Wood Species

Because of its dimensional size, length, availability, strength, beauty and structural integrity, Douglas Fir has long been the wood species of choice for most North American timber framing projects.

Green Douglas Fir is readily available, and has excellent structural qualities with beautiful grain patterns. It is available in large dimensions and long lengths and is harvested by mills with aggressive sustainability and replanting policies. To help minimize wood movement, shrinking, and checking, #1 & better free of heart material is selected by default. Shrinking and checking is to be expected and adds to the uniqueness of each individual piece of material from this renewable natural resource.

Kiln dried and radio frequency kiln dried material is also available. The controlled drying of the material increases the stability and decreases its tendency to shrink and check.

Beetle kill and standing dead timbers are readily available. Because of natural drying these timbers tend to be more stable as well.

Salvaged material, some of the most unique and beautiful projects we work on have been built with salvaged timbers. Timbers that have been used and aged in a previous structure but are given new life through the salvaging efforts of others.

Oak, spruce, cedar, pine, southern yellow pine and other species are also available and can be quoted. Sizing and specifications for each species varies according to the structural properties of the material selected.