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Stephen Goode's Rare Little Booklet


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Hello all, I wanted to share with you a small booklet that I found on eBay a few years back.  This discusses types of wood species that are good for miniatures, specifically using one species to represent another species in scale (such as using becuiba for 1/12th scale mahogany) that closely resembles proper grain in miniature.  Besides having plenty of useful information, this booklet also has a foldout containing actual wood samples.

I hope you enjoy the images,

Jason

Copyright © 1980 by Stephen Goode (of S.H. Goode & Sons)

PAPERBACK BOOKLET, 28 pages + fold out containing wood samples

 

introduction_to_woods_1.jpg

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Looks like the same book as in the current catalog for $12.95 3rd revised printing just an older version?

I understand using substitute woods to minimize the grain pattern to make it more scale like but I like using the same woods as the prototype. To me the enlarged grain pattern is part of the "charm" of a miniature. I am working on an oak chest and the oak grain is definitely enlarged but I like the effect.

What I am wondering though is what to use for pine? I want a harder wood that resembles pine, maybe beech or birch? The packing cases for my miniature campaign furniture were usually pine and sometimes the drawer sides and bottoms (although they were often actually the case wood like mahogany or walnut for strength and rot/insect resistance)

 

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http://shgoode.com/sample-page

Stephen has been a wonderful resource for me in the past.  He offers a wonderful selection of pre-dimensioned lumber. I ALWAYS go through the lumber stacks at any show I attend in person.... and I must see what Pete & Pam Boorum (Smaller then Life) bring to the show in terms of lumber, oh and jigs and other useful tools, too!

jaxenro, I like the tara wood in the example posted above for substitute for pine.  I am always on the hunt for wood.  It is the same thing for me, as hunting for silk fabric. It is possible to find old growth pine with small grain.  I just found some recycled floor boards at my local ReStore and it is the finest beautiful, small, grain I have ever seen in pine in all of my life.  I purchased all of it.  Husband just planed the finish off of it with the old planer knives, and now I need to resaw it to correct dimensions and send it through the planer again.  I will keep the smallest, straight grain for furniture, but will use the other grain for floors.  You can always call Stephen and ask him what he has available in Pine.

Jason, great topic...  I like seeing those wood samples!

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Hi everyone,

Tamra, I haven't had a chance to respond to your emails yet, but I will soon.

I think it's terrible that if you type in the title of that book, my site is the first on Google, (I had no idea Stephen's company was even still in business!)  My current site has a small sample of what's in our library, the new site will be much more detailed though. Stephen's website should be at number one for that particular search.  Maybe he has the booklet listed differently, calling it a catalog rather than using the title? 

Jason

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Well, now that you have found the forum, you can post your questions and someone will know the status of our miniature suppliers... what is so cool about this forum and the internet is we have the ability to source needed items worldwide....

I have only been to the Good Sam Show in San Jose, CA in 2011, and I do not recall his participation in the show... if Stephen was attending the Chicago International show, I would be at his booth for a long time, going through the stacks of lumber, nothing like picking out your own lumber!

It is my understanding that the right pieces of wood can be quarter sawn to get the best impact from tight grain...Thankfully, dear husband helps me with these tasks.  

 

 

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I just got off the phone with them, and will definitely be ordering from their shop in the future, as there are a few species I have not been able to get locally in Indy. I also let them know about possibly updating their website to reflect the title of their publication, as it would only bring them even more business.  Very nice people!

Jason

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Their website is very basic but the catalog is very detailed. They even have old piano key ivory I was going to use to make a set of 1:12 dominoes :)

 

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Nice! Yeah I wished I had been able to pop the key tops off from my grandmother's old upright piano before they had some salvage guys come get it.

Jason

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42 minutes ago, jaxenro said:

Their website is very basic but the catalog is very detailed. They even have old piano key ivory I was going to use to make a set of 1:12 dominoes :)

 

Sadly, it is now illegal to sell piano key ivory. It's also illegal to sell new items made with ivory, even if it's only old piano keys. I have quite a few old piano keys but am afraid to use them for miniatures unless it's an item for personal use only. There's an exception for antique pianos in some cases, but not all. The laws are complex and vary from state to federal to international. There's a de minimus rule that allows an antique to be sold if it contains ivory by wt less than a certain amount, the average wt of a set of ivory key tops, but even that doesn't help in the case of newly made miniatures. And how would you take the ivory off the antique to weigh it? The rule also states that the ivory must make up less than a certain percentage of the total object and not be the reason for the object's value. A miniature table made with minimal amounts of ivory banding prior to 1973 might be sellable, but not necessarily. I love elephants and I'm all for saving them, but these complex laws are causing quite a burden on the piano industry, and even the antique industry due to the documentation required. 

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Just a note that I've had wonderful service from Steve and MaryAnna. Right now, Steve is searching for some wood especially for an unusual project I have in the planning stages. 

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Hi Jason, thank you for sharing your book :) This is a good thread---

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That book inspired me to hoard the listed species of wood for our shop! (Hey there are worse addictions :-)

Jason

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For all of us scale modelers who have stashes of wood and other supplies (for me, silk and tiny trims are my stash addiction of choice) I think we should use some of it! 

It think it is a very common for those of us who build things out of wood to have a stash of lumber... Now if I can obtain flitch wood, that is even better.

From Hearne Hardwoods in PA, 

"A flitch is a log that was cut and then catalogued and stored together.  This offers the customer the opportunity to buy matching material from the same tree."  

 

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