Timber
Environment
Europe’s forest area grows by approximately half a million hectares a year but only about half of its forests are harvested for timber supplies. In the EU, 75% of forests are privately owned and in Russia, its forest resource is the world’s largest, covering 54% of the country’s land area*. Rosewood’s ecological ethos continues to be maintained as our company grows and we support the need to strike a balance between nature and the economic and social role of the forest.
We ensure that our timber supplies are derived from managed forests where tree felling, replanting and soil nurturing takes place in a planned and sustained manner. We passionately believe that timber products should not, literally, cost the earth.
Timber Source
A great variety of tree species are harvested for the production of timber products, from light, soft Balsawood to the world's strongest and most durable wood such as the South American Greenheart. Each species of tree yields timber that has different characteristics in terms of hardness, strength, elasticity, durability, colour, texture and movement. Commercial timbers are largely described as softwoods and hardwoods. Softwood is the conventional term for the timber and trees that belong to a botanical group called gymnosperms. These are coniferous, needle bearing trees that grow, in the main, in cooler temperatures or at higher altitudes. Hardwoods are broad-leaved deciduous trees that can be found in a wide range of climates.
The timber used for packaging applications is mainly softwood and Rosewood uses pine and spruce for the manufacture of its timber products. Pine, with its large, scattered knots, is easy to work, glue and nail. The spruce, which can grow up to 40 metres in height, has smaller, harder knots that are clustered together. Knots can create weak points and cause wood to split and at a greater extreme, loose knots can fall out and leave holes in the timber. Grade 1 timber is free of any such defects.
Grading
The tree trunk has an outer layer of bark. It covers the sapwood that is the living part of the trunk that surrounds the inner area or the heartwood of the tree. Once felled, tree trunks are usually sawn into square-edged timber planks.
Timber is graded according to a number of criteria such as the amount of wane (bark) present on the cut plank and the quantity, size and nature of the knots. Grades are usually stipulated by end users to ensure a desired uniformity in timber appearance and performance. Grade 1 timber may, for example, require planks to meet the following conditions:
- 100% square-edged.
- Free from large, loose, dead, decayed, wing or splayed knots.
- Free from cracks, splits, shakes and resin pockets.
- Free from worm, wormholes, infestation and rot.
- Free from wane, bark and excessive residual sawdust.
- Free from excessive whiskers, splinters and hairs.
*Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - Forest Resources of Europe, CIS, North America, Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
