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CAMBRIDGE — George Hollinger looks at the rough-cut boards drying in the yard behind his woodworking shop and lists the different species of trees in the pile.

"Beech, cherry, silver maple, spalted maple, black cherry, decayed white pine, black ash, more cherry and eastern red cedar on top," Hollinger says.

The yard behind the Cambridge shop is piled high with logs, stumps, boards and beams. After drying in the sun and wind for a couple of years, the wood is placed in a kiln equipped with heaters and dehumidifiers. The wood stays in the kiln for a few weeks before it is crafted into handsome, custom-made furniture.

"In terms of what I need to satisfy my customers, walnut, black walnut and reclaimed wood would be the top three for sure," Hollinger says.

The yard and kiln are the foundation of Hollinger's thriving business, the Galt Wood Co. He spends most of his time looking for wood. Everything from woodlots full of black walnut to old barns are prime sources.

"My whole entire life is dedicated to finding the best wood in the world," Hollinger says. "I have been doing this for 4 1/2 years now so my name is around the world. I will get calls every day, five or 10 calls a day."

In only 10 months, the company has outgrown its space on Turnbull Court, which has a half-acre yard for drying wood and 3,000-square-feet of space inside where his crew makes furniture.

Next month, it will move into a bigger location on Jarvis Street, just south of the Delta. The new shop will have 18,000-square-feet of space and a three-acre yard for drying wood. It will be the company's fifth home since Hollinger started building handcrafted tables in his mother's garage 4 1/2 years ago.

Business grew steadily as orders followed word of mouth referrals. After his first year in business, Hollinger started taking on commercial work for restaurants, golf course clubhouses, high-tech offices and other businesses.

His favourite wood for making furniture is black walnut, most of which is found within an hour's drive of his shop. "Whenever we do commercial work it is almost always walnut or reclaimed wood," he says, adding that he built his first table with $70 worth of black walnut.

The company employs 10 to 15 people full-time, depending on the number of commercial contracts on the go. Hollinger never borrowed a dime to finance the business.

Galt Wood's biggest commercial contract so far is The Berlin, a new restaurant on King Street West in downtown Kitchener that opens next month. Chef Jonathon Gushue and his partner Ryan Lloyd-Craig hired the company to transform the interior of the heritage building.

Hollinger's crew is making tables, chairs, shelves, benches, booths and the bar out of black walnut. They will also make custom doors and baseboards. The floor in the main room is covered with wood that came from an old tobacco barn in Kentucky. It is a mixture of wood from five or six different species of trees.

"There is walnut in there, elm, beech, maple, tulip (yellow poplar) and oak. Red oak, white oak, black oak," Hollinger says as he looks over the freshly laid floor. "This is going to look really cool."

The Berlin project required nearly a transport trailer load of wood.

"We fly through material like crazy," Hollinger says. "A big commercial project like The Berlin takes multiple barns to make one restaurant."

These days, commercial work makes up 50 to 60 per cent of Galt Wood's business. Custom furniture for homeowners accounts for 10 to 20 per cent. The company's retail shop on Ainslie Street makes up the rest.

"That's where we get a little bit more creative," Hollinger says of the retail shop. "Those would be kind of art pieces."

On the second floor above his woodworking shop, Hollinger is building a sawmill that will be able to cut a board that is seven feet wide from a single log. It will be used to make large table tops for customers that want one made from a single piece of wood. It will also be used to cut table tops from massive stumps.

"Some of the guys who have been with me for a few years now will never forget the days when we had to hand plane all the slabs flat and sand everything by hand," Hollinger says.

"We have a big planer now, and a bunch of machinery."

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