Sourcing & Milling The Best White Oak in the World took me all the way to Germany

[@EricStockfleth1]

I love people that take pride in their work while respecting what goes into putting out quality lumber.

[@vesterchampify]

Simple put, an amazing look behind the scenes of white oak. What a treat it would be to walk the forest before these trees fall.

[@NSBuilders]

It’s a special moment

[@edovansanten]

Just wow, thank you for sharing this, Nick. Highly appreciated!.

[@NSBuilders]

You’re so very welcome

[@CurtiMado]

Unbelievably cool tour. Love seeing when multiple talented people put their heads together over top tier projects like this.

[@ColeSpolaric]

I normally don't like videos this long, but you guys managed to keep everything on point. That's credit to everyone involved in making this video.

[@NSBuilders]

Thanks Cole

[@dougsherman1562]

Excellent video guys. Thank you for showing us how high quality woodwork is done in 2024.

[@jamesw8804]

Not many build with this kind of perfection and detail.

[@NSBuilders]

Hoping to help change that

[@koenraadprincen7212]

And now, the game is on, to copy that look for cheap 😛

[@bevelcarpentry]

Awesome video Nick and co. Great insight into high end thoughtful timber production. House is going to be incredible.

[@wearedahlin7103]

Now to convince my the people I work with to let me source this material. I see Madera has a LA location. One of the biggest issues I find with making white oak woodwork interiors is the different shades. It always ends up on the finisher to blend everything. I would be so happy to find a nice cohesive batch of material for an entire project (panels and lumber for cabinets). Thank you for this amazing video! Truly taking it to the next level, what an inspiration!

[@idontthinkso666]

I didn't think I would be interested in an hour conversation on this topic, but I was wrong. Very interesting video.

[@gregoryguitars6291]

This is cool. I was working for a wood importer right after the 2008 recession. We supplies wood to a banker that had been bailed out. We went to France to source brown oak logs, to make 20' beams, clear of knots. I love that people appreciate top quality timber and the beauty that beholds it.

[@ingmar1107]

Wow! Thank you for sharing this insight, and the clearity in which you captured and related all the intricate steps needed to get a truley stunning end result.

[@stephenmurray4916]

Great video. Looking forward to following this project along

[@dougreichard8826]

Awesome episode, my only complaint I wish you had more episodes more quickly. Love your channel it is on par with this old house. Love the details👏

[@greensidedesignbuild3469]

Impressive. Those are going to be some kick ass vaylances.

[@dougscott9524]

Worked with wood all my life but not at the scale that you are, I'm just a one man shop building and repairing furniture in Michigan. Beautiful work ! Thanks for the tour.

[@adamallen8863]

This is awesome❤

[@suleymansekman2697]

Awesome! Thank you all! cheers!

[@jamesbull6836]

awesome look into the process....thank you for sharing the knowledge !

[@WorldWideWillem-360]

Building a small cabin in Nova Scotia of 200 sqft we wanted to put in an oak floor. Didn't have to be white oak (I love it, we have it in our main house) and being a cabin a little rugged was OK. Now by chance our neighbor across the road was all his life cutting red oak trees (from Quebec) into small slats for the bottom of lobster traps. Per year he was cutting at least a hundred trees on his saw mill, that was his living. Chatting with him, he was able to get us 1x8 inch red oak boards and after some debate both of us agreed that the best way to prevent warping etc. would be to glue and nail them to the sub-floor within a week after he had cut them. But remember, the trees as a whole had been in his yard for over a year. And probably they were even older than that. Five years later now, the boards have shrunk a bit but no warping whatsoever. Of course we had to talk money too, which was an easy discussion, we simply paid him one and and a half times what he was asking :-). Still, we spent for a one inch oak floor only two CAD (~ 1.3 USD) per square foot. That is cheaper than buying plastic laminate at Home Depot or IKEA !!! So, when I see in the video that to improve yield the white oak is cut to 3 mm thickness, I really start laughing. We had a cheap floor and my neighbor had a great deal, everybody happy.

[@GillesVanpoucke]

Truly inspirational video! It shows a lot of respect to the material, nature in general, and craftmanship!

[@NSBuilders]

Glad we could portray that in this video.

[@koenraadprincen7212]

_"Respect to the material, nature in general"_ ...I don't know, but if you look at 29:30 it becomes very much "man made"... I can understand the glueing of the cracks, but replacing the knots with _"better looking knots"_ , huh? They turned the oak in some kind of _triplex_ (plywood with 3 plies).

[@aristosandreou267]

Amazing!

[@WoodworkingTop535]

I like your videos, thanks

[@theferallife8812]

😂 They're exhausting their words trying to hype up veneers, but American solid quarter-sawn white oak remains unmatched!

[@tommooe4524]

@@theferallife8812 100% correct

[@johnm.515]

From Missouri.

[@pangrac1]

Till it craks. 🤷‍♂️

[@creylacoste4981]

Did you not hear hear him say quarter sawn

[@slewp]

great video super facinating. wewd is the best

[@westvanman1]

Wow!

