The Timber Journey
Drive two hours north of Melbourne and you will come to Shepparton, where you will find our workshop and uncover big stacks of timber that are just waiting patiently for what’s next. While we welcome clients to the workshop wherever possible, we thought we would take some time and share behind the scenes information about the timber we use and the full-circle journey it makes in the local environment we live in.
Where do we get our timber from?
We are lucky enough to have lots of local timber mills at our fingertips with the majority of our timber grown in sustainably-managed forestry within hours of our location. We love the natural beauty of Victorian Ash timber and have developed strong relationships with our suppliers who know the exact type of timber we like and go above and beyond to ensure that we have great quality timber to handcraft beautiful pieces from. Our suppliers are passionate about their timber, and we love that even the truck drivers who deliver our timber are great to work with. We know that when we are working with good people, who know their product and are passionate about what they can offer us that this is ultimately going to be a big plus for our customers too. These relationships take time, and that is why we are so pleased that our suppliers often take the time to travel to our workshop in order to familiarise themselves with the types of timber that best suit our products and design style.
Now that there is change in the air, regarding Victorian Legislation of timber forestry; you can be assured that we will be working with our suppliers to guarantee a supply of environmentally friendly and sustainable Victorian Ash timber.
We also offer a small range of imported timber options, all from sustainably-farmed forestry, to ensure a constant supply of timber at different price points for our customers. We also know that demands on locally-grown timbers will continue to grow, so in order to provide our customers with greater choice and availability of products, we will also need to diversify to imported timbers going forward. That’s enough of that, let’s get into the good stuff. What do we do with the timber when it arrives in our workshop?
Timber selection
The truck arrives, the excitement of my husband is clear. New timber. New possibilities. New stories to be told in timber. As each pack of timber is unloaded we have a good yarn to the truck driver and rub our hands together ready for the work ahead. From here, stacks of rough sawn timber are sorted by hand and each piece thoughtfully considered before being grouped together with other like lengths, colours and grain patterns. When we consider each piece we are looking at the colour, the grain, the characteristics of the timber and size. For some of our ranges, such as our Round Stools we like to select timber with lots of yummy character; be it gum vein lines, knots, small holes, fiddleback markings etc. For other pieces, such as our Bracket Shelves, we opt for Victorian Ash timber with a straighter grain and lighter colour. While we know that each piece of timber is completely unique, we do like to match our pieces as closely as possible, to the photos for each listing so that our customers are aware of what their end product will look like. We work hard our timber selection, and are always happy to receive a specific request from our customers, especially if it needs to match an existing piece of furniture.
The handcrafting process
The next step is to take that piece of rough sawn timber and turn it into the end product that is then carefully packaged up and sent to its new home. We take great pride in the modern furniture construction techniques we use, along with the traditional joinery techniques that are tried and true in the formation of each piece. The structural integrity of each piece, combined with our great attention to detail for every facet of the furniture we make allows us to bring new life to the timber and encapsulate the natural beauty of the timber in its new form. It is always a joy to see how each piece turns out, right up until the very last step of when the finish is applied, the unique character of each piece of timber is slowly uncovered and revealed making every piece special.
Our workshop is full of different tools, from precision machines to many hand tools, all ready waiting to be used for their exact purpose. We also have many zones in our workshop to allow us to have lots of projects on the go at the same time, making us more efficient with our work processes. Maybe one day I will do a blog on our workshop so you can really see where the action happens. But perhaps it might need a bit of a clean-up first!
Once completed
Once each piece is completed in moves from the workshop into our storage/packaging room. From here it is either stored safely ready to be sold. Or if it is a custom piece or piece on order it is packaged up and sent on its way. We do offer local customers the opportunity to collect their items from the workshop, however we are really proud of being able to offer our products to both domestic and international customers by making our pieces freight friendly. That means you can shop with us from no matter what corner of the world you live in!
We also take great care in selecting what packaging choices we make for each piece. The vast majority of our packaging material is recyclable or biodegradable. Each order is hand selected and then the right boxes are chosen to suit the combination of pieces required. Custom cardboard boxes, along with biodegradable packing foam or scrunched paper are our main go to materials. Occasionally we need to use a small amount of bubble wrap to ensure the protection of the timber during transit, however we trust that our eco-conscious customers at the other end will find an appropriate way to re-use this packing material.
What happens to the offcuts and waste?
Throughout the handcrafting process, there are many off-cuts, small and large, along with lots of sawdust produced! And while our main focus is on our beautiful range of products, we don’t like to see any piece of timber go to landfill, so there is quite a journey ahead for every piece of timber that doesn't make it into furniture.
Larger off-cuts are almost always repurposed into smaller items, with many coasters and charcuterie boards being made out of these pieces. The smaller off-cuts are collected together and grouped into sizes for use as fire wood or little bags of kindling that our children prepare for our local community. Then there is the sawdust. Bags and bags of sawdust! It is amazing how the last little bit of timber can be such a prized gift to another. The old adage, “one mans trash is another mans treasure” certainly applies here as our sawdust has a happy home in many local gardens in our area. Sawdust is a great addition to compost and we regularly supply a few avid gardeners with sawdust that becomes the most fertile and rich soil; and the life cycle is complete!
This photo gives me great joy to see the bouquet of flowers, grown in the rich soil produced by the compost in which the very sawdust from building this piece of furniture goes into. So the cycle goes from the ground which grows the trees, to become the furniture, that results with sawdust, that becomes part of the compost, that is used to grow the flowers that sit in the vase on the beautiful piece of timber furniture…what a joy!
The end of the journey for us, the beginning for you
So I guess the end of the journey for us, is when our customers have their newly purchased handcrafted piece in their own home. But what is exciting for us, is that it is an end for us, but a beginning for our customer. We hope that it will be a piece that will last for generations to come. Our products are built to stand the test of time, and we know that they won’t be adding to the piles of cheap and nasty furniture that ends up in hard rubbish and ultimately in the landfill. If you ever get a chance to share with us where our furniture and decor has ended up in your home, we would love to know what has happened to it next!
