Where do you get such wide walnut boards?

[Larry]

A 18" diameter top on a Shaker candle stand I completed last week.

I had to tell the truth. My board was at best 1c or a lower grade. I'm far to cheap to use those wide boards in my projects.

I did take the question as a complement and went on to explain grain matching. I get irritated when I see these big tables with huge price tags and the maker made no attempt to match the grain.

[thecfarm]

Another fine looking project!!!!

[customsawyer]

It looks to me like you did a fine job matching the grain and deserve the compliment. Beautiful piece. 

[Jeff]

Nice!

[Machinebuilder]

Larry, it looks great, as your work does all the time.

Many of us would have spun a tale about the highly valuable walnut in a former fence line in a city backyard.

[scsmith42]

Larry, your craftsmanship is exquisite!  Very well done sir.

Like you, I'm a big fan of grain matching.  It really makes a difference in the quality of the finished piece, IMO

Scott

[jpassardi]

I agree completely, the funny thing is 95% of people wouldn't notice unless it was pointed out to them...

[Resonator]

Nicely done!

Grain matching is an art, I worked with a guy years ago they called "Splinter Patcher". He would fix defects in high end doors and you'd never know where the defect was. Having all the pieces cut from the same board, or boards cut from the same log, stacks the odds in your favor.

[Larry]

Having all the pieces cut from the same board, or boards cut from the same log, stacks the odds in your favor.

That's a advantage us small guys have over the big boys. When I slab, each slab gets a number so book matches are easy. With grade lumber I'll color code the log ends on the bigger quality logs. Small logs I don't mark, but still try to avoid shuffling around the lumber so a good chance of getting lumber from the same tree.

[tule peak timber]

On the NNRH job back a couple of years ago I had to end match, grain match, color match, a 7000 square foot curved wall with walnut. Each joint had to be video documented and passed by the "committee " before packing for shipment to the job site. Knots, what are you kidding....