A small proportion of our timber, on account of its size or species, falls into what we call specialist timber. Specialist timber is timber that customers buy for character, place of origin and scale to meet very unique needs.
Specialist timber tends to come from less common tree species or trees that are much larger. Growing or harvesting these trees can be technically challenging. Harvesting this type of timber needs specialist skills, and equipment that our foresters don't usually use.
Our specialist timber customers tend to be smaller business who produce bespoke, one-off products. We are always surprised by the eclectic and interesting projects in which our timber takes centre stage.
Case studies
Festive cheer: providing Christmas trees
Every year towns and cities across the UK are lit up by Christmas trees provided by us. We supply towering Sitka trees that stand between 30 and 60 feet. They are carefully felled by experts before being loaded onto flatbed trucks and starting their journeys to be displayed across the UK.
From sick trees to bespoke furniture: giving new life to a diseased tree
In 2022 we felled a diseased ash tree. The tree was growing alongside a public foot path in a forest which posed a danger to the public. The disease makes the tree more brittle and more likely to splinter, increasing the risk of branches falling onto the foot path.
We saw an opportunity to turn loss into creativity. By partnering with skilled craftspeople, we were able to fell the tree and give each piece of timber from it a new purpose. The pieces are now with local woodworkers being prepared to be made into furniture.
Masts for a maritime icon
In 2016 we were asked by Mackays of Arbroath to supply two new ships masts for the PS Waverley. The world's last ocean-going paddle steamer and an icon of Scotland's maritime history. After a nationwide search of Scotland's national forests, two seventeen metre logs were found.
Sourced from Faskally, near Pitlochry, they were moved to Arbroath. There, traditional boat-building tools were used to work on them.
The pictures below show an example of logs that were felled in Kirkhill in 2023 to be used for masts. These logs were then transported to boat builders Johnson and Loftus in Ullapool.
Local, sustainable and unique
Many of our specialist timber customers recognise the value of telling a story with our timber. Home-grown timber which comes from a sustainable source can be an important part of that story.