had the good fortune of having a number of experienced sawyers offer to show me what they knew.  A couple years before I started Zena Forest products, I was 23 years old, and I went to work for a man named Rod Jacobs, sawing highly figured Maple.  The end users of the wood we were sawing were primarily guitar makers.  This was a wonderful crash course in the art of sawing, and there was little room for error.  I learned a ton in that first year, and I was fortunate that Rod was willing to continue to work closely with me for many years once I started my own sawmill.

   I recently caught up with Rod, who is still sawing for guitar makers.  He sent me these pictures from the NAMM show in Anaheim of some Martin guitars featuring Oregon Maple that he had recently sawn.  

   I will let the pictures speak for themselves.