I just thought I'd share some photos from the Cleary Family Farm, owned by my brother and belle-soeur John and Lauren Cleary.  This old hard maple tree finally fell during the winter, away from their 19th century Italianate farmhouse thankfully. 

Exposed in the break is some of the flame figure which we luthiers are constantly searching for in the the quest for tone and beauty.  Whether this tree will actually spawn any instruments will remain to be seen as the density and quality of the figure and the expense of sawing need to be carefully considered.  Also, a tree such as this on a historic working farm, undoubtably contains hardware--fencing nails and wire and possibly old sugaring spouts, which lay in wait to damage the harvesting saw.