Timber Selection
Coordinating two or more different timbers for your project is a very rewarding exercise.
Derek brings years of experience and sheer enthusiasm in helping their customers find the best timber for their project.
We can help you find the right board or slab for a particular look or impression you’re trying to recreate, matching an existing piece, or a feature in grain, pattern or shape.
Everything from a jewellery box, to a large piece of furniture, to a whole kitchen can be enhanced by using different coloured timbers. Inlays are also available for that fine piece.
We always try to picture the finished product thereby helping you to find the best pieces of timber to gain the optimal outcome for your project.
Smarter buying guide
When ordering timber you can save money by…
Using boards narrower than 125mm
Using less expensive species.
Purchasing “packs" of matched timber boards. Not only will this be less expensive per board, but all the timber will be colour and feature matched.
Use feature grade boards. These are up to 30% less expensive than normal grade.
Specify the exact size of the finished product required. DO NOT add waste. We will add that for you. For example; if you require boards for a table top that is 1.8m long don’t ask for 2.1m boards. We may not have any and will tell you that the next size up that is available are 3.3m long for example. So you may end up paying for 3.3m boards even though we may have had lots of 1.8’s.
When ordering, tell us the smallest sizes that you are going to cut the boards into. For example; if you need ten drawer fronts 600mm long and 180mm wide, don’t ask us for one board that is six metres long because we will most likely tell you that we don’t have it.
Don’t ask for boards wider than you require thinking the you will cut narrower boards out of it. You will be paying more per cubic metre for wider boards.
Send a drawing if you can. Hand drawn is fine. This allows us to pick up any problems with the design (in our opinion) and we may be able to have some input on how to alter to save you some money. It also allows us to work out the flow of grain so we can supply the correct size boards to get the best result. For example, if you decide you wish to build a coffee table with waterfall ends then we will supply you with a single piece of sufficient length to make the two legs and top so that the grain flows all the way up, across and down the piece. The same applies to drawer fronts.
Advise us if your project is not for the purpose of building furniture. In this case, you may be able to use air-dried timber or even green sawn (fresh cut) timber which will be less expensive than kiln dried timber.
To minimise confusion, please use the correct terminology.
Length is the dimension of the board along/following the grain. Use the terms longer or shorter.
Width is the dimension across the grain. Use the terms wider or narrower.
Thickness is the smallest dimension between two faces of the board. Use the terms thicker or thinner.
It doesn’t matter how the furniture is orientated against a wall or in which direction the board is situated within a project, these terms don’t change.
Timber board dimensions
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE WILL CHARGE A STORAGE FEE OF $110 PER WEEK FOR ANY ORDERS NOT PICKED UP WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF THEM BEING READY UNLESS ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE.
Milling & Cutting
We can mill your logs for you.
One of our milling machines at our Donnybrook premises
Our primary mill is a horizontal bandsaw capable of milling logs up to 900mm diameter and 6m long. This mill is computer controlled and has log rollers and other devices to allow us to position the log to get the exact cut that we want. Being a bandsaw, there is very little waste of the log. It also allows us to make wide cuts.
In addition we have a larger bandsaw capable of milling logs up to 1200mm diameter and 11m long. This mill is primarily used for slabbing larger logs.
We are familiar with most milling techniques including quarter sawing. We do not just “slab” logs unless that is what is required.
Milling is conducted at our premises on Charley Creek Road just out of Donnybrook.
Slabbing usually costs $500 per cubic metre os sawn timber. Other types of milling will have to be quoted.
Any metal objects hit whilst milling will incur a fee of between $220 and $880 depending on which mill is being used.
Note: There is a minimum charge of $220
Sanding & Machining
We can also sand and machine your timber to order.
We have a wide belt sander capable of sanding up to 900mm wide. In addition we can hand sand for that final super smooth finish.
We can machine or sand your timber regardless of whether it was purchased from us or not.
We can machine slabs up to 4.8m long and 1.8m wide.
We can resaw boards up to 300mm wide. Contact with metal in the board cost $220 per hit.
Normal size boards can be square dressed as required. Our thicknesser and planer can machine up to 410mm wide.
Timber Terms
Understanding these terms will almost certainly prevent any disappointment when receiving your order. THIS IS IMPORTANT.
Rough sawn. If you have ordered your timber rough sawn then it will come as it has straight off the sawmill and after drying. Thickness may vary by a few millimetres. The boards or slabs will not be exactly flat or straight. They may also be cupped or bowed or twisted. Unless you specify any other treatment your timber will come from us to you as a rough sawn product. There is no problem with us supplying you with a machined or sanded or finished product, but if you don’t request that rough sawn is what you will get. In other words, if you ring us and ask for 20 lineal metres of 200 x 25 Jarrah boards they will come to you as a rough sawn board. It will still need several other treatments being done to it before it can be used.
