Our services
Kiln Drying
We have three kilns at the Birri mill with a combined drying capacity of 160m3 of timber.
Our kilns are combined drying and steaming kilns - this is particularly important for drying our local timbers (Vic Ash, Tas Oak, Messmate, Mana Gum, Shining Gum, Southern Blue Gum etc…) as they must be reconditioned (i.e. steamed) before the final kiln drying can take place.
Our kilns are heated by boilers that burn the wood shavings and chips produced as a by-product from our timber milling. This means that no gas is used in our drying process.
As part of our kiln drying service, we also offer to rack or ‘stick’ your timber and air dry it in our yard until it is ready to be kiln dried.
We are also happy to teach you how to rack your timber and provide racking sticks for you to do so.
Drying timber takes time, so please reach out to us as early as possible to discuss.
Machining
Machining is the process of moulding your timber to a desired shape. Most woodworkers would be familar with the process of jointing, planing and ripping timber so that it has four flat and square sides.
To replace this process we use machines called ‘moulders’ or ‘four siders’ to achieve the same result in one pass.
The timber in this photo has been ‘dressed all round’ or ‘DAR’. This means it has four flat and square faces. These pieces could now be used to create panels, furniure, shelves or a variety of other products.
However, we can also machine your timber to a variety of profiles including flooring, lining, cladding, decking, architrave, skirting and mouldings.
Gluelam
If you already have timber that you would like make into panels, benchtops or other glulam products, we offer contract glulam services.
As part of our glulam service we pre-dress the timber, glue and finish sand up to 120 grit.
Ripping
Ripping or ‘straight line edging’ produces boards with two straight edges in set widths.
We have multiple ripsaws that can be used to cover small single size ripping jobs to large multi-size jobs and everything in-between.
Ripping is an effective way to break down your timber into usable sizes (i.e. machining blanks). This increases overall yield, gives certainty around size availability, improves the quality of machining and generally streamlines the processing of your timber.
While there are universal sizes commonly used for solid timber products, we can rip to specific set or custom sizes needed for your project.
Ripping usually occurs after the timber has been kiln dried but before it is machined.
Grading
Utilising our advanced timber scanning technology, we are able to grade a wide variety of timber to Australian or custom standards.
The grading process can occur:
after ‘skip dressing’ your timber, which exposes the faces and edges of the boards for the scanner.
after machining your timber to final product (i.e. flooring).
Import
We have built valuable relationships with sawmills overseas in America and Europe and closer to home in Australia.
If we don’t carry a specific type of timber you need or don’t have the right sizes, we can import it for you from one of our partners.
Please note that due to shipping and logistics, import orders need to be for sizeable quantities.