Air dried waney edge boules are our through and through sawn logs, cut into boards and strapped together for seasoning.
Our air dried wood boules have been milled and sticked and stacked so they can be left outside in all weathers to season for at least a year per inch of thickness.
It might sound a bit counterintuitive to put something outside when you want it to dry but external seasoning really does bring the moisture in the timber boards down. The boules are so saturated when they’re first milled that they’re permanently giving off moisture until they reach ambient environmental moisture levels.
Of course that varies throughout the year.
Once they reach 17-21% moisture and have endured a few circles around the sun they’re seasoned enough to be suitable for use outside as furniture, timber frames, external cladding, joinery, decking, boat building or indeed, for kilning.
Boules are special.
They hold the story of the tree, now a sawn log, intact.
We try to keep them whole for the purpose of selection until they are dry enough to be used or kilned – in which case they’re moved to what we call the Z-rack or into the KD woodshed. Air dried waney edge boards are kept racked externally instead of internally to maintain an appropriate ambient moisture level. We keep those racks stocked with significant volumes, ready to use and well seasoned Oak in a useful range of thicknesses, widths and lengths.
We make air dried wood boards available for self-selection, from stock, both onsite or online, and we price on cutting lists just as we do for kiln dried boards. The process of selection, the grade standards and the machining services available are all the same.
We also keep Chestnut and homegrown redwoods in Larch, Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir if your requirement is for cladding.
Our air dried wood stock is all listed in our online SHOP.
