Case Study: Bryan Kelly’s home refurbishment

Meet Bryan, our first super user…

London based customer Bryan Kelly does all his board selection online and only visits when he needs to spec machining.

In this video Nick and Wayne host Bryan and team for a covid-safe board spec-ing session.

Bryan is our first super user customer. He chooses all the boards he wants for his home refurbishment using the webshop and stock search picking lists from the peace and quiet of his own desk. So far he’s bought over 300 boards this way!

Then we pick them, pack them and deliver them straight to his home or into his joinery team for working.

The only time Bryan needs to travel down from London is when he and his guys want to use our workshop for machining boards before we ship them – not everyone’s got a 1300mm wide planer sander in their workshop – and now we’ve got the hang of contactless collections that’s completely do-able.

Look out for pt 2, we’re hoping to catch Bryan mid-refurb to see what he’s doing with all those boards.

 

Get more info on our workshop services

Buy timber online from the shop or using stock search picking lists

Send a cutting list and pick your service

 

Watch more English Woodlands Timber videos on YouTube

EWT.TV

All About Oak Grades: Have you heard of the Goldilocks Principle?

The Goldilocks principle says there’ll always be one (grade) that’s ‘just right’…

goldilocks tasting the three bowls of porridge

That makes sense to us. The idea that there’s a ‘just right’ for things.

Goldilocks didn’t know which bowl would work, she used trial and error to find out which one was just right for her breakfast.

She messed up everybody’s porridge, broke a chair and fell asleep in the process, all whilst engaged in bit of fairytale trespassing.

 

Thing is, in the non-fairytale world, it’s sometimes hard to tell which porridge is going to be ‘just right’ without having to do the test.

(more…)

Wood Products: A closer look at waney edge Oak

In the ‘olden days’ we used to call it through & through.

Now it’s called waney edge. Or natural edge. Or most often, live edge (that one makes us chuckle… & grimace at the same time!*).

It is an appealing thing in it’s own right, a waney edge board.

It’s the real deal.

Just a split sharp-toothed second away from the log, the standing tree, the leafy canopy, the wilding woodlands.

This is timber in it’s primary conversion state.

Look around you wherever you are and the wood you see in the windowsills and sofa frames, the doorsets and kitchen worktops started out this way.

If you’re a joiner, builder or furniture maker that likes to take boards-to-make based on a cutting list, this is the stuff that we select from for a waney edge spec.

Alternatively, you can self-select straight from stock by building up a picking list or a basket online.

Watch these videos of David & Tom turning some of our waney edge Oak to get a feel for the quality of our stock and our approach to timber.

 

Wood Products: here’s a closer look at waney edge Oak

 

Wood Products: turning some 80mm quarter sawn waney edge boards

 

Wood Products: here’s a closer look at 27mm kiln dried Oak boule

 

Wood Products: turning 5m long 27mm Oak waney edge boards

 

MORE

More about Oak https://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co…​

Search our stock for waney edge Oak boards to buy https://bit.ly/buytimberonline

Watch more English Woodlands Timber videos on YouTube

 

*live edge – because it’s alive with woodworm maybe?!! The sapwood, sitting just under the bark of the tree, is where wood borers lay their eggs so their young can hatch & feed on the sugars in this starchy outer layer.

 

EWT.TV

About Us: Our Lean Journey – ReThinking Square Edge Packs

We set out on a lean thinking project to reduce our waste margins and ended up counting every piece of timber in the woodyard.

In this video Ian McNally – one half of our owner / director duo – explains how and why, as a timber merchant, we’ve been re-thinking our square edge packs.

Lean logic has reduction of waste at it’s core, so when things were getting pretty hairy back in March 2020 we galvanised around ways to get better at what we do for the sake of our customers, their businesses and our own.

But where to start? (more…)

Seasons Greetings

We hope you enjoy this festive animation made by Thomas WH Compton especially for you, our dedicated woodfans.

 

Thank You for your patience, your loyalty and your business this past year. We look forward to working with you in a better and happier New Year.

Best wishes, Tom, Ian and the EWT gang.

Film by Thomas WH Compton
Sound effects obtained from Zapplat

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EWT.TV

About Us: Our Lean Journey – Everyday LEAN

Our owner and director, Ian McNally introduces our LEAN journey and they way we are building on Lean thinking in our business.

Ian talks about how we’re working on a 3 year plan to change our thinking, the way we work and ultimately our business to reduce waste, to increase efficiency and to be better across the board for our customers.

 

Gemma Jones of Spark Improvement is our Lean ‘guru’ and lean business coach – visit Gemma’s website

Watch more English Woodlands Timber videos on YouTube

EWT.TV

Wood Knowledge: Hand Riven Sweet Chestnut Laths

MD Tom Compton introduces a very special product; the riven chestnut lath

Hand riven from split sweet chestnut rounds the laths are made out in the woods under tarp, usually by the extremely hardy and highly skilled woodland workers managing the coppiced woodlands.

The hand riven laths are tradition woodland products, primarily used for traditional lime plastering of ceilings and walls in the restoration of period and heritage properties (although there’s nothing to stop them being used in a new build!).

MORE about Chestnut Hand Riven Laths

 

Watch more English Woodlands Timber videos on YouTube

EWT.TV

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