[@sheikhkhalid5969]

What kind of oil do you put on at the end of the finish line?

[@tylerholthouse9359]

I love that the German sawmill guy is wearing lederhosen!

[@NSBuilders]

Perfect outfit

[@koenraadprincen7212]

Too bad his English is that good, I'm missing the German accent ;-)

[@tylerholthouse9359]

@@koenraadprincen7212 Right! Pretty much all Germans can speak perfect English.

[@behemothokun]

in Bavaria it isnt unusual for people to wear traditional ethnic clothing, especially to work. Some trade in Germany also have their own traditional work clothes, like carpenters

[@tylerholthouse9359]

@@behemothokun thanks for sharing that.

[@jonesconrad1]

when that log flips over at about 6:00 in beautiful

[@pangrac1]

43:00 You can get same quality in Japan, they groom trees for centuries. They even add texture to the trees during grow.

[@Skylyned]

Nico takes his lederhosen seriously

[@NSBuilders]

Very

[@sheikhkhalid5969]

Absolutely love those spacers, made in Austria you said?😁

[@enzo1406]

"Sticker" not "sticking" FYI, even though that is counter intuitive. But super cool process, a lot of american mills can learn from. Proper drying methods really escapes many american mills in the interest of speed, convenience, and I suppose profit. Thanks for making the video.

[@marcuscicero9587]

looks like the Cadillac of lumber

[@strawberriebabieex3]

great presentation. it is nice to see somewhere in the world high standards for building materials are still maintained. and lucky, we can at least import those products to here in the US. i get concerned about the super thin veneer products from China, including stone, that are filled with a plastic inner core that will not last and pose a risk during a fire. thanks for posting.

[@sheikhkhalid5969]

Fancy housing is where you lost me 😁

[@paulweakley3440]

I wouldn't say 'You can't find these type of logs in North America'... I can show you several sawmills in southern Indiana / Southern Ohio / Northern Kentucky that have that quality of white oak or better.

[@koenraadprincen7212]

But it's also about the rest of process... sawing, kiln drying, dyeing, repairing, glueing up, etc. Maybe this video will help to promote using red or white oak in the US as is currently done in Germany?

[@NSBuilders]

Show me where I can source this material in the lengths they have and I’ll eat my words

[@paulweakley3440]

@helmsburgsawmill could point you in the right direction better than me. My property has 50-60 90+’ white oaks with first defect around 30’-40’. Additionally the Navy maintains hundreds of acres of white oak forests in Indiana specifically for future harvest for the uss constitution. There are a TON of good sawmills that do the lengths you are looking for and an over abundance white oaks in the Ohio river valley. I’m not an expert but to say ‘these quality of logs don’t exist in North America’ is silly. The us government alone has been managing oak forest longer than 100 years.

[@paulweakley3440]

@@NSBuilders see above message but tbh - if you want to come visit I’ll host you in my house. I have a large guest bedroom and live close to a ton of sawmills you could tour (1-5 hour drive). I promise our white oak is equal to or better than french… without the pomp and circumstance

[@sergeyb8]

Sounds like they picked this vendor not just because of the length but the overall package... Wood quality, length, finish, fabrication, customization. And I'm sure French Sourced Oak Milled In Germany will read 'cooler" on the sales brachure

[@kurtallen8754]

Why did you select a spruce mid layer rather than plywood which may or may not have more stability?

[@koenraadprincen7212]

I think the proposed build up (26:05 oak - spruce - oak) is choosen to have enough wood in the middle for the "Lamello Tenso"-connection system (to make a "beam" 37:07).

[@robertwilliams2623]

All trees are different from each other because of country or state even county . Spent most my life with chin saw in my hands .

[@sheikhkhalid5969]

Kiln drying lumber, which has color, like pith/heartwood Walnut or Madrone, or various oaks will alter the natural color of the wood. White oak dried in a kiln might be somewhat forgiving.

[@zvotaisvfi8678]

louisiana water oak is probably stronger just putting that out there !

[@zvotaisvfi8678]

yeah. all you nerds need to source some louisiana water oak. literally. stuff is going to blow your mind. Seal it while its still fresh... like within 6-8 months of cutting the logs. stuff is mind bogglingly strong.

[@raystormont]

It's made as perfect and consistant as possible with today's tech. and not real/natural all at the same time! Nature does not produce anything close even the growth is managed decades before logs/timber is felled amazing. What's cost at jobsite per piece for this spec. product? Ray

[@sheikhkhalid5969]

Guy in the white shirt knows the look of finished flatwood, within 1 square foot, under clear varnish.....it is often punctuated with translucence.

[@JustinTBowen]

Go to Germany for French logs?

[@NSBuilders]

France is just West, and thats where they are logged, Bavaria is where they mill the product.

[@koenraadprincen7212]

France is very known for their white oak forrests.

[@millennialcarpenter1784]

is that RIFT sawn?

