I not only cut my own timber and sell it, but buy other wood that I do not grow, such as cherry and maple from Washington and claro walnut from California. They need white oak, red oak and yellow pine out there.
Sometimes a gun builder will find a wonderful tree which is more than he needs or can afford, because his money would be tied up in it for years. So he will put out the word to others in the wood business or gun builders, and sell off part of that tree. Don Allen, at Dakota, used to do this.
I also trade wood with all sorts of people. I have sold CNC machinery to yacht builders, so I buy or trade red oak and yellow pine with them for mahogany and teak. I trade with other gun builders for blanks of English and French walnut, and maple. People from Beretta and other companies get around; they see rifles people have built and the wood on them. When they need two pieces of matching wood for two matching shotguns, and they don't have it, they start calling.
