We have all heard the axiomatic, tired, hackneyed clique that reads something like this, “Our product(s) are original, hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind...” This is only partially true. As you read on you will discover that our Tamarack “works of art” are the true definition of what is really “hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind.”
Every single Go-Green product has a different color, stain or effect. This is the true meaning of one-of-a-kind. This is just one mere particular that separates Go-Green from the rest. I have often wondered how many power tools are used to make these so-called, hand-crafted items? How do they cut them down? How do they strip the bark? How do they shape them? How do they sand them? How do they apply the stains? How do they varnish them? Go-Green uses a hand saw to cut them! We use a draw knife to strip the bark! We sand our pieces using our hands and various other non-powered tools. We shape each piece with our electric spindle sander and bore holes with our drill press. We apply all sealers, stains, paints & special effects coatings by hand and we hand-rub all varnish coats!
Where do the millions of the so-called hand-crafted works of art that are sold each year around the world come from? How far do they travel to arrive at the workshop/factory?
Go-Green pieces are obtained from selective, controlled thinning, from piles of left-over (rejected) timber destined to be burned, or re-claimed lumber! They travel on the average, less than a dozen miles to our workshop!
Every Go-Green product has one constant. No matter what effects are applied; color changing and iridescent paints, glow-in-the-dark powders, natural stains, sparkles and many other formulas, every single one of our products still have wood graining present. We have developed a technique that brings out the maximum grain possible. Some of our pieces look so exotic they tend to leave the viewer in awe.
The above reading substantiates our claim of what a “true” one-of-a-kind product is. However, this is only a small fraction of this claim.
Why don’t other companies anywhere in the entire world produce non-splitting sticks, flowerless vases, jeweled inlay vases, etc. out of the Tamarack tree? The answer is semi-complicated, but we will truncate the answer.
First off, Tamaracks are hard to get to. They usually grow in swamps and colder climates. When one does get to them, they are hard to remove. The next obstacle is testing the trees for invasive species from the likes of the Eastern Larch Beetle, the Larch Sawfly and the Larch Casebearer. Imagine for a moment, you are stripping the bark off a piece of wood and you feel a sensation, you look down and discover young sawflies working their way up your legs. Or, you are typing on your computer and look over a few feet way and see movement from one of our completely finished walking sticks. You get up to get a closer look and notice a Eastern Larch Beetle crawling out of a newly bored hole. Kind of scary knowing that this beetle just made a hole through one of the hardest woods around and also made it through sealers, stains and several coats of floor varnish. Eww!
Next would be the fact that Tamaracks only make up a very minuscule portion of the total world tree population. They are only found in a handful of states and a handful of countries throughout the world. The next and perhaps the most significant reason is the fact that Tamaracks have an extremely high moisture content. Once the bark is removed there are several factors that become vital to prevent a piece from splitting. Crafters have performed moisture readings, several kiln drying techniques, waxing the ends, applying Anchorseal, placing them in humidity controlled environments, etc. However, most of the time, the inevitable splits appear; sometimes even a few months down the line. As you can see from the (left hand photo), these splits can occur several months after they are completed. (The photo on the right) shows how they split after they were sealed.
In the very unlikely event that a Go-Green Tamarack wood product forms a split, we offer an exclusive lifetime replacement guarantee on all of our wood products.
There are numerous factors that we have observed over the past few years. We have performed, literally, hundreds of painstaking trial and error procedures. our percentages are continuing to rise, getting to a point that we are fully confident that your Go-Green product will never split. Every Go-Green piece must attend school and take a course on how to learn the proper etiquette as how to display itself to it's new owner(s). When you purchase a Go-Green product you will unequivocally know that you are actually receiving a “Hand-Crafted, One-Of-A-Kind” work of art. A piece that was made with passion to make a difference in “Helping Obtain A Greener Tomorrow.”