Douglas Fir/ Western Larch is prized for its size, strength, and versatility by timber framers and finish carpenters. It is very strong for its weight and is one of the hardest of the coniferous softwood trees. The vast majority of our inventory is Douglas Fir. LMT can easily mill any size timber or board in Douglas Fir 11”x11” and under. We also have larger timber options in various lengths. Our inventory of recycled Douglas Fir showcases the best wood this country ever grew. For all intents and purposes here, Western Larch and Douglas Fir, while different species, they perform the same and look the same to the layman. Last Mountain Timber is known across Canada as the longest-running source of Reclaimed Douglas Fir.
Colour: Douglas Fir is most readily identified by its warm, orange/red base tone.
Options: Recycled, Green, and double live edge slices and single live edge slabs
Common Applications:
Recycled: Reclaimed Douglas Fir/ Western Larch can achieve any structural or decorative requirement indoors or outdoors. We are known for our Douglas Fir Timberframes, trusses and three sided box beams. Our clients choose recycled Douglas Fir for many interior features such as fireplace mantels, floating shelves, baseboards, casing, and flooring. Many people have sought us out for tables, bar tops, and staircases.
Green: Originally all timber frames were built with green or freshly logged timber, the structure would dry over time. Green Douglas Fir is more affordable but it is not yet dry to furniture grade and therefore not suitable for a fireplace mantel because as timber dries it moves and can come out of square; for exterior deck posts, this can be just fine. Here at LMT we try to keep options open for our customers and you might hear us speak of our somewhat air-dried (SWAD) green Douglas Fir. We bring in green timber and dry it in the perfect Saskatchewan climate so that we can offer options depending on your sizing needs for your project.
Hemlock: (Western Hemlock) Most of our inventory of Hemlock is recycled from grain elevator timber. When the elevators were built the builders did not distinguish between Hemlock or Douglas Fir usage. Hemlock is often referred to as Hem-Fir or White Fir. We find Hemlock to be as strong as Douglas Fir. For our clients, they choose Hemlock when they don’t like the colour of Douglas Fir.
- Recycled: Reclaimed Hemlock can achieve any exterior structural requirement same as Douglas Fir above. We sell mantels, stair treads, handrails, spindles, newel posts, etc. in recycled hemlock to our clients that require a cool colour palette. We often combine Hemlock with Douglas Fir in our timber framing projects.
- Green: We have yet to meet an exterior project that Green Hemlock can not achieve. Our inventory of Green Hemlock is quite varied. We have an extensive stock of somewhat air-dried (SWAD) Hemlock that we have dried enough to be appropriate for interior newel posts
Spruce: We all know spruce from the lumberyard. It is the softest of the coniferous woods that we work with. Spruce trees grow quickly, hence their softness which means the timber is also lighter in weight. Spruce when it dries in timber form commonly displays larger checks (natural cracks that happen as timber dries).Colour: Pale/Very Blonde
- Recycled: Our inventory of reclaimed Spruce is from grain elevators and warehouses. Common sizes are 12×12’s and 10×10’s, they were mostly used as posts. Recycled Spruce with its benefits of being dry and lightweight makes it perfect for interior renovation projects when our clients want to add decorative ceiling beams. Many of our clients who are seeking very rustic character for their timber furniture projects will choose Repurposed Spruce timbers. Here in our shop we employed recycled Spruce for newel posts and blended these with harder Douglas Fir handrail.
- Green: We recommend using green Spruce when your project will be protected from the weather and when it’s okay for the wood to shrink and check. For example, we used a green Spruce 16” diameter log to cover a tele-post in a basement renovation.
Pine: Pine is common today in big box stores. It looks very white and is classed as a relatively weak softwood. Here again, Last Mountain Timber can achieve the highest quality as we reclaim old-growth Pine. We do not come across as much Pine as say Fir or Spruce, but when we do it has a ring density comparable to Douglas Fir. For example, we have 3×10 stock that were joists in a warehouse constructed in 1912 and these timbers had extremely red heartwood. We also have 12x12x12’ timbers that again have an incredibly high ring density.
Birch: Somewhere around 2010 LMT started to mill birch logs from northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba in order to offer our clients a sustainable and beautiful hardwood with live edge. We offer white birch. We begin drying in log form for approximately three years to encourage spalting which enhances the grain and visual character of the wood. Next, we slab the logs and air dry for another year to three years depending on slab thickness. Birch is the hardest hardwood we have in bulk volume, most of our dry inventory slabs will finish to 2” thick. We do have stock milled that can achieve thicknesses of 3-5″; come have a look.
Colour: Pale/Blonde, heartwood brown
Cottonwood: A member of the Poplar family, while it is a leafy tree and therefore classified as a hardwood, Cottonwood is relatively soft. We love Cottonwood for two reasons; first, the trees (sourced locally) are very wide in diameter and second, the grain and visual appearance of Cottonwood surprises us with every slab. More often than not, a live edge slab of cottonwood will display what we have come to call ‘mottling’ or ‘stretch marks’ that appear as an optical illusion as when you are looking at the surface of waves. We air-dry this wood over time. Come and have a look.