Thursday, January 17, 2013

Just a quaint little cabin on the high plains....

Yesterday I went by to pick up something from a friend of mine who owns a large woodworking shop. He's the guy who made these ceiling beams for a home I built a couple of years ago:



Until now I was pretty impressed by the size of these beams.  I say "until now" because yesterday he invited me back into his workshop where his guys were working on some beams that would soon be installed in an outdoor dining hall addition to  T. Boone Pickens' ranch/estate in West Texas.  They were 36 feet across, so large that the only way I could show them was in this video:


He told me just his woodwork for this addition is valued at $150,000-$200,000. Yikes!  


This is Larry standing beside some of the other pieces that will go into T-Boone's weekend getaway.  (I wonder if that's what his friends call him since "T-Bo" is already taken?)  That top piece is the fireplace mantle in the new addition.  Can you imagine the fireplace itself?  I suspect it doesn't burn logs, but entire trees!

I also know the contractor who has done all of T-Boone's projects for years, Tommy Ford.  He's a real builder's builder, truly in a class by himself.  And to his credit, he's a nice, down to earth guy, too.

It's a shame Boeing can't build airplanes (at least the 787) as good as Larry can build beams and Tommy can build mansions:  


Let the weekend countdown begin.  G'day everyone.

S



11 comments:

  1. Too bad some poor old trees had to die for that.

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  2. Hmmm...I hope they measured twice!

    T-Boones friends probably call him Sir!

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  3. Yeah, poor dead trees, that's my first thought everytime I see something beautiful created out of wood.

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  4. Beams this big must come from really mature trees. Are old growth trees like this replaceable? We have a wonderful ski lodge up on Mt. Hood build in the Thirties by the WPA Work Program and the beams in this lodge are as beautiful as they are irreplaceable. Of course if these tree had been left alone to burn down there would be nothing to show for it.

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  5. Now I'm usually the politically correct one here, but I have to say that I think that things made with wood are INFINITELY preferable to man-made products. After all, wood is a replaceable commodity - it just takes a while :)

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  6. If those were the beams for the outdoor dining hall addition, I'd love to get a view of the outdoor dining table. With the food on it. And really, not just a view...

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    Replies
    1. The blueprints had drawn in about 6 or 8 round, 10-12 place tables. You know you wouldn't be served cold cuts at a T-Boone spread. ;)

      S

      Delete
  7. Holy crap, $200K just for woodwork for an addition? I'm DEFINITELY in the wrong industry.

    ReplyDelete
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