Sawn timber

The majority of our softwood comes from two plantations we manage; one on Exmoor near the Bray valley and one up near Kington on the Herefordshire/Welsh border. Stocked with a mixture of Sitka Spruce, Larch, Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar, we generally fell to order which causes minimal disturbance to the woodland and allows us to continuously improve the quality of existing timber. The logs are then milled up either on site in the woods or back at our yard with a small Lumbermate 2000. The species stocked each have different characteristics and therefore different subsequent uses. Sitka Spruce, whilst not very durable externally, grows very quickly, is light and doesn’t split when nailed. This makes it ideal as a carcassing timber. Douglas Fir and Larch grows slower and is therefore denser and harder. This then makes them stronger and less rot-prone making them perfect as a jointed framing timbers. The Cedar is renowned for its durability and in North America is prized as framing timber; however in Britain it grows too quickly losing a lot of its strength. It does however make it ideal for use in cladding and decking. We therefore have the capability to produce all the different components of almost any timber building.

Hewn timber & Shingles

Hewing is the traditional method of boxing out a square beam from a round log using axes. The timber is first roughly knocked off with a felling axe, then cut back flat with a broad axe. Most often this hewn face is how the timber was left to be jointed up but in finer jobs the carpenter would then scrub plane the beam to get the finish even finer. A hewn face has a much richer more interesting feel than a sawn face and gives a timber frame a unique hand crafted feel that is impossible to replicate using any other technique. We also use Hewn timber in restoration projects where we are required to match any new timber in with the old using the same style of conversion.

We also make hand cleft Sweet Chestnut or Oak shingles and Oak pegs to order.