Natural Edges uses local woods from a number of small local mills. We also actively salvage blow down and unloved  trees within the Capital Regional District (CRD). All our wood is air dried. This is preferable to being kiln dried as the slower process enables the wood to cure maintaining its natural oils making it more of a ‘live’ material. Please phone for quotes and availability.

White Pine (pinus monticola)

The old growth Pine we use is salvaged from clearcuts and burn piles from around Jorden River on the West coast of Vancouver Island. It is sometimes called ‘pumpkin pine’ because of its rich colours. Watch link.

Milling salvaged Pine

Douglas Fir (pseudotsuga menziesii)

The fir we use comes mainly from salvaged timbers from old buildings. It is becoming more difficult to obtain quality furniture grade Fir. On the Island here Fir mainly grows on the dryer East coast which has been heavily logged and developed. The forest replaced with tree farms where the trees are cut on a short rotation this produces large growth rings and a less stable structure. Some of the buildings our fir has come from recently included a cannery in Ocean Falls (1890s) and the old officers mess at the Esquimalt navy base (1930s).

Garry Oak (quercus garryana)

The Oak we use is obtained through our connections with local arborists and is usually wind blown or diseased trees . Garry Oaks have limited protection within the CRD.

Bitter cherry (prunus emarginata)

This is a shy locally growing hardwood that is often viewed by forest companies as a weed tree and is cut or ringed to make way for more commercial species. We obtained some of this wood from a sympathetic forester and have also coppiced this tree and use them for example as stool legs.

Big Leaf Maple (acer macrophyllum)

A local hardwood we have some from local small mills, has varied patterns birds eye, spalting etc. A readily available wood that has good  resistant to wear and has fine colour and grain.

Red Alder (alnus rubra)

A softer hardwood tree, still considered a weed tree to foresters, we have wood from local mills. Has a fine buttery texture with great colours.

Western Yew (taxus brevifolia)

This slow growing tree is considered endangered and has limited protection within the CRD. It is not considered a commercial timber, except for Taxol an anti cancer agent which is obtained from its bark, yet it is still cut and left in clearcuts. Our wood is salvaged from burn piles and clearcuts. Yew can be a difficult wood to work with as its very hard and has such varied  grain, there are also large voids within the tree but it has a rich dark colour with the contrasting sap wood very pale.

Western Red Cedar (thuja plicata)

Yellow  cedar (chamaecyparis nootkatensis)

We use these woods for usually outdoor furniture, again salvaged by a small local mill. It is getting harder to find Yellow Cedar, it is a higher elevation tree and slow growing and has been over harvested.

Arbutus/Madrone (arbutus menziesii)

This tree has limited protection in the CRD. We havent used this tree much, it is often in small dimensions and has a high water content when green making warping a problem.