Beautiful timber
Sourced exclusively from the Scottish Borders
Our commitment lies in utilising the finest-grade timber, sourced solely from the Scottish Borders. Every furniture piece boasts its own distinct character from the species of your chosen timber. Crafted for enduring quality, our tables come with a satisfaction guarantee, safeguarding against cupping, splitting, and warping.
Elevating Home Aesthetics with Distinctive Tables
Our tables infuse homes with character and beauty, each one uniquely adorned by the distinctive features of its wood. In our standard range, we now exclusively employ locally grown and sourced spruce and Scots pine. The shift from reclaimed wood was necessitated by its increasing scarcity due to high demand, making it challenging to ascertain its origin. Opting for locally grown timber ensures a guaranteed origin from the Scottish Borders, presenting a conscientious, ecological, and sustainable alternative to reclaimed wood sourced from overseas.
Beyond spruce and pine, our tables also feature exquisite craftsmanship in Oak, Beech, Sycamore, Ash and Elm. All our wood hails from trees thriving within a 25-mile radius of our workshop, sourced from a local tree surgeon, thereby avoiding commercial lumber felling. We abstain from using exotic or imported wood, underscoring our commitment to local and sustainable practices. Explore our collection in-store, our shop, our bespoke page or call/email us for further details.
Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
Also known as redwood, red pine, Scots fir (and a few more names) it is our national tree in Scotland and is the only native pine and one of three native conifers along with Juniper and Yew. You can easily tell a pine tree from a spruce or fir by looking at the needles. On a Scots Pine the needles are joined to the branches in clusters of two where on a spruce or fir they join to the branches individually. The Scots Pine is a magnificent tree towering in the glens and valleys of Scotland making a perfect home for our native wildlife. Mature trees grow to 35m and can live for up to 700 years. The wood works well with our hand and machine tools with pale reddish-brown heartwood and creamy white sapwood. It has a typical dry weight of 510kg per cubic metre so is heavier than spruce.
Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis)
Also known as silver spruce and yellow spruce this species accounts for around half of the plantations in Scotland making it a sustainable resource. An imposing and useful tree that, whilst not as valuable as our native conifers, provides shelter for birds and small mammals. It was introduced to Britain in 1831 and has been grown for timber in upland plantations ever since, it tends to flourish in the north and west of the UK on damper and elevated sites. The wood is light yellow to pale brown in colour and typically straight grained but occasionally spiral with an even texture and natural lustre. It works well with our hand and machine tools and stains well. In addition to furniture it is also very popular with luthiers for making soundboards for stringed instruments. It has a typical dry weight of 430kg per cubic metre. As well as Spruce we also use Douglas Fir, Grand Fir and Silver Fir when available to us.
European Oak (Quercus robur)
Also known as English oak and common oak this tree holds a special place in our history, history and hearts. It supports more life than any other tree in the UK with even its fallen leaves supporting biodiversity. Oak is a large deciduous hardwood tree which grows to 40m in height living typically for up to 600 years. Oak trees take a long time (at least 150 years) to reach maturity so they are a precious resource whose value should not be underestimated. The presence of ‘oak’ furniture on the high street is responsible for a misconception that oak is a widely available material coming from an inexhaustible source, this is far from true. When you ask us to make a table from oak it will be expensive and we make no excuse for this as the oak we use is from old trees that have not been felled for commercial purposes with a limited supply per year. The timber will have been dried outside for years (decades in some cases) then finished in our kiln. The wood varies from light tan to biscuit or deep brown often with distinct bands of earlywood and latewood. The grain is usually straight but irregular and cross grain can occur along with visible medullary rays. It is fairly hard, heavy and dense (making it slow to dry) with high crushing and bending strength. It has a typical dry weight of 720kg per cubic metre.
European Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
Also known as common beech or the queen of British trees, it is majestic and home to rare wildlife. Beech is a large deciduous hardwood tree which grows to 40m developing a large domed crown. The beech we use is usually spalted or flamed varying in colour from white to very pale brown and may darken to a pale pinkish-brown. It has a straight grain with a fine, even texture and characteristic fleck or ray figure. It has a high crushing strength and is quite hard on our hand and machine tools. It has a typical dry weight of 720kg per cubic metre.
Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)
Also known as sycamore plane, great maple or plane (in Scotland), it might have been introduced to the UK by the Romans or in the 1500s since when it has colonised woodlands and become a source of food and shelter for wildlife. This broadleaf tree can grow to 35m and live for 400 years. The wood is creamy-white to light golden-brown. It can be straight grained but does produce some really lovely fiddleback figuring. The wood is hard and works well with our hand and machine tools. One of our favourites. It has a typical dry weight of 610kg per cubic metre.