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Myrtlewood story

old_heli_logger

old_heli_logger

Gold $$ Contributor
I've sold a few gunstock blanks in the classified ads and several people are asking where they came from...so here's the story.
Back in the early 60's my cousin, his dad and his grandpa built a sawmill here in Ophir Oregon. They supplied all the myrtlewood shops up and down the coast. He sold a bunch of stock blanks to Cecil in Las Vegas and he kept a fair share for his own 'retirement.' I post a few for sale once in a while, please contact me if you're interested in any. Here's a short video of the old mill in action:
 
old_heli_logger said:
I've sold a few gunstock blanks in the classified ads and several people are asking where they came from...so here's the story.
Back in the early 60's my cousin, his dad and his grandpa built a sawmill here in Ophir Oregon. They supplied all the myrtlewood shops up and down the coast. He sold a bunch of stock blanks to Cecil in Las Vegas and he kept a fair share for his own 'retirement.' I post a few for sale once in a while, please contact me if you're interested in any. Here's a short video of the old mill in action:
Click to expand...
That is cool to say the least, what beautiful wood. How do you dry it?
 
Great story and i loved the video!! Beautiful wood ! My great grandfather had a steam powered sawmill in Tennessee and cut lumber for many years. Two brothers from our family moved from Tennessee many years ago and settled in Oregon. They both started out felling trees, my dad went out west and stopped in the little town they both live in hoping to meet them. Heb asked at a little lunch spot if the waitress knew them, and she did. she told mom and dad to have a seat and they would be in for lunch in a few minutes. Thay all had lunch together after not having seen them for many, many years.
 
ebb said:
Great story and i loved the video!! Beautiful wood ! My great grandfather had a steam powered sawmill in Tennessee and cut lumber for many years. Two brothers from our family moved from Tennessee many years ago and settled in Oregon. They both started out felling trees, my dad went out west and stopped in the little town they both live in hoping to meet them. Heb asked at a little lunch spot if the waitress knew them, and she did. she told mom and dad to have a seat and they would be in for lunch in a few minutes. Thay all had lunch together after not having seen them for many, many years.
Click to expand...
That's a great story!!! Do you know the name of the little town in Oregon where they had lunch?
 
No and dad has passed away. He said that when they first moved to Oregon both brothers were cutting trees, but one of them soon started cutting the tops out of the trees but the other had no interest in climbing the trees. When dad meet them one was running a timber cutting crew and the other was doing something with a crew making plywood. Ill see if my brother remembers that town.
 
You guys have me getting nostalgic! I grew up on a small farm in SE Pennsylvania. There was a guy across the road that had a junk yard and ran a saw mill. He was “up from Tennessee “ as he used to say. His name was Roy Nance. As a kid, I spent a lot of time playing around the old cars, watching him cut wood and teasing his hogs.
I trapped the local ponds for muskrat pelts to add to the family income and Roy loved to get some extra carcasses to make Muskrat stew. Back then, neighbors helped out neighbors.
We cut a lot of firewood to burn and sell. When we came across a Walnut tree, we’d take the logs to Roy and he’d cut them up. Fifty years later, I still have some of that Walnut and use it to make my gun stocks. It may not be the prettiest wood but it sure takes me back when I work with it.
 
Awesome post and video!

Grew up in western WA and worked for an ice company in Tacoma. One of my many jobs there included making deliveries to coastal towns when logging and pulp mills were still in full force. I remember driving south on I-5 and seeing logging trucks heading north with 3 - 4 logs on the trailer, occasionally there'd be a truck with just one log.
 
I am in southern Oregon. I spoke to an old fellow a few years back in Cave Junction area who told me he has about a 1000 myrtlewood ( california laurel or pepperwood) stock blanks in his barn. Has had them aging for decades. I know a fellow in Eugene who makes those stocks and checked out a few. Pretty but I remember them being very heavy. There is nothing rare about the tree other than being in southern Oregon, which is its upper range. Most of it was cut out for firewood and lumber yrs ago. I still burn it today. Oregon coast tourist traps started selling carved bowls etc years ago. The claim was it 'only grew here and in the holy land'!
 
tesoro said:
I am in southern Oregon. I spoke to an old fellow a few years back in Cave Junction area who told me he has about a 1000 myrtlewood ( california laurel or pepperwood) stock blanks in his barn. Has had them aging for decades. I know a fellow in Eugene who makes those stocks and checked out a few. Pretty but I remember them being very heavy. There is nothing rare about the tree other than being in southern Oregon, which is its upper range. Most of it was cut out for firewood and lumber yrs ago. I still burn it today. Oregon coast tourist traps started selling carved bowls etc years ago. The claim was it 'only grew here and in the holy land'!
Click to expand...
Myrtle wood factory in Kerby burned up a month or so ago.
I've got a pile of silver madrone out back that needs hauled off if your needing some fire wood.
 
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