Sawing

Great care is taken to optimise the quality and character of the sawn tree through careful milling.

Particular care is taken when milling beams to avoid structurally weakening knots, shakes or sapwood.

Sapwood is not only of lesser compresive and tensile strength but very much more prone to infestation by woodworm and deathwatch beetle larvae and fungal decay than is the heartwood.

Pips and small clusters of knots known as cats paws resultant from epidermic growth ie side shoots enhance the character appearance of beams and boards without significantly detracting from their strength. These are particularly prevalent in English oak and every endeavour is made during milling to feature them.

Larger beams in particular are sawn so as to box the heart of the tree.
A log of just adequate girth is selected and squared, the centre of the tree forming the centre of the beam. This is to avoid distortion as the beam seasons.