Salvage and Reclamation

Steps:


  1. We obtain our wood from various places as such salvaging windfall trees from local farmers (See image above), scrounging luthier 'seconds', leftovers from loggers & arborists, and cut offs from log home builders. We also reclaim wood from houses being demolished or renovated and from old solid-wood furniture that would otherwise be headed to the landfill. The majority of the wood we obtain would otherwise be thrown away, burned, or left to rot. If you think you have a suitable piece for us to use, let us know.
  2. Once we have found a tree or log that suits our needs, we try to utilize as much of it as possible. We typically select pieces with strong figure, character, or interesting colors. Depending on the size of the log, we will either have it processed by a band saw mill or cut it into slabs with a chainsaw. Once processed, we load it up and bring it back to our drying facility in Ryder Lake.
  3. In our drying facility we stack every piece of wood with spacers between layers to allow air to move freely between the boards which assists in drying. (See image at the bottom) We typically air dry our wood for one year per inch of board thickness.
  4. When we have a new project, we will select a suitable piece from our storage stacks (See image at the bottom) that meets the strength, size, weight, and color requirements of the product. We handcraft all of our projects in our Ryder Lake workshop and work on one piece at a time to turn it into something unique. When completed, one of a variety of different finishes may be used depending on the products intended use. For information on the finishes we use check out our Wood Finishes section.

Below are some examples and brief stories of the trees that we salvage.

 

This Oak tree was salvaged in November of 2011 after BC Hydro took it down because a larger branch cracked off and took out a power line. The Farm owner notified us that it was down and even helped to load it into our truck with his large tractor.

 

This Oak tree was salvaged from a residential back yard in the summer of 2011. The tree had been planted by the homeowners son decades ago but had grown to be unsafe. It was taken down by certified arborists for safety reasons as the tree backed onto a public park. After collecting the logs, Clegg Woodcrafts made a bowl from the wood for the homeowner so that she will always retain a useful piece of her valued tree. Further, we took one of the Oak seedling that we grew (see "Our Commitment to Giving Back") and helped the elderly homeowner and her grandchildren plant the new oak tree where the original once stood. The home owner was so pleased to see the tree that meant so much to her and her family was being used productively and that her successive generations were able to restart an earlier tradition of family tree planting.

 

This Western Broadleaf Maple tree was growing with a severe lean and was beginning to rot on one side. The farmer decided to take it down for safety reasons as cows, kids, and equipment passed under it frequently. The healthy side of this tree is being used to craft wooden backings for LEED Canada Plaques.

 

This Ponderosa Pine tree was killed by the Mountain Pine beetle in Kelowna BC. This rancher typically falls the dead trees and burns them in massive piles to kill any remaining beetles. However, the rancher now sets aside logs with extensive blue coloring caused by the beetles and lets Clegg Woodcrafts mill the logs into useful boards. All of our pine comes from this one location salvaging many logs that would otherwise be burnt. (Note: All bark is removed on site then burnt to ensure all the pine beetles and larva are not able to spread)

 

Once milled, the Ponderosa Pine and other species are stacked to air-dry with spacer-sticks between each layer to allow for air circulation.