The production stages of a solid wood piece of furniture, from the tree to your home!

We take great pleasure in this whole eco-responsible process and we like to do as much of it ourselves as possible here in the workshop so that in the end we have the greatest possible control to achieve unparalleled quality.

Tree selection and cutting

We always strive to select trees nearing the end of their life cycle to limit our environmental footprint, and certain criteria are important to respect before cutting down and processing a tree. We also salvage trees that have been cut down to make way for new construction.

Once chosen, the trees are cut down and all the branches are removed to be used as firewood, and the trunk is cut into several sections to facilitate handling the wood.

Sawing

Once the logs are properly prepared, a mobile sawmill is brought in to saw the wood into planks. It's a bit like a large band saw that cuts the wood into planks based on thickness and width. The bark is also collected for firewood, kindling, or even decorations. 

Wood drying

Once the wood is sawn, we coat the ends with a sealant to prevent cracking during the drying process. The wood is then transported and placed in a drying kiln. At our workshop, we decided to dry the wood as ecologically as possible. So, we built our own wood kiln that runs on solar energy. For several weeks, the wood will be in our kiln, which resembles a greenhouse and has fans that circulate air through the wood to accelerate the drying process. Otherwise, the wood would take years to dry. 

Drying is a crucial step in the process, because if the wood has too high a moisture content, it will continue to move, crack, and warp until it is dry, at around 6-8% moisture. Therefore, if a piece of furniture is made with damp wood, it is very likely to warp.

Jointing and planing

Once the drying process is complete, the boards will most likely not be perfectly straight. Therefore, the wood must be planed and jointed to make it straight, but also to ensure that we have the required thickness for making the piece of furniture. 

The cuts and the assembly

Once the wood is perfectly straight, it must then be cut to the lengths required for the piece of furniture, and the pieces are glued together using wood glue. The glue binds the wood fibers together, and the glue joint itself is said to be stronger than the wood itself. Therefore, there is no risk of the wood coming apart over time, even after many years. 

The finish

Once assembled, the piece of furniture must be sanded, and the level of sanding will depend on the piece being made. For example, a dining table will generally require sanding up to a 180 grit. Some will sand to an even finer grit; however, we like to be able to feel the wood when you touch it, and we do everything we can to preserve its natural appearance. 

Finally, a finish is applied to the wood. This step seals the wood, preventing anything from penetrating the grain. This makes it much more durable and protects the furniture from humidity fluctuations. The finishing products we use are chemical-free and safe for your health; these products can also be used to add color to your furniture to match your decor. 

We made a short video showing the steps described above when we collected several white pine logs from a piece of land very close to our workshop.