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Recycling Timber | Reclaimed Timber
Rumour has it that as recently as the late 1980's, large timber sections from the demolition of our old historic buildings were ferried out to sea on a barge and set fire. At that time there was no market for the timber and this solution was cheaper than disposing of the timber in a tip! It seems therefore that it is only in the last 15 years that people been made aware of the inherent beauty of old timbers and the fact that it is recyclable.
Knowing that we can reuse and restore the surfaces of our magnificent enduring hardwoods means that these timbers are now highly sought after.
The older trees that were harvested by our forefathers were usually hundreds of years old when they were logged and stood over ten stories high. Story has it that the imposing old trees would take two experienced axemen two days to fell, and a team of oxen a week to cart away. They weighed a ton and were as hard as concrete!
Such is the legend of our magnificent towering Australian eucalypts. For generations, they built our nation. The old trees may now be lost, but never forgotten…..as we start recycling them and revealing their awesome beauty.
At Ironwood we recycle timber from wharves, wool stores, shearing sheds, factories, warehouses, bridges, mills and derelict buildings. It is a lengthy and laborious process. Under normal circumstances a building which can be demolished in 2 weeks can take up to 3 months to take apart if we are to ensure the safe retrieval of all the recyclable timber. (Under normal circumstances the Blackwattle Bay Studios would have taken less than 2 weeks to demolish. As 98% of the material was recyclable we worked with demolishers for over 3 months to ensure the safe retrieval of the timber).
As fewer large demolition sites become available our recovery of demolition timbers has a limited supply - particularly as only high quality timbers make it to our mill. The timber has to be large enough to turn into product and must not be overly damaged - generally only around one third of a total haul is recyclable. Of course the larger demolition jobs have larger quantities and generally bigger timbers, which we prefer as they provide better product consistency and can satisfy economic order quantities.
The process of converting a large timber beam into wideboard flooring involves patience and precision. Each beam has to be metal detected and de-nailed manually. This is a labour intensive and tedious process. Once free of metal bolts and nails, the timber needs to be dried. Once it is dried it is cut into planks or subjected to a surface skim, which exposes a new surface layer to the elements.
Even though this timber is already seasoned and dry, it still "pulls" a different way every time after being cut so needs to be air dried again.
The time frame for this process alone is dependent on the species and how exposed to the weather the timber may have been. It can take between 3 - 6 months before the entire drying process is completed.
Only then will we mill it into tongue and groove flooring sections.
The old timber clearly has more character and definition, and now having been seasoned over the years, and re-seasoned, the timber is inherently more stable.
The Colours of Recycled Timbers
The structures that we recycle were built from timbers found in the immediate vicinity, logged without regard to specie.
In heavily wooded areas it is also not uncommon that we find trees that have cross pollinated - thus making it extremely difficult to distinguish similar species.
So now, when we recycle these timbers we usually find a range of creams, browns and reds of varying species.
We therefore market our recycled woods as either 'creams', 'browns' or 'reds' - the colours invariably being highly complimentary, as it is usually impossible to sort and sell the timbers by specie alone.
The rushing sound of waters and loud cracking of timber announced that the flood was in the next bend. It rushed in to our sight, glittering in the moonbeams, a moving cataract, tossing before it ancient trees, and snapping them against its banks.
Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, Surveyor-General, 1846.
The character of Australian hardwood timber and the fact that we have lightning strikes and drought is a part of nature.
Realising that our Australian timbers are precious and valuable, Ironwood now pays for the recovery of these dead trees. Our sources scour the New South Wales and Queensland hinterlands and forests selecting trees they want to reclaim, all the time being mindful that they must not remove old logs that provide a habitat for local flora and fauna.
By sourcing our famous Australian hardwoods in this manner we are able to use very old and interesting timbers for floors, which have more character and definition than one would otherwise find with new timbers. These timbers are also very well seasoned and therefore provide really stable flooring sections.
Harvesting our dead trees this way ensures that we are not wasting our natural resources.
Ironwood also has another valuable and treasured range of timber flooring options.
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