Where our logs come from

Whole tree recovery from sustainable sources

We aim for whole tree recovery

The UK generally has a very good climate for tree growth and all UK countries have taken action in the last 80 or so years to increase the amount of forested land through planting initiatives and grants to landowners. Domestically, we still only produce a small fraction of the timber the country needs (a tiny fraction of this is hardwood) and import the rest either as a raw material or finished timber products. Making full use of locally produced timber, even if it needs to be a little more expensive, supports a small but important industry and makes reforestation more likely so we can all enjoy the woods. Having said that, it's even better to get wood from sources that would otherwise be wastefully contributing to climate change.

Clearing trees surgery waste
Tree surgery waste we bought from a homeowner

We know exactly where our logs came from (mostly to the individual tree), because we cut the vast majority ourselves as part of our own industrial site clearance and tree surgery operations. We actively purchase tree surgery “waste”, fallen trees and standing dead trees to buy from other tree surgeons and land owners. We pay good rates of between £50 and £200 per ton for this waste to encourage less chipping and more timber recovery. A dead or fallen tree has a value and can be made into all sorts of useful products.

Buying tree surgery waste creates a real lottery situatiuon compared to buying artic loads of graded logs from forestry but it also means we get lots of unusual species such as Robinia, Fruit trees, Gum, Rowan, Elder and Hawthorne that forestry just doesnt produce for larger sawmills. A lot of the species and log shapes normally rejected for sawn timber production and firewood make the best charcoal and biochar with the odd spectacular wood turning blank thrown in. The small branches and leaves are mulched and sold for weed control and paths.

Tree cutting with chainsaw
Removing dead, dying or unwanted trees is the most eco friendly source of logs


We try to do the best thing for each individual log, so a single tree can feed all four of our main processes. One processes bi-product feeds the next and the waste created from each stage is fed back into the system. This focussed approach is slow and fiddly so we can’t do huge volumes and you never know what we might have in stock, but it does mean we get variety, a fantastic recovery rate and can get the absolute most from each tree.