Orcas Island Tonewoods

11/01/2026

Yep...

10/27/2026

Still a lot of nice wood kicking around here...

"curly redwood" mandolins "archtop guitar" "sitka spruce" "engelmann spruce" ukulele hand-split billets western red cedar billets tonewood,

10/26/2026

I never thought I'd see a one-piece top from this tree... :-O
Yeah, there's wide uneven graining, but the wood of Eclipse Engelmann has everything I like in a mandolin top...
Hard to the fingernail, great split, and it just resonates like crazy...
This is a Matt Ruhland creation...just beautiful....
Kudos...

10/24/2026

Just killing me…
Violin/mandolin tops split out for shingles…

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19AzwjsFxE/?mibextid=wwXIfr

10/22/2026

Il Castagno dei 100 Cavalli,
Sant'Alfio,Ct.🌋

Sembra non ci sia niente di vivo in questa porzione di albero e probabilmente è così.
Sta di fatto che la scorsa stagione autunnale il Castagno abbia prodotto 550 kg di castagne, distribuite, praticamente in tutto il mondo,sia come frutto che sotto forma di pianticelle da parte di Alfio che da oltre 30 anni si dedica alla storia e salvaguardia del patriarca più famoso e tra i più visitati d'Italia.

Ricordiamo che è un albero monumentale d'Italia,il primo a livello europeo ad essere stato protetto da una legge di tutela (1745) e l'albero più antico d'Italia, sottoposto ad un esame scientifico che qualche anno fa ne ha decretato una età che parte dai 2200 anni.💪
🌳🌰💚
📷 Saro Sciuto '26
Anna Nicolodi .

10/21/2026

A nurse log is a fallen, decaying tree that provides a biological platform, moisture, and nutrients for new plant and tree seedlings to grow. Fungi and bacteria break down the wood’s structural lignin. Mosses and lichens colonize the surface, trapping moisture like a sponge. The decaying wood mixes with organic debris and animal s**t to form a nutrient-rich seedbed (humus). Seedlings grow above the dense leaf litter and ground-level shrubs, giving them better access to sunlight and reduce competition from forest-floor plants. Over 1,200 species—including saproxylic insects, salamanders, nesting birds, and small mammals—rely on dead wood for shelter or food.
Photo by Fred Breglia - Like and Follow for more 🌳🌲

10/10/2026

Zero in on those shingles...
Those are hand-split spruce shingles...i.e. violin tops.
Romania...
Over here in the States, we roof our houses with Western Red Cedar guitar tops...40 grains-per-inch....

10/10/2026

No fiddles in that one, either....

“The Octopus Tree” which is a huge Sitka spruce (Pice sitchensis), a 250 to 300 year old tree that lost its central trunk many years ago and has developed multiple large horizontal limbs reaching outward like tentacles. Over 14 feet across at the base (about 46 to 50 feet in circumference). Scientists and historians debate whether its unusual shape is the result of harsh coastal weather, strong winds, and salt spray, or deliberate training by local Indigenous peoples.
Photo by
The world’s largest Sitka spruce trees are featured in my new book entitled BIG TREES (A tour of the world’s biggest trees) now available for preorder everywhere you buy books. http://geni.us/BigTrees