Green/green sawn timber. This means that the timber has not been dried. It will shrink as it dries. It may twist, cup or bow or otherwise mover during the drying process.
LOCAL SPECIES TIMBER GRADE. Our timber is graded in house to “feature grade”, “standard and better” or “select”. Feature grade means that it will have some defects in the boards that may be cracking, twisting, excessive gum, bug holes or other defects. Standard and better is the grade that most boards come under. This is better quality than feature grade and will require less work (filling) by the user to make a finished product. Unless otherwise requested, THIS IS THE GRADE THAT YOU WILL BE SUPPLIED. It will usually have at least one good clean face and one good clean edge. The back may have cracking, gum veins etc (feature grade). Therefore you will most likely have to do some filling when using this grade. Select grade means that you will be supplied with boards that have no or only very minor defects and basically require no filling to complete the project. We sometimes have customers that complain because a board that we supply is not the perfect DEFECT FREE board. THAT IS BECAUSE IT IS GRADED S&B. If you want a defect free board then specify “select grade”.
Please note that our grading may differ between species. For example, just because Marri has got gum in the board does not make it a feature grade board. It makes it a gummy board. What makes Marri feature grade is excessive gum, cracked gum veins, cracking etc as mentioned above. A Jarrah board will be classified as feature grade if it contains much less gum than a Marri board, because the gum veins of Marri are a known feature of Marri (and often sort after). I realise this can be confusing. To try and make this clear. A Marri board with two large gummy veins running the full length of the board, but are not cracked will be classified as S&B. A Jarrah board (or most other species for that matter) with this same feature will be graded as feature grade.
Imported timbers will be graded in accordance with the applicable grades from the countries from where they come. Unless otherwise specified if you order American timber from us it will be graded FAS (the highest grade) and European timber will be A/AB. Plenty of internet reference material on this.
Standard and better is the normal price that we quote. Feature grade will be up to 30% cheaper and select grade up to 50% dearer.
“Machining” slabs. “I want my slab machined”. This means that the slab (or slabs if book matched) will be supplied to you having been machined with a thicknesser or a Wood Wizz so that it is of consistent thickness and is flat (twisting and cupping have been removed). It is no longer “rough sawn”. It does not have saw marks on it. It has not been sanded or anything else done to it.
“Machining” boards. This means that the board is dressed using a planer to get one face and one edge straight and square to each other, and then it is run through a thicknesser to ensure that all sides are now straight and square to each other. Machining results in all surfaces of the board being smooth and ready to be used for making furniture etc. This is also referred to as dressing the timber. Also DAR (dressing all round). If you want only the faces (the two widest sides of the board) made flat and straight then just ask for the faces only to be dressed or machined. Machining/dressing has nothing to do with the length of the board ie it does not mean that we will cut the board to the exact length. Machine/dressing does not mean that the timber has been sanded.
Machined timber will almost always “move” slightly after machining. This is normal. This is why it is better to machine your project slightly over size first, then let it acclimate for a while, then machine to final size. Usually timber is only machined once, to final size straight away. For various reasons of cost and time etc. This can be done because any movement after machining is not usually of any great degree.
“Milling, re-milling or resawing”. This means that will will use a saw of some description to cut your timber to smaller dimension(s). It will come back to you as a rough sawn piece.
Boards will always be supplied longer than requested, not to exact length. In other words we will supply you with a board that can be trimmed to the exact finished size by the end user. We can supply you with an exact length if desired but this will obviously add to the cost. We do this as a cost saving measure, but most importantly because very often the size of a project will get very slightly modified during the manufacturing process (as most woodworkers will know from experience).
If you require a wide surface for your project we will assume that this can be made up of multiple boards. If you require a surface to be only one piece please specify. This is because woodworkers know that this is what is usually done (to join multiple pieces to get width).
If you want your timber sanded then you will need to specify this. A dressed/machined board or slab means that it is treated as describe above which does not include sanding. Machine sanding means that we run it through a wide belt sander to sand the faces ONLY. You will need to specify if in addition you want the edges sanded or the project “finish sanded” ie it is ready to be coated with oil/varnish etc.
Sanding does not mean that it has been filled. Most projects will require some amount of filling of the voids or gum veins or other imperfections.
“Joining” means that we will use normal woodworking methods to join two or more pieces together to make a wider surface, or occasionally a thicker piece. A joined project will still have glue squeeze out and will not have had any other treatment done to it before being supplied to you. ie it will not have been re-machined, sanded, filled etc. We can do all of these things but you must specify that you want us to do them.
“Finishing or a finished project” means that the timber has been coated with a special timber coating to protect it and to minimise moisture movement in and out of the timber. Timber coatings may be oil, varnish, lacquer or several other types.