Cape Fear Riverwood : Reclaimed and Salvaged Hardwoods and Lumber

Ned Leary Photography

2010-04-28T05:43:00.001-07:00

Our friend Ned at Ned Leary Photography has posted some saw milling pictures. He took these at one of his visits to Cape Fear River Wood Products. Be sure to drop by Neds shop to check out his cool pictures and frames.

http://www.nedleary.com/2010/04/25/the-butcher/

Ballister Blanks

2010-04-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

We are cutting ballister blanks from antique heart pine. They will be sent to a turning opperation, and then to our customers house for installation.

Vertical Grain Heart Pine

2010-04-10T08:18:00.001-07:00

The week before last, we finished sawing an order of vertical grain antique heart pine. It is now in the kiln drying. We will mill it into flooring and then grade to the customers specifications. Vertical grain flooring does not have the "cathedral" shaped grain found in plain sawn wood. A hundred plus years ago, this would be the typical floor in the most elegant of southern homes.

More Logs...

2010-03-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

We are bringing more logs from the river.

More Timber Frame Photos

2010-03-04T05:42:00.000-08:00

We started with the 10 outside posts yesterday. There are lots of mortises, but nothing too difficult.

This is the top of an outside post.

This is the bottom of a rafter. The tennon shown here will join with the top of the post shown above.

Before and After

2010-02-11T11:18:00.001-08:00

The raw beams for the timberframe arrived December 10th....

Timberframe Underway!

2010-01-28T07:15:00.000-08:00

Jesse and the whole CFRW family have been busy with chisels and mallets. We are building a Timberframe barn to be raised in central North Carolina this spring.

All the Southern yellow pine beams are currently being cut and organized in our mill. Then it will take just a few days to put together this 256 piece jigsaw puzzle to form a two story barn.

As I sit here in the heated office typing, Jesse is in the 50 degree mill cutting dovetails on what will be floor joists. More updates and photos to come!

Coastal Living Show April 18-19th and Earthday April 18th

2009-04-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

Come see us!
Cape Fear Riverwood is participating in the Coastal Living show in downtown Wilmington Saturday and Sunday April 18th and 19th. See link below for more info... admission is only $5.
http://www.wilmingtonwomansclub.com/
We will have a full show floor, cabinet, countertop, and samples of all our offerings.

We will also have a table at the Lower Cape Fear Earthday Celebration in Hugh MacRae park on Saturday April 18th. It is a free event with live music, earth-friendly displays and most importantly food and drinks!
http://www.wilmingtonearthday.com/index.html

Cape Fear River Wood Meets the Public!

2009-02-24T09:12:00.000-08:00

Last week, Cape Fear River Wood Products was asked to speak to residents and at Lake Shore Commons in Wilmington (http://www.lakeshorecommons.com/) . Local citizens we also invited to attend. Anna Jarrell represented the company with a talk about the history of the Cape Fear River, the process of heart pine recovery, and the products that are made from the recovered logs. Special emphasis was given to the green business practices utilized by Cape Fear River Wood Products, such as using reclaimed "lost" raw materials, recycling used timbers from demolished buildings, reducing waste by using scrap for butcher block products, and recycling our sawdust for use by farmers for horse bedding. About 25 people took part in the question and answer period that followed. Anna said it was a pleasure to speak to so many people interested in both local history and environmental stewardship. We thank the community of Lake Shore Commons for inviting us to speak and share.

Cape Fear River Wood goes to Charleston!

2009-01-20T11:47:00.000-08:00

We're going to Charleston! This weekend, January 23rd through the 25th, Cape Fear River Wood is excited to announce that we are exhibiting our products at the Charleston Home & Design Show (see http://www.charlestonhomeanddesignshow.com/ ). The venue is the Gaillard Auditorium in beautiful downtown Charleston, SC. Jesse has been busy building a new display showcasing a variety of woods including river recovered and building recovered heart pine floors, as well as hardwoods such as maple, ash, oak, hickory, and walnut. His crew has built a beautiful new custom cabinet with a butcherblock top. It is a real masterpiece!

The whole family is going to staff the booth, including owner Jesse, owner/wife Anna, and the in-laws. We are all looking forward to schmoozing with the architects and builders for all the fabulous coastal developments in the area as well as talking to individuals who want to learn more about recovered woods. We do love to talk about our environmentally friendly products.

Want to go? We have a few free tickets available on a first come, first serve basis. Give us a call at 910-371-0388, plan to pick them up at our plant in Navassa, NC.

By the way, its snowing! The several hundred old logs we harvested from the Cape Fear River are covered with a beautiful layer of white powder. Whodathunkit?

FSC certified!

2008-12-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

After many months of work, Cape Fear River Wood Products, LLC is proud to announce that it is Forest Stewardship Council certified! (Chain of Custody# SCS-COC-001897)
FSC is an independent, not for profit, non-government organization whose mission is to support environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests. For more info on FSC go to http://www.fscus.org/ .
FSC woods contribute points to common green building programs such as LEED, Healthy Built Homes, and the NAHB Green Building Program. Cape Fear Riverwood's recovered products are now available as "FSC Recycled". We are also sourcing a variety of hardwoods including but not limited to oak, hickory, ash, and walnut which are "FSC 100%".
Since we are a full scale milling facility we can mill any of these woods into flooring, paneling, trim, etc.
Call us for your next GREEN building project!

Welcome to Cape Fear Riverwood

2008-09-12T07:44:00.001-07:00

When North Carolina was first settled in the 1600’s, the land was dense with long leaf pine and cypress trees. They grew slowly - taking about 200 years to mature. The result was heart pine that had a unique character and beauty. The colony went to work cutting the timber and floating it down the Cape Fear River to the sawmills in the port city of Wilmington. At one point there were as many as 50 sawmills in a 30 mile stretch of river. Due to its slow growth, the timber was strong and durable. It was used to build boats, buildings, and homes. King George III claimed the largest trees within 3 miles of the Atlantic for himself. As a result heart pine became known as “the king’s wood.”

As the logs floated down the river or waited in holding pens near the mills, the densest ones would sink. The loggers did not have a way to retrieve the “sinkers” or a reason to do so with the abundant supply of logs. As the virgin forests dried up in the 1900’s and the sawmills disassembled, the sinkers were forgotten and preserved under the mud of the riverbed… until today.

With a little historical research, sonar technology, and permits from North Carolina Government agencies, we are now able to retrieve the preserved logs. Our trained log-recovery team brings them up to a surface they have not seen in 100 years or more. Then we take them to our mill just outside of Wilmington to prepare wood flooring, paneling, butcher block countertops, and mantelpieces.

The wood that we recover is the same as that still walked on in Mt. Vernon, Monticello, and other early American historical sites. It has the same strength, color, and beauty - but without the 200 year wait. Bringing the unparalleled beauty of t his unique wood and the rich history that goes with it to our customers is only part of our mission. Our other aim is to encourage and respect our environment. Cape Fear Riverwood^TM only reclaims felled wood logs and antique lumber from existing structures (such as barns or buildings set to be torn down). See more under Go Green! Once you have walked on a Riverwood floor, you will be in love with its history and beauty.