About Pacific Slabs

I grew up working for our family business, Old Mission Adobes. We worked on the California Missions, their historical adobe buildings, and custom adobe homes. The business ended operations in 1981 after completing the  restoration of the University of Santa Clara.  Of all our work, my favorite was the bicentennial restoration of Mission San Juan Bautista in 1975 & 1976, hand adzing thousands of timbers and slabs just as the Indians did in 1797. I appreciated the beauty of thick random width slabs of wood that were used in the ceiling and throughout the mission.  Even the huge redwood timbers supporting the massive bells in the tower were hand adzed (that I designed).  We made 60,000 adobe blocks to complete the restoration.

Some of the most simple early California designs, both furniture and buildings, were built strong, beautiful, and most importantly, built to last. Full thickness dimensions, mortise and tenon joints, finished but sometimes showing the marks of time, saw blades, and a lot of character even after hundreds of years of use really made me realize my life's passion; using my unique talents and love for the process to make beautiful pieces that bring smiles to faces for generations long after I am gone.

I took what I learned from my Dad and what seemed to be a lifetime of hard work, and at the age of 25, I was able to build the beautiful home that I live in to this day. The only one involved in building my home from start to finish was me. I did it all, from making the adobe blocks to splitting the shakes.  From milling the majority of the lumber to building the windows, doors, cabinets, hardware, and furniture. My home today is even more beautiful than it was in 1977, when I finished it, even after 43 years and a 7.1 earthquake in 1989. 

We put the same time, love, and craftsmanship into the creation of our slabs. Our five acre facility holds the largest selection of sustainably sourced native hardwood and redwood in the Bay Area. Our slabs are selected from a vast inventory of logs, burls and specialty pieces that have been amassed over a period of my forty years as a licensed timber operator. Most are harvested through proper forest management of our local forested areas or through fuel reduction projects to help maintain a sustainable forest. The most unique pieces are those that have been in our rivers and streams for hundreds of years that we have collected from our beaches after storms.

 Once the perfect log is selected, we transfer it onto our state of the art WoodMizer1000 band mill. Our mill, the largest of it's kind in the WoodMizer family, can slab a log up to 68" wide and up to 28 feet long! We then air dry the slabs anywhere from two months to a year, then kiln dry them in our new VacuPress kiln; another state of the art piece of equipment specifically designed to dry slabs. When the kiln drying is complete, we have a beautiful raw product that can be surfaced and finished by the most avid DIYer, your contractor, or better yet, let us do it for you!  Have an inspiration? Bring us your idea and allow our fabricators to create that one of a kind piece for you! No matter which way you choose, our pricing can't be beat! 

After more than 50 years and making countless beautiful Slabs, tables, Doors, Mantles, on and on, my Company grew through a love of what I do, and making happy customers into Pacific Firewood in 1982, and then Pacific Firewood and Lumber in 1991. Now 29 years later my slab and custom woodwork is really taking off. So now we have a new division of Pacific Firewood and Lumber dedicated to live edge slabs and burls. Welcome to Pacific Slabs A NEW NAMED OLD BUSINESS CONTINUING TO DO WHAT WE LOVE Using old world craftsmanship with modern technology and equipment we are able to turn natures diamonds in the rough into beautiful live edge slabs, and pieces of art.