Black Cherry

Located in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains in North Central/North Western, PA – which supplies the world's best cherry.Majority of logs pulled from timberlands within 50-100 miles of our mill.Heavily sawn for 4/4 with occasional 5,6, & 8/4 sawn against the logs – no more than 2 thickness ever sawn at one time. Lumber is all sawn at our mill – no outside production is ever brought in to supplement our own production. Our cherry is unsurpassed for color, texture, and gum content – many runs being nearly gum free.
SortsColor - At Emporium we sort our 4/4 cherry 1 Common and Select & Btr. for 2 (two) separate color sorts in each:

"A" color – minimum 90-50 & Btr. – allowing minimum 90% Red 1F. If a piece is only 90% Red on one face, then the reverse has to be at least 50% Red or better. If a piece yields 100% Red 1F, we do not restrict the color of the reverse face – which means the reverse face could exceed 50% SAP or be as good as 100% Red or anywhere in between. The 90-50 is the minimum color spec on the "A" sort, which means all boards that yield 90-80, 100-70, 90-90, & Red 4 Face are included in this sort.

"B" color - generally, the "B" color sort in the Select & Btr. and 1 Common is any piece that will not yield at least 90% Red 1F. This means that a board could yield as good as 89-89 or less. We find that this sort, with the color, texture and minimal gum content inherent to our region, looks like an average "mill run" sort of cherry from other regions outside our area.

Generally the #2 & #3 Commons are not sorted for color simply because these grades, as a rule, come from deep within the log where the good red color is and the less desirable sapwood in these grades is at a very small minimum.

Rustic Cherry – 4/4, 6/4 & 8/4

This grade will yield heavy character throughout the piece; i.e., sound knots, sound pith, mineral streaks, gum, ingrown bark with some small open knots and a small amount of open pith allowed as the majority of this type of character comes from the center of the log, most of the pieces will be red four faces.

Average yield will be 70-100% of at least one face of the piece in our rustic.

Occasionally, we are able to offer other proprietary length, width, and color pulls dependant on certain runs of logs.

Hard Maple

North Central/North Western, PA Allegheny Mountains provide one of the best growing regions for combined color and lengths in hard maple of anywhere in North America. The whiteness of our hard maple rivals that of Northern Region product while still providing a good percentage of longer lengths.

Majority of logs pulled from timberlands within 50-100 miles of our mill.
All hard maple is sawn 100% into 4/4, nothing heavier, this provides good average widths, lengths and color.
All of our lumber is sawn at our mill – no outside production is ever brought in to supplement our own
We cut a 3-1/2 x 6” pallet cant out of the center of each hard maple log. Heart size being from baseball to golf ball size on average, most, if not all the heart will be contained within the cant, this leaves a product through-out the grades that is heavy to #1 white in the cuttings.

Sorts

At Emporium, we sort our 1 Common and Select & Btr. hard maple for SAP 1F & Btr. This sort in our product yields on average 2-3% true SAP 1F, with the balance being #1 & #2 White. Of the #1 & #2 white. on average, 80% or better will be #1 white.

Generally in the #2 & #3 Commons, we do not sort for color as they are essentially SAP 1F & Btr. in the mill run form.

Rustic Hard Maple – 4/4

Our rustic hard maple is a new proprietary grade for us. This grade will yield heavy character throughout the piece; i.e., sound knots, mineral streaks, pith, heart-sap contrast, with some small open knots and small amount of open pith allowed.

Average yield will be 70-100% of at least one face of the piece in our rustic hard maple.

Red Leaf Maple

As in our hard maple, the Allegheny Mountains provide one of the best growing regions for combined lengths and color in red leaf maple of anywhere in North America. The whiteness of our red leaf rivals that of North Region stock while still providing a good percentage of longer lengths.

Majority of logs pulled from within 50-100 miles of our mill.
All red leaf maple is sawn 100% into 4/4, nothing heavier, this provides good average lengths, widths, and color.
All of our lumber is sawn at our mill – no outside production is ever brought in to supplement our own.
Again, as in the hard maple, we cut a 3-1/2 x 6” pallet cant out of the center of each log. Heart size from our area is as small as it gets in red leaf maple and most of the heart will be contained within the cant. This leaves a product throughout the grades that is heavy SAP 1F & Btr. in the cuttings.

Sorts

Our red leaf maple is sold mill run – heavy SAP 1F & Btr. Average color yields for each grade are described under standard grades.

Rustic Soft Maple – 4/4

Our rustic soft maple is a new proprietary grade for us. This grade will yield heavy character throughout the piece; i.e., sound knots, mineral streaks, pith, heart-sap contrast, with some small open knots and small amount of open pith allowed.

Average yield will be 70-100% of at least one face of the piece in our rustic red leaf maple.

Samples of all our products are available upon request.