Our friend Ralph at ConsultingWoodworker sent us some photos from Jamaica. He's not there on vacation, he is working with a client. The client is embarking on a big new project building hotel room furniture for a major resort chain. The custom furniture is all specified to be in mahogany, no ply or particle board.

Running a business on an island is not for sissies, so feelers were put out around the island to see what lumber might be available. A contact at the Jamaican Forestry Council put them in touch with a couple of local yards that had mahogany stock in the rough. Mahogany has been grown on the island since the 1700's, but is little used since the infrastructure to harvest and mill it is not well developed.

A couple of local vendors were found, and a visit was made to one of them. As you can see from the photos, this yard had hundreds of thousands of board feet of Mahogany, Spanish Cedar and other materials, but the yard was nearly inaccessible. Narrow walkways were the only paths through the stacks, and every stick has to be hauled out by hand. Labor is plentiful on the island, so there, this is actually a relatively minor problem. Ralph tells us that his client plans on bringing out about 10,000 board feet of this lumber.

Seeing how things are done in other places is not only educational, it gives you a fresh perspective on your problems. Share new perspectives you have gained recently. Get in touch here on this blog, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter. -2Sand.com