About the Timber A brief description of the timbers used Click on an image to enlarge

Mediterranean Olivewood Olive wood is a beautiful type of wood and is used in many luxury goods. Olives are a huge economic importance in the Mediterranean and the trees are never harvested for their wood. So, all olive wood is limited to tree clippings, branches, and trees destroyed by storms or disease. The wood itself is fairly easy to work with, the only problems that may occur is that the wood is subject to cracking when working with a lot of grain The trees themselves grow from 25 to 50 feet tall. The diameter of these trees can reach anywhere from 3-5 feet and the colour is a creamy yellow/brown with dark brown or black contrasting grain. It is this that really makes olive wood stand out so much as the grain can be curly or wavy in shape and also may be straight, interlocked, or wild. Olive trees have been around for a very long time. The earliest record of olive tree groves were recorded to be around 4000 B.C. Many people draw olive trees in backgrounds of religious paintings because they are prevalent in the holy land of Jerusalem. Olive trees are actually quite significant in most religions, however for everybody olive trees are a symbol of peace and beauty.

Oak Oak is probably one of the most well known deciduous timbers. There are said to be over 500 different knowns varieties of this tree and is known for its strength and was extensively used in ship building from at least the Viking era. It was also used in the making of good quality furniture, barrels and numerous other items. A lot of people do not like using oak as the grain can be very course, difficult to work and get a glass like finish. However, I feel that most people buy a wooden pen for it to feel like a wooden pen and not a piece of plastic. Most of the oak that I use is English, but it is not always easy to tell particularly that sourced from old furniture.

Red Oak Widespread throughout Eastern United States Oaks they are the most abundant species group growing in the Eastern hardwood forests. Red oaks grow more abundantly than white oaks. The red oak group comprises many species, of which about eight are commercial. The colour of Red Oak varies from white to a slight pinkish/brown. The wood is similar in general appearance to white oak, but with a slightly less-pronounced figure due to the smaller rays. The wood is mostly straight-grained, with a coarse texture. Red oak is hard and heavy and can be stained to a golden finish, with a wide range of finish tones. And it is used for furniture, flooring, architectural millwork, doors, kitchen cabinets and has many more uses

Sycamore Sycamore trees are native to the UK, deciduous and fairly commonly found from well managed, sustainable woodland sources. The trees can grow to enormous dimensions of 50m height and 1.5m diameter or more and so it follows that Sycamore logs are substantial in size too. As a timber its hardwood, pale white wood. The sap and heartwood are the same colour size and visual qualities. Its grain is broad, strong and vibrant because the annual growth rings of the tree are very marked. The overall colouring is creamy yellow with the marked growth rings a rich reddy-brown. The European Sycamore is known to be the hard and strong but it’s not durable so must not be used for external doors, windows, exterior cladding or garden furniture.

Yew Yew is one of the hardest softwoods and has a good straight grain and a yellowish colour. It is one of the oldest living trees and are often found in Churchyards, where is a number of cases are older than the actual church itself. It is thought that they can live to 3000 years old although those over 1500 years are more common. It was the main timber used for Longbows during the Middle Ages. It has also been used for fine furniture and cabinet making, particularly as a veneer.

Zebrano This wood is also known as Zebrawood due to the colouration of brown or cream with dark blackish brown streaks vaguely resembling a zebra’s stripes. Depending on whether the wood is flatsawn or quartersawn, the stripes can be either chaotic and wavy (flatsawn), or somewhat uniform (quartersawn). The wood has a fairly coarse texture and open pores with the Grain usually wavy or interlocked. The wood saws well but can be very difficult to plane or surface due to the prevalence of interlocking grain. Tearout is common. Zebrawood glues and finishes well, though a transparent pore filler may be necessary for the large open pores which occur on both dark and light surfaces. It is becoming a rare timber due to the decline in its natural range.

Panga Panga Panga Panga is from East and South-East Africa (Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe). This species is sometimes confused with its cousin Wenge which is very similar in appearance but grows in West and Central Africa. This species is a deep, dark chocolate brown with alternating depths of colour and whitish/yellowish tissue which has the effect of stripes and swirls. This tissue sometimes appears light spots on the timber This species looks superb when laid as a parquet wood block floor, with the bold wavy-stripe appearance giving an added dimension and interest. It also works well as a striking border to a paler colour parquet block, such as sycamore or maple. A hard wood, stable and heavy, so as a consequence it has exceptionally good ‘resistance to wear’ properties. It glues satisfactorily and will take a polish well, with a very faint scent when sanded. A dense timber, which feels cool and hard to the touch with a smooth feel to it. This is an unusual species of great interest and quality.

Black Cherry Black Cherry (Also Known as American Cherry, Cabinet Cherry and Rum Cherry) has a heartwood that is a light pinkish brown when freshly cut, darkening to a medium reddish brown with time and upon exposure to light. The grain is usually straight and easy to work—with the exception of figured pieces with curly grain patterns. Cherry is known as being one of the best all-around woods for workability. It is stable, straight-grained, and machines well. It is mostly used for cabinet making, fine furniture, flooring, interior millwork, veneer, turned objects, and small specialty wood items.