Jim Birkemeier of TimberGreenWoods (Etsy no longer available) posed the question, "You know where your food comes from, but how about your wood?"  He certainly can answer that as all the wood - walnut, cherry, maple, oak, ash, pine and basswood  - is harvested from the 200 acre family forest in Spring Green, WI. 

Jim is a forester by trade and manages the farm in a sustainable fashion by adopting the Menominee Tribe's way of using only dead or dying trees.  Jim explains, "This way, the healthy trees can grow vigorously and live as long as they were meant to."



Octopus Wood Key Chain


"The trees are taken out of the forest with minimal equipment so as not to disturb the forest ground, milled onsite and dried in one of three solar-cycle kilns. Once dried to the correct moisture level, the wood is processed in the 100 year old dairy barn on the property."  The workshop team in town makes all kinds of wooden flooring, furniture and "pretty much all things wood." 

Nothing is wasted. "The waste wood is used to heat Jim and his parents' home at the farm and the wood shavings from the mill are picked up by local animal owners for bedding." Impressive.

Solar Cycle Kilns

Shown here are my favorites from the keychains and charms sections. 

One of the cleverest ideas I've seen is the combination of periodic table tiles to form a unique keychain fob. They also sell the tiles as individual charms. 


Teacher Periodic Table Keychain

Also clever are the alphabet keychains.....expressed as binary codes!  Perfect geekery! 
ASCII Binary Code for A Keychain

There are also many laser cut wood charms which are suitable for jewelry making.  You could potentially stain the wood or even paint if you wish to add color. 

Sweet charms for music fans:






Treble Clef AND Bass Clef Wood Charms


Squirrel Wood Charms


Some of their charms have no holes and many are ideally suited for studs.   Just glue on the stud earring posts at the back using E6000 glue or Super New Glue.  The cat charms will have an elongated look!




Ladybird (Ladybug) Wood Charms

Halloween Ghost Wood Charms





Mini Cat Wood Charms


Before You Go :


Disclosure
This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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