Crazy biz?! It’s fair to say that, since day one, I’ve taken pretty ample creative license with these Bloganuary prompts. I accepted the challenge without much reflection. Why not add a new twist to my daily installments? Like discovering a new spice? I remember when I discovered za’atar via Yotam Ottolenghi. Wow! It was like I’d never cooked before, each day reinvigorating culinary experimentation. So, my way of introduction, please allow that my twist on today’s prompt is not really much of a “crazy business idea“. Apologies!

Dimensioning Walnut Heartwood (Photo: Glen Gehrkens)
Dimensioning Walnut Heartwood (Photo: Glen Gehrkens)

Here is the what-if I’m supposed to consider.

Come up with a crazy business idea.

And consider I did. Briefly. Before I succumbed to temptation. Crazy biz. Oh, those tongue tingling, fricatives!

To be certain, our Rosslyn adventure has involved plenty of crazy biz across the last 17 years, but it’s not a business. Nor has our approach been particularly businesslike. In fact, despite believing and asserting confidently that green design and sustainable construction need not be more expensive than conventional building, business thinking was not part of our calculus. Reality taught us some lessons along the way.

Dimensioning Walnut Heartwood (Photo: Glen Gehrkens)
Dimensioning Walnut Heartwood (Photo: Glen Gehrkens)

But crazy biz… I suspect that more than a few of our contractors over the years have suspected that we were crazy, that our plans and expectations were crazy, that investing sooo much love and loot into a 4-pack of falling down buildings was beyond crazy. If so, we’ve managed to mesmerize plenty of them into our crazy biz. And we continue to try!

Walnut Sapwood Trimmings (Photo: Glen Gehrkens)
Walnut Heartwood and Sapwood Trimmings (Photo: Glen Gehrkens)

The photos in today’s post, illustrate just one of the current initiatives challenging our team to try something new, to do differently, to experiment with a little crazy biz. Any idea what they’re up to?

I’ll offer you a few hints, but time will tell the tail. Unless you guess first.

Walnut Heartwood Blank (Photo: Glen Gehrkens)
Walnut Heartwood Blank (Photo: Glen Gehrkens)

Aaron cut up a walnut tree at ADK Oasis Highlawn (storm damage repurposed) a year or two ago. Several of the larger trunk chunks are being transformed into boards by a local sawyer. The leftovers have been cut into short sections, not dissimilar from firewood rounds, by Tony. And then today Tony and Glen began froe-ing the rounds into rectilinear blanks (think of big wood blocks), separating the bark and paler sapwood from the dark purple-brown heartwood. Look at that spectacular grain!

Tony Froe-ing Walnut (Photo: Tony Foster)
Tony Froe-ing Walnut (Photo: Tony Foster)

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