I wanted a specific wood for a gift. This wood comes from the Pacific Northwest, so I couldn't exactly drive over to the store and pick some up. And the folks at Case responded "Never heard of that", so no help there.

Then I found https://www.ancestree.io/

It's a service that allows lumber providers to find buyers for their products, often recovered from trees that had to be taken down (so, yay for not wasting it). It's sort of like "Etsy, but for planks".

I paid more for the shipping than I did the wood, but I'm getting the piece of wood that I want. I got connected to a local guy in the PNW, we exchanged some emails, he made a cut (that I would have made) to resize it so we could lower the high shipping cost. A very pleasant, if expensive, experience.

It's only one data point, but…

I'm a new Woodchick and just have to say, I am so appreciative of our instructors and everyone I've met in the shop!

Taken from the June 2024 Plank article by Mike Thomas:

The Guild Board of Directors awards Privilege Cards (P-Cards) to members who volunteer in managerial or other Board identified positions. A P-Card holding member may use the shop on off hours IF TWO OR MORE P-CARD MEMBERS ARE PRESENT AND ONE OF THEM ASSUMES THE RED APRON ROLE.

You can obtain a P-Card by first speaking to any Board member. You/They will identify the area that you are interested

in volunteering (Shop Management, Cluster Instruction, Advanced Instruction, Other). The Board member will direct you to the Board Director that is responsible for the area that you choose. You will discuss your interest with the Board

Director, and they will lay out a training path for you to follow. They will provide a document to record your training

taken. Once you complete the training, return the training record to the Board…