THE URBAN WOOD INITIATIVE

Homestead Cabinet and Fur niture

Urban wood is derived from

trees that have grown in an

urban setting such as an in-

corporated town or city. The

large number of tree removals

in cities and towns across the

country becomes necessary

for a host of reasons: Storm

blow-downs, natural mortality,

severe insect and disease

damage, construction activi-

ties, and many other circum-

stances can change an urban

tree from an asset into a liabil-

ity. Tree removal is a growing

dilemma for most municipali-

ties across the U.S. The num-

ber of urban trees needing to

be disposed of is staggering

and is a very costly process for

city managers and solid waste

d i s p o s a l o p e r a t i o n s .

There are hundreds

of species of trees growing in

the various municipalities of

the US. These trees often grow

to great size and can produce

lumber of very high quality

and wonderful character. Un-

fortunately they are very hard

to process into lumber. They

are of irregular shape and size

and the lumber tends to warp

and twist as it dries. This is

why little effort is made to

utilize Urban woods.

January 14 , 2011

WH A T I S UR B A N WO OD Did you know:

Acres of Urban Forest in the US 20.9 Million

Number of Trees in Municipal Landscapes 3.8 Billion

Annual Waste from Urban Forests (cubic yards) 200 Million

Potential Usable Lumber (bd ft) 3.8 Billion

Total Hardwood Lumber used Annually (bd ft) 12.6 Billion

Urban Lumber could replace 30% of demand!

Most urban lumber is buried or burned as waste

U N M A T C H E D B E A U T Y

Urban wood is breathtakingly

beautiful. Highly figured sec-

tions and burl woods are

most often thrown away in

commercial logging opera-

tions due to the difficulty of

handling and drying them.

Using Urban logs, these

beautiful portions of the log

can be preserved and show-

cased. When cutting these

logs locally, book matching,

butt matching and sequencing

become a new aspect of the

design of any project. Urban

woods can have a much higher

level of color, figure and char-

acter than their commercially

available counterparts. It

seems a terrible waste to bury

or to burn this precious re-

source. Tree Removal from an Urban Landscape

* Data taken from publication NA-TP-06-01 USDA Forest Service

While it is true that processing Urban

wood into value added products pre-

sents some difficult challenges, it is

also true that these challenges can be

overcome. The wood by its nature must

be processed on a small scale with a

particular product or application in

mind. It must be dried slowly and in a

carefully controlled manner. It is not

conducive to mass production.

Homestead Cabinet and Furni-

ture is among several companies that

are beginning to use urban woods to

make a variety of products. Homestead

has a long history of using other types

of reclaimed woods such as barn wood.

The processing of Urban Woods uses

many of the same skills and machinery

as other reclaimed woods.

There is an abundance of large

trees growing in the cities and towns of

Northern Utah. Homestead is working

with tree removal companies, saw mill

operators, kiln operators and other

wood product manufacturers to acquire

saw logs, slabs and dried lumber. Tree

removal companies are contracted to

bring selected logs to the mill at Home-

stead. The logs are milled into slabs or

into lumber.

U S I N G U R B A N W O O D S

E N V I RO N M E N TA L I M P L I C A T I O N S The concept of using Urban wood is

timely in today’s climate of environ-

mental awareness. When trees from

the local urban landscape are used, it

not only reduces land fill content, but

as a lumber source has a very small

“carbon footprint”. Instead of using

hardwoods that are harvested 1000’s

of miles away and often on other conti-

nents, Urban trees can be collected,

milled, dried and processed locally.

Each tree that is recycled from the ur-

ban landscape equates to one less tree

that must be harvested from the for-

ests of the world.

When trees come down, they

need not become waste! These trees

can be “rescued” and given a new life

as a piece of heirloom furniture or

some other wood product. This re-

source is local, it is sustainable, it helps

to conserve national forest resources,

and it is uniquely beautiful. This ap-

proach to woodworking is a return to a

mindset and an ethic of an earlier era

when our predecessors were more self

sufficient by using local resources. If

they needed a barn they cleared land

and milled the lumber locally. We as a

society must reconsider this mindset

and ethic as a means to solve many of

the pressing environmental issues of

the day. In short, what’s not to like

about a product that lowers our collec-

tive energy consumption and carbon

footprint and that is beautiful, local

and sustainable?

The Tree from the previous page is loaded and ready for transport The Log Yard at Homestead Cabinet and Furniture

Urban Logs are collected and milled here

Milling Lumber and Slabs from an Elm Log

Lumber and Slabs Air Drying

Large Elm Slabs with high figure. Available for Table Pro-duction.

P RO D U C T S F RO M U R B A N W O O D S

Urban Honey Locust Flooring

Urban Walnut Island

Buffett Serving Area with: - Urban Sycamore Solid Wood Top - Urban Honey Locust Flooring - Urban Walnut Column Section - Urban Silver Maple Dovetail Drawer Box - Urban Poplar Paint Grade Cabinet Faces

Desk Work Station with: - Urban Silver Maple Fronts - Urban Honey Locust Flooring - Urban Silver Maple Drawers

Vanity with: - Urban Honey Locust Fronts - Urban Silver Maple Drawers

P RO D U C T S F RO M U R B A N A N D R E C L A I M E D WO O D S

Urban Black Willow Table

Reclaimed Oak Corner Display

Walnut Rolling Table

Bookmatched Urban Elm Table Top Approx. 40” Wide x 120” Long

6” Thick Reclaimed Fir Top

Work by Local Artists At Left: Display Boxes from Various Urban Woods (Courtesy George Hessen-thaler)

At Right: Carved Sculpture from Urban Burl Elm (Courtesy Skip Bellock)