The catkin, typically produced in May, is the Oaks male flower, and pale green in colour. The female is less conspicuous. The nut, the acorn, contains one seed (very rarely two or three), and can take 6 – 18 months to develop.

A new tree can take between 20 and 50 years to produce first crops of acorns. By the time the tree is 80 years old, it may well be over 20” (50.8cm) in diameter. The largest Oak recorded was a Newlands Oak and its trunk was a staggering 45 feet (13.72 metres) diameter when it fell. Today, the UK’s largest Oak is called the Major Oak and stands in Sherwood Forest, this tree measures 33 feet (10.07 metres) in diameter.


PROCESSES

Valley Oak receive timber in the log. We will choose upon receipt whether it is best left in the log, or milled straight away. This may depend on the time of year the tree is felled or whether it is in sap or not.

When ready, the timber is milled on site. All is cut into 2½” (63.5mm) section (which after finishing results in the nominal 60mm finished section) with the exception of the feet, which is larger still.

The milled timber will be stacked until required, with lats between boards to allow air across the surfaces. We now have the start of the drying period. If allowed to air dry, timber of this section will take in excess of 2 years. The moisture content during the curing process will drop from about 60%, to 16%.

The vast majority of the timber used by Valley Oak to build our furniture is green – in other words not dried, either naturally or by force drying in kilns. The exception to this, timber stocks permitting, is the board we use to make the butterflied table tops where we will endeavour to use partially cured timber to minimise the shaking (cracking, splitting, twisting etc.) when built.

As Oak dries, the moisture within it dries out through the surfaces, particularly the end grain. Since the outside dries before the inside tremendous stresses build up within the timber. As the timber dries it shrinks up to 2.5% across the grain, but virtually none with the grain. To try and even out moisture loss, Valley Oak regularly apply a partial sealing compound to the end grain.

Build of the furniture is fundamentally a manual process, although power operated hand held tools are used. Each piece of timber is picked for its features, which, although regularly making the working of it much more challenging, produces unique and truly beautiful pieces of work.

At Valley Oak we strive to give our products the best possible start. Over time it is to be expected that the appearance of each piece of individually hand crafted furniture will change, however with careful maintenance we are sure that our products will compliment your garden for years to come,

When built all surfaces are treated, to slow down surface drying, promote waterproofing and preserve.     See maintenance