Queen’s Wharf Wood
In the summer of 2006, construction crews at the foot of Toronto’s Bathurst Street unearthed a significant part of Toronto’s early waterfront. While digging the base of the Malibu Condo Project an immense interlocking pier was revealed, hinting at Toronto’s original waterfront. They had excavated the original Queen’s Wharf.
Wood timbers reclaimed from this wharf have unique textures and deeper colour tones generated over the years on the waterfront followed by years buried in Toronto soil. The types of wood include elm, pine, hemlock and tamarack. Antique wood flooring made from these wharf woods produce unique floors that whisper their history into a room.
Water Recovered Wood
Old-growth timbers recovered from the depths of Georgian Bay, the Great Lakes, and other waterways throughout North America create one-of-a-kind floors. The recovered timber began growing between 1000 and 1500 AD and was harvested from the 1850s to the early 1900s. Consequently, when you include the last 150 years that it has spent below the water’s surface, this wood ranges between 500 to 1,000 years old.
Through a natural process, the cold, clean, and relatively low oxygen content waters of North America has perfectly preserved these timbers. Naturally, this process washes away the bio-matter within the cells and replacing it with water. Once the timber is recovered, it is sawn into lumber and dried using special kilns. As a result, the millions of cells that have now become hollow create a unique structural quality in the wood. The mineral stain, or “tint,” left behind by this process produces a colour that cannot be duplicated today. In our Recovered Wood lines, we offer pine, birch, and maple recovered woods. Lead times vary seasonally.
