Not All Shuffleboard Tops are made with Pure Michigan Hard Maple?
|
|
Time to read 2 min
Handcrafted Shuffleboard Tops Made with Pure Michigan Hard Maple
When I tell people what kind of business I am in, the first question they ask is," Where do you get your wood?" We get our hard maple almost exclusively from Michigan, from local dry lots. These are the kilns that purchase wood from sawmills. Then they sort, process, and grade the wood. Below is a dry lot from one of our local suppliers, who is just a 30-minute drive from our factory. Not very many factories can say they are located that close to the kiln that selects, grades, and ensures all the lumber has the perfect moisture content.
Many shuffleboard brands claim to use maple wood, and many whose factories are actually located in China claim they manufacture boards. I know of no other factories located in the area where the wood is grown. I also know of no other factories that make boards totally from scratch the way McClure Shuffleboard Tables does. See the video below where Dan explains the use of locally sourced hardwoods.
Todd McClure with Dan Hall at Wolverine Hardwoods
Most factories buy their parts and components, such as cabinets, from China and butcher blocks from other manufacturers. Some are even large pool table manufacturers who make the cabinets themselves but buy the butcher-block tops from another factory. This is similar to going to the store, buying a cake mix, going home, adding water, and then saying you baked a cake.
Michigan Maple from Wolverinehttps://wolverinehardwoods.com/
At McClure, we "bake our cakes" from scratch, like Grandma used to. We don't assemble component parts purchased from other vendors. We don't have an assembly line cabinet-building process. We don't use automated CNC machines to make our component parts. See the truck above? That's a load of hard Michigan Maple from Dan's dry lot. We'll soon turn it into fine, handcrafted shuffleboard tables for your home. If you are a 'wood' person you will be able to grade this wood from these pictures. Wood is graded not by the quality or type of wood. The grade is for color and also to some extent the amount of defect or variation in color.
Pure Michigan produces some of North America's finest hard maple wood.
I have seen manufacturers claim that their shuffleboard tops are made from local wood, yet their factories are located in California. They might want to look at the map below. The green areas are where Maple trees grow. Hard maple grows in the cold Northern climates.
Hard Michigan Maple Wood Soon to be Shuffleboard Tops
"We proudly turn into hand crafted shuffleboard tops"
Please read our competitors' claims carefully. Pay attention to the source of the woods they use. Where does it come from? Many shuffleboard tops are made with birch and even soft maple, but they advertise them as made with Canadian Maple, and the consumer assumes it is hard maple. We are not saying that other manufacturers are being deceptive. It is just marketing hype to make their factory-produced products sound like something more than they are: consumable goods made in mass production with cheaper materials and automated assembly-line techniques. They are not handcrafted works of art coaxed into existence by master artisans practicing their craft. If you are going to buy a shuffleboard table, why not buy one made from scratch, the way your Grandma or Grandpa would have wanted?
