I had been working in a lumberyard and hardware store for about a year, it was 1983. One day I went out to the lumberyard part to snoop around. I went way back into one of the lumber storage buildings and found a large pile covered with a dirty old canvas. When I removed the canvas, I found a bunch of old, dirty and dusty lumber.

When I started questioning and inquiring to the other employees about the lumber, no one knew very much about it, only that it had been there a very long time. One employee that had been working there for over 20 years said, " It had been there as long as he could remember." The next time the owner came into the store, I asked him about the pile. He said, "it was just odds and ends of different species of lumber from special orders for customers that they did not want." I asked him how much he wanted for the whole pile of lumber. He said, " $100.00." I bought it.

The owner had two yard men deliver it to my house. They just kind of threw it off the truck and made a sloppy pile. The pile was 6 foot high x 8 foot wide x 20 foot long. I sorted, counted it and stacked it neater. When all was said and done, I had over 400 board foot and 32 different species of exotic wood worth about $1000.00 in retail price for that day and age.

Those were the first 32 wood species of a wood collection that now exceeds 700! I periodically take the collection to schools and shop classes. Each piece is 3" x 6" x 1/2", specification size {International Wood Collectors Society}. I have cut each one from a larger piece of lumber and finished them.