W.L. West & Sons Ltd.
Timber Talks - July 2007

Weather didn't stop play (or trading)

Water, water, everywhere and all the boards did shrink.
Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.....
S T Coleridge's famous rhyme from the eighteenth century poem the Ancient Mariner. The July in the poem was the complete opposite of what we have just experienced, it was a hot, dry, becalmed ship stuck on the ocean. Everybody has had a real wash out. It seems like the worst summer month from a weather point of view for many years. Trade has weathered well however despite all the odds.

The experiences of the trade have been good, most have kept going, some have work into the Autumn which is good news. The recent interest rise and weather hasn't dampened demand and slow, steady sales have been to budget. Some stock shortages in the trade has meant increased prices, for example 63mm Idigbo especially, has been as rare as rocking horse dung.

Canadian softwood reappears - but will strikes affect this supply?

There has been frantic work in the Canadian markets, Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir are likely to be hit by a national strike where huge numbers of timber workers including loggers and processors are about to launch a 'long and determined strike' which could last for weeks. Remember, most of the work is done in the winter season, but this would have a knock on effect!
Western Red Cedar prices have been climbing steadily for months, the Canadian dollar has not depreciated like the US dollar and the prices of landed, clear softwoods from this region are at an all time high. If shortages occur and shipments do not get shipped the architects current number one cladding love will have to be rethought?
In passing, those of us that are old enough to remember the old days of the imported CLS Canadian timber softwood, not seen here for some years, has started to re-appear. This, in the main, is due to increased European softwood prices. But will we see the timber continue to arrive if the strike materialises.

Timber in buildings locks CO2

In housing, with the proposed increase in building, Mr Brown wants to see more affordable housing. Timber, as has been said many times before, is the obvious way to lock carbon into building. It also offers future recycling of building products, wooden windows, doors, cladding, floors etc will be developed in a positive way. It is important that we develop new apprentices in our industry, because in the next ten years there will be a need for more timber skills. Not everything can be imported from China, bespoke work can only be done nearer to the end customer, this in itself reduces the carbon footprint.

Moulding work continues

The moulding work we are doing at the moment has been endorsed by the Weing Engineer who has been recently servicing our moulder. The invoice will follow soon enough we expect! He also commented on the accuracy of the profiles, some of the best he had seen in recent years. Our Team who run this department ought to feel rightly proud of his enthusiastic arm waving and excited way he liked our way of working 'his machine'. He also liked the way we presented the mouldings clean and dry, and felt we were 'second to none'.

ELM stocks come on line

The Elm is now coming on stream, we have been kilning some of the thinner sizes in the Cigomak (ideal for Elm) the colour is stunning and frankly just wonderful to see good size T/T Elm being offered. It may be a very long time before we get a volume of Elm to replace this stock.

We will have some more ex-veneer grade T/T Black Walnut and T/T Morello Red Cherry arriving shortly, so please ask for more information.

Stock Selection - visitors are limited

We have always respected the right to inspect timber in our yard at Selham, but at the moment our increased work load has made this difficult to offer in a safe way. We do require customers to book a selection slot to enable a tallyman and a machine to be available for you. We have had to reduce the number of appointments per day due to this increase in workload. We do not want to stop this facility all together, but please be patient we are trying to hire additional personnel at the moment to ease the situation.

New team member

Mark joins the team this month

Personnel arrivals in the Sales team —     Mr Mark Whawell has come from a timber orientated background with many years in business and has teamed up with Mike Dalman (external salesman for South Central and West of England). Mark comes with a wealth of business expertise. We are sure that he will enjoy getting to know our customers over the new few months.

Softwood delays reduce

The team at PRO Fencing in Farnham have been celebrating; it seems that the worst of the softwood delays is now past, and they can now get on with the orders in hand. Tenders are coming through and they are busy with some very high value metal fencing work ongoing. 

Its OAK - its a living material

Oh! Please remember fresh sawn Oak will air check and split over time. It will shrink, get harder and stronger. Knots when graded are OK. It will go grey if left, it will in the short term leach tannin which fades, the heart [pith] will crack in shrinking. If it doesn't check and split, it isn't Oak!!!

Feather edge Oak is meant to be put up fresh (wet).

Some time ago we were asked to re-saw some Oak beams which had been removed from a local church. Traditionally beams used in churches had come from war ships, and this was such a beam. We cut the beam to the customers requirements, only to have him complain a few weeks later that the timber had moved - yes - after many hundreds of years the Oak still was not dry!!!!!

Oak is not plastic, it is a natural material, it continues to change into old age. It’s colour continues to change, its shape continues to change –it is OAK !!!!!!

W.L. WEST & SONS LTD
Selham, Petworth, West Sussex GU28 0PJ
United Kingdom

Tel: 01798 861611   
Fax: 01798 861633   
E-mail: sales@wlwest.co.uk

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