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(all
our wood is air dried, this is preferable to being kiln dried as
the slower process enables the wood to cure, its natural oils are
maintained making it more of an 'live' material.)
White Pine (pinus
monticola)
The pine we use is salvaged from clearcuts and burn piles, it is
old growth. it is sometimes called 'pumpkin pine' because of its
rich colours: view video footage of the beauty inside such' waste'
wood, taking at a local wood mill.
Douglas Fir (pseudotsuga
menziesii)
The fir we use comes mainly from salvaged timbers
from old buildings that have been demolished. sadly the quality
furniture grade of fir is no longer available, as the old growth
forests have been clearcut and replaced with tree farms where the
trees are cut on a short rotation, producing large growth rings
and a less stable structure. some of the buildings our fir has come
from recently included a cannery in ocean falls (1890s) and the
old officers mess at the esquimalt navy base (1930s).
Garry Oak (quercus
garryana)
The oak we use is obtained througth the vancouver
island workworkers guild which we have been members for a number
of years. the guild has a wood recovery project, which obtains trees
( windblown or diseaed ) from the city of victoria and mills the
wood which then is available to guild members.
Bitter cherry (prunus
emarginata)
This is a shy locally growing hardwood that is often viewed by forest
companies as a weed tree and is cut or ringed to make way for more
commercial species. we obtained some of this wood from a sympathetic
forester. we also 'coppice' this tree,( for example we use them
for stool legs ), as it regrows from the root base.
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Big
Leaf Maple (acer macrophyllum)
A local hardwood we have from local small mills, has varied patterns
birds eye, spalting etc.
Red Alder (alnus
rubra)
A softer hardwood tree, still considered a weed tree to foresters,
we have wood from local mills.
Western Yew (taxus
brevifolia)
This slow growing tree is considered endangered
because of over harvesting we have yew that was left as waste and
salvaged from clearcuts. because of its small dimensions and dark
rich colours we usually use it as trim.
.
Western Red Cedar (thuja
plicata), Yellow cedar (chamaecyparis
nootkatensis)
We use these woods for usually outdoor
furniture, again salvaged by a small local mill. it is getting harder
to find yellow cedar, it is a higher elevation tree and slow growing
and has been over harvested.
Arbutus/Madrone (arbutus menziesii)
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