[@NSBuilders]

Flat sawn

[@karlmckinnell2635]

I don’t think I have seen a more complimentary group working in collaboration on a project. Hard to emphasize how important this is to the outcome of said project.

[@NSBuilders]

Thank you 😊

[@thomervin7450]

This white oak is nice. I prefer quercus alba though. Quarter or rift sawn. Plain sawn or live sawn is kinda ugly.

[@charles17508]

Wow germans came to us and cut all of our white oak down and now its in there country

[@that1thickpugg738]

Fresh cut meat ❌ Fresh cut wood ✅

[@Skylyned]

@@that1thickpugg738 Fresh cut meat ✅ Fresh cut wood ✅

[@yehudagoldberg6400]

remind me again, is this a spec build??!!?

[@NSBuilders]

"Spec"

[@dennisneale142]

The saddest thing is when the trees are gone that’s it. All that’s left is tables and chairs.

[@NSBuilders]

Trees are continuously planted and regrow. It’s the circle of life

[@lenhowl]

Very cool.

[@troyqueen9503]

Wood envy.😂😂

[@JeremeyHowlett]

I think governments around the world need to be more proactive at replanting Forrest. Especially in the United States.

[@weewillywanka5904]

Is Nico wearing leiderhosen?

[@anywherebc23]

You know your house is to expensive when you have the cost of sending 3 people to Germany for a tour built in to the cost.. haha

[@koenraadprincen7212]

This is for Nick's own house, so we must be thankful for his visit to Germany and his video(s)!

[@markcors949]

IMO, Whiskey barrels are a waste of white oak.

[@NSBuilders]

Whiskey drinkers wouldn’t agree

[@cressdiligent]

@@markcors949 curioise what would you use then to age?

[@whymindsetmatters]

Everything is done better in Europe

[@koenraadprincen7212]

Talking about "going great lengths" for getting the wood you realy want! Interesting video! I didn't knew about the cosmetic changes they apply to make it look good. On the other hand, this makes everything a bit too much "man made". Second thought, 4 weeks after everything is installed, you don't notice all the details anymore. You wouldn't even notice the difference between these "White Oak"-boards and a sanded LVL (in a matter of speaking).

[@NSBuilders]

I disagree.

[@koenraadprincen7212]

@@NSBuilders Just wait and see ;-)

[@sheikhkhalid5969]

So you don't really cut the trees yourself, you just read the logging clerk's notes at the end each log. And not one of you has really milled wood beyond 1 foot diameter by yourself after having picked the tree out of the forest? We call that "lumberyard poaching".

[@smithbrownjones]

So the best White Oak in the world is actually from France....! Lol... Why not use a French saw mill in that case...???

[@pauljenkinson8798]

Looking at the mountain of logs and knowing from personal experience that the wasted material after final fabrication could be as high as 50% I'm amazed that any one private project can be so greedy as to consume so much of a vanishing and irreplaceable resource. Your clients must believe just having the money to afford this obsentiy gives them the right to take all they want. Rather than play to their basest instincts and go along with this abuse you should have counciled them on the relative scaracty of this species world wide and helped them choose a more enviormently responsible material. White oak is all the rage now, but I am sure the same people with the money to pay for this monument to their egos, will tyre of the "white oak look" in ten or fifteen years, tear it all out, and toss it in the landfill. It's really rather disgusting and sad actually.

[@NSBuilders]

Sorry Paul, I have no idea what you're saying but I can tell you with confidence we used WAY more than 50% of the log and it's certainly not irreplaceable.

[@martelinaalmissa39]

Mine are 1.5 inches 1 st. Class oak from Croatia.. Venece is build on that oak... This is to much bla bla.. So fine andcostly so much time and experts... Simple is better

[@johndemeen5575]

Delete the music, it sucks!

[@Jlinwoodjackson]

Having worked in a flooring mill for 3 years… this is THE WORST flooring mill I have ever seen. It must be insane overpriced.. absolutely no work flow or assembly line., what cluster cluck

[@davidanalyst671]

this video was not what it advertised. Its not really a tour. its not really someone going to figure out how their product is made and sourced, its waaaaay too technical for that. he asks this is where the stain is applied, then the next guy says yes, this is where we brush the stain on, then the next guy says these are stain buffers to put the stain in, then he asks, is this where you stain the boards? Yes, this is where we stain the boards. If its not the color we want..... Do you ever send it through again? yes, if we want more color, we send it through the staining process again. HOLY SHTT THIS WAS AN HOUR OF YOU HAVING AN ADHD BREAKDOWN. I can't take this level of ADHD, and I really want to see a tour of this place because its fantastic.

[@NSBuilders]

Glad you stuck through it.

[@paulpaulzadeh6172]

😢😢😢😢😢such tree should not be cut , you destroy planet for yourself to make money. How often you planted a tree ??

[@freetripin]

@@paulpaulzadeh6172 But the real question is, how often did you plant a tree. And before you ask, I have been planting and taking care for 8 oaks for now, the oldest being 12 years old and I find the video amazing.