Customer Testimonials

John Fox (Furniture Maker)

"I’ve been buying lumber from Rick Hearne for more than 25 years and from Hearne Hardwoods since it opened. They’ve always had the very best walnut and cherry flitch material and in the last 10 years have expanded to have incredible quality in imported and domestic species of all kinds. Because they love and respect the beauty of their wood they take great care in the sawing and drying of their material. Through the years I’ve made it my habit to make several trips a year to Hearne, sometimes with clients. But astonishingly I’ve found that I’ve been able to trust them to pick wood for me over the phone. Brian and Rick have always been wonderful to deal with, fair, honest and accurate. The ability to buy such high quality wood from such a trusted source has been critical in my development as a furniture maker."

Robert Whitley (Furniture Maker)

"To, Rick Hearne -

A friend who supplies all my wood for my best projects."

~Click here for contact information and more examples of Robert Whitley's extraordinary work.

Ric Allison (Furniture Designer & Artist)
 
"I have been involved with furniture and wood for the last 25 years, first as a hobby, a profession and later as a passion for art and design. While painters use color and media for their art, furniture designers use wood as a palette for the color, figure and form (and sometimes weight and feel). Coming by the “right choice” of an ‘image’ in the wood to use for the back of the mirror, the shape of a free form table, the color and texture for a chair, the clearness and fineness for bent laminations is no easy task. In a pinch most things will do for a mock up, a doorframe, or even sometimes a shelf. But finding the perfect piece of wood and the right quantity takes a big catalogue and a huge database from which to cull a selection that works well for a project.
 
I have traveled to many wood mills and lumber yards in the North East, West Coast, in the US and even South America sometimes finding what I am looking for or being surprised by what the supplier did not know they had in their back lot. On occasion, I’ve even found some very clear, long and clean figured Douglas fir in lumberyards in Northern California. But I’ve never found a selection that is so painstakingly catalogued, culled and selected for its premium quality as Hearne Hardwoods.
 
A day at Hearne sometimes can involve moving many palettes and flitches, which is no small task. It is taken with as much consideration and excitement from the staff at Hearne (you’ll hear no grumbling here - they love what they do and it is apparent). Plus they know exactly where to find it. I also have to admit, that upon finding what I am looking for whether it be 30 board feet of cherry or 1,000 board feet of quarter-sawn wenge, I end up finding some other gem that I can’t resist for a future project. Some of these big leaf maple burls and banskia nuts still line the walls of my studio, acting as inspiration for future projects, or in their own right as an art form in themselves. I shall not however divulge other pieces that I’ve seen and have my eye on, hoping to come up with the money to purchase them as pure indulgence on my part. But what is most unusual about Hearne Hardwoods is that it is not just a transaction. It is an event, a pleasure amongst friends and family. There is always a pot of fresh Kona coffee at hand to dip into, a warm greeting, conversation, a dog or two who’ll lick you when you come up to the porch and a sense that you have arrived.  All of these things combine to make the trek worth driving two and a half hours round trip and make for easy understanding of why I am such a loyal customer. "