Family Business

When it comes to gathering and using sticks, I have a new role model. You've heard the phrase, "busy as a beaver." This should give you a better idea what that means.

A Canadian cartographer has located the longest beaver dam ever found in Northern Alberta. Using a systematic search of Google Earth coupled with knowledge of beaver habitat, he found a dam that measures 2,790 feet long. The dam has been at this location for at least 15 years, and he believes it must be the work of at least two beaver families.


When I cut sticks for rustic furniture, I may or may not go to the woods alone. But I definitely get help from my wife to move all those sticks up the ladder to the loft in our metal pole barn. Then I stack the sticks so they get good air circulation while they season. Seasoning, or drying, takes about a year per inch of diameter.

Seasoning before construction avoids problems with shrinkage in the joints after construction. That's important in the kind of mortise-and-tenon joinery I use in my rustic furniture.

I was feeling pretty good about my inventory of seasoned sticks. You can't see it from a satellite, though, so I guess it's time for me to get busy.