We buy local.
We have always committed to only buying round wood from within Wales (and this almost always from North Wales). We are certified Grown In Britain suppliers, which offers an independent verification that all of our milled timber 100% traceable, of UK provenance, and legaly felled from woodlands managed to UK Forestry Standard.
By offering locally sourced timber, we can better support the local economy and offer a more sustainable product by reducing ‘timber miles’. Timber miles are a representation of the amount of energy required (and thus carbon emitted to atmosphere) or moving wood from A to B. Full articulated trucks weighing in at 44 tonnes will generally achieve around 4 miles per gallon and we feel it is essential that timber travel the shortest distance possible from forest to sawmill.
WE SUPPLY ‘The right timber for the right job’.
We select species that are suitable for our climate and are multifunctional; timbers like larch and Douglas fir which are durable in the damp conditions prevalent in western Britain and can be used for cladding, building and furniture making. Whether it be using pure larch heartwood for exterior cladding or large sections of Douglas fir for house building, making sure that the right timber is used in the right place increases the life of that item and so decreases pressure on woodlands to produce replacements.
We only kiln dry wood where necessary.
Where it is unnecessary we do not kiln dry wood (fencing, sawn cladding, large dimension timbers), as up to 30% of the energy stored within a given piece of timber can be used to dry it, significantly increasing to carbon emissions per cubic meter. Where possible we air dry, however where conditions do not allow this (we’re in wet North Wales after all!), or where particular precision on moisture content is required (e.g. for floorboards) we use our low energy steam kiln.
We never treat wood.
This is based partly on the science of how treatment works and partly because the meagre benefits of timber treatment simply do not outweigh environmental costs.
We support our local economy.
As well as the environmental benefits of reducing timber miles, we also buy locally for the economic benefits. By buying Welsh and certified Grown In Britain we are helping to make our economy more circular, keeping money in the hands of local people, working close to home who can then spend their money in locally owned businesses. As a workers co-operative, enhancing the local economy and working to grow a strong, recognisably Welsh timber trade is one of our driving ideals.
Our sawmill operates a Zero Waste Policy.
Our sawmill operates a Zero Waste Policy, everything we make has a home. As a rule all of our Grade 1 timber is cut to order and we keep our Grade 2 timbers as stock on the yard. Even achieving cutting efficiencies of over 75% we still generate some unusable wood (slabwood); we bundle this up and sell it on, mostly to local people, some of this goes to firewood, but a surprisingly large amount finds another life as building materials in inventive constructions.
Even our sawdust and shavings are used as animal bedding, in compost toilets and composting systems which are then spread back on the land. Here the tiny wood chips can be incorporated as soil organic matter, locking up carbon whilst also forming the building blocks that enrich the soil.