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I had to get all of that up before I could fire up the mower.

So, I was short on time, tired and maybe a little lazy when I walked through the door.

I was supposed to spend some time with Casi and Dan, the owners of Black Locust, and maybe learn something, but I didn’t really feel like it. So, I stopped by to just to see how they were doing and to talk to them about plans for me to come by later in the week.

This seemed fine to them. They were happy to have me along, but it wasn’t like I was doing real work.

Casi and Dan wished me well and said they’d see me later. Maybe, I could come along when they went to the wood supplier. I might learn something, which seemed good to me.

But the next day, a black wall of wind and sideways rain swept into town like some kind of evil spirit. From a live video provided by one of the TV stations, I safely watched the storm roll across the bridge. Once it actually arrived, I stood by a window, mesmerized like a moth transfixed by the light of a bug zapper.

In retrospect, that was one of my dumber moments, particularly since the storm flicked over old trees, smashed power lines and tore holes in buildings, including the roof over Black Locust Woodshop.

Water drove through the ceiling and emptied out behind the desk in the showroom — a significant concern, but not critical. But it also came through in the workshop, right around Casi’s work bench and near one of the heavy machines.

Casi and Dan had to make a mad dash to move things around.

“The good thing is most everything is on wheels,� Dan said.

So, the two of them were able to get equipment and materials out of the way before they took a lot of damage, but they had to rearrange the woodshop and compact their workspace.

“But it’s not like we haven’t worked in tight spaces before,� Casi said. “Dan used to have to climb through a window to get into his workshop.�

Dan shrugged and said he’d had a shop in an old garage. The bay door on the front was jammed. So, the only way to get in and out for a while was to slip in and out of a window.

Water coming into their shop wasn’t great, but it wasn’t permanent and shouldn’t affect how they work, they said.

When the ceiling leaked, they’d put up a barrier of sawdust around the splash zone before they found a trashcan to catch the water.

“Our circle of protection,� Casi joked. “Keeps the water demons back.�

It took Dan and Casi less than a day to bounce back and get back on track from the storm. It may have taken less time because I didn’t come back around until two days after the rains, when things settled and everyone was back to work.

Casi was busy adding a glossy coat to a set of American chestnut picture frames. The frames were part of a special order for the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

I was surprised that Casi and Dan had American chestnut.

Over a hundred years ago, a blight was accidentally introduced into American forests. Landscapers and gardeners brought in Japanese chestnuts (sometimes called Chinese chestnuts), which carried a fungal blight.

The Japanese chestnut was resistant to the disease, though not immune, while the American tree had no defense and was nearly wiped out.

Efforts to revive the species have been going on for decades.

I thought American chestnut would be hard to come by. If you can find mature trees at all, they usually grow to the north, like Michigan, but Dan said it wasn’t that hard to get. American chestnut was just a little expensive.

“It goes for about $24 per board foot,� he said.

A board foot is a 12-inch square that’s ½-inch thick.

That sounded a little pricey, but it isn’t the most expensive — not by a long shot.

I did some checking online and Google brought back two contenders.

African blackwood runs about $9,000 a log and boards are upwards of $100 each. It can cost more, but there was also something called Ambonya burl which was $200 or $300 per board.

Prices can confusing because different woods could be used in different ways, and — based on various qualities — those prices could go up.

I looked at pictures of different types of wood online and some of the expensive types look pretty similar to some of the less-expensive types.

Casi and Dan said not all wood varieties are equal. Some are easier to work with than others.

“Purpleheart wood from South America,� Dan said. “It’s very hard and difficult to manipulate.�

He showed me an amethyst-colored board and then a picture of a box he’d built for someone, along with pictures of how he’d used a series of clamps.

Of the varieties that can be found closer to home, Casi said, hickory is hard to work with.

“It’s just angry and it splinters,� he said. “It puts those splinters in your fingers.�

They both like working with maple and beech, which are pretty easy to cut and just look pretty when finished.

Red oak and poplar are pretty good and can be stained, though as a custom woodshop, staining wood isn’t their favorite thing to do.

“Sometimes, you get a customer who is trying to match something. They’re replacing an end table or part of a set,� Dan said, “We’ll stain the wood to get it to the right shade.�

And yes, sometimes staining is the budget conscious way to do something.

Not all wood comes in directly from the tree or from a mill. The chestnut Casi was working with was originally from an old barn.

“It has a rustic look,� he said.

Dan said it is possible to get modern American chestnut, along with Ash, a tree that’s been under siege from the emerald ashborer.

“There’s actually a lot of it,� he said. “They’re harvesting and selling what they can, right now, because, later, they won’t be able to.�

I thanked them for the lesson and then went shopping at Lowe’s, but not for wood. I had plenty of that. No, what I needed was a chainsaw. I had a yard that needed tending.