net construction

Each net is handmade using the finest knot-free woods. The hoop strips are made with various combinations of white ash, black ash, cherry, black walnut, hickory, butternut and birch. I cut all the strips myself; cut to a thickness of about 1/10th inch. I usually use 5-7 strips per net based on the size and the thickness of the strips. On the larger nets, the strip length is over 12 feet in length. You can imagine the glue mess I get into when gluing both sides of a 12′ strip and trying to align and clamp the material. Needless to say, I have ruined many shirts and pants in the shop!

The handles of each net are custom made on an individual basis. Rarely are any two handles the same. I follow general guidelines but do not “mass produce” any of the nets. The detail of your specific net will be described on the back page of the brochure which will come with your net. Each net is discretely numbered, dated and signed by myself.

I was able to salvage a significant amount of “old growth” Douglas fir material from a dock which we demolished at the at the Domtar Packaging mill in Red Rock which I used to manage. I usually make these handles as “end grain” in the handles so the growth rings are visible. Some of the pieces are well over 250 years old!