It's an art - all I ever wanted to do, even though when I started this trade had the reputation of being a bunch of drunks. We never worked in wintertime back then. Now we're year-round, so you don't have to lay around and fight the urge to drink. People may assume old ways mean big-time expenses, but that's not necessarily so, said Hoffman. But the most adept crew can't fashion a first-growth, finely milled wood floor for the price of lesser woods or workmanship, said custom floor maker Bob Schmidt.
Virgin material is extremely hard to find.
Old-growth lumber exhibits rich coloring, intriguing mineral lines and sap streaks and numerous growth rings, he explained. Wooden choices Schmidt brokers his own deals for oak, maple, cherry, hickory and ash, with mills as near as the North Woods and as far away as South America. With environmental issues, the logging and timber industries operate similar to farming now - they rotate crops. Our industry is very concerned about reforestation so for every tree we harvest, up to 12 or 15 are planted. And we recycle.