Increasingly over the years, the environment is rightly taking centre stage in living our lives. We are reminded the choices we make maybe small on their own, but add up collectively to changes for us all.
I consider the environment in my work - primarily reflected in source of materials and working practices, dealt with below.
Firstly, and most importantly, I produce small quantities of items, by hand. I therefore only use small quantities of timber (a few planks a year), nor do I store large amounts.
Whilst timber is renewable, not all trees cut down are renewed. Also, there may be many road / sea miles transporting materials, some timber may be kiln dried (requiring energy).
Whilst I can not mitigate all these issues all the time, this is how I reduce the effects.
My timber comes from various sources. Some are locally grown, from naturally felled trees, which I air dry myself. Theses travel few miles, and being air dried take little energy in drying. For these, I make this clear on the listing.
Other timber is from commercial sources, and will have been kiln dried - it isn't possible to locally source and air dry all my timber due to availability, and number of years to air dry timber (1 year per inch, typically a few years therefore).
Timber that comes from locally felled trees are air dried. For me, this means leaving a few planks or logs outside under cover to dry. This process can take years - on average 1" per year (but can vary considerably). It is therefore not practical to do this on a large scale, for reasons of space, neighbourly sociability and time.
Kiln drying is a commercial practice whereby logs/trees are placed in kilns and dried using various methods. Most commercially available timber is dried this way, and uses energy (although how much per quantity of timber I do not know). I do not own such devices.
Copyright & Disclaimer All information & photos are subject to copyright and disclaimer, outlined at bottom of page.