Several years ago, I was introduced to an extremely interesting part of the Specialty Wood Industry by a good friend in Florida.  The procurement, manufacturing, history and beauty of the "sinker" comes from logs that were cut in the late 1800's as southern timber barons cut the virgin timber in the central counties of Florida.  Cypress and pine from the "tidewater" areas of central Florida have long been considered the finest available.  This reputation was gained by the quality of the second growth timber but century old original growth timber is superior.  When this timber was being logged and transported, logs were moved from the woods to the sawmill by the rivers.  During transport by floating logs to the riverside sawmills, many of the extremely large logs either broke away from the others and sank to the river bottom or were simply to large to pull from the water with their antiquated handling systems.

Today, logs buried in the muddy bottoms are located by divers who tie a cable to the exposed end of the logs and then they are pulled to the surface onto a barge.  The sapwood has rotted away but the resin of the heartwood has left the "sinker" wood well preserved.  Once pulled from the rivers the Heart Cypress and the Heart Pine logs are sawn into fresh sawn antique lumber.  The tight growth rings from the century old timber is very stable and beautiful.  In my opinion this heirloom quality lumber is one of the most interesting and valuable items we have available.  We maintain the largest inventory of these "Sinker Treasures" in the world.

David Hogan