City-grown timber with character
At Scottish Wood we recently received a load of urban wood logs from a site clearance in Edinburgh, featuring a beautiful mix of yew, lime, beech, and ash. The results straight off the mill were immediately striking, with each species showing its own distinctive character and figure.
Urban trees often produce highly varied and characterful timber due to the unpredictable environments in which they grow. This results in unique grain patterns, irregular growth forms, and highly individual boards that are especially valued for furniture making and bespoke woodworking.
From log to kiln: processing and seasoning
First, the logs are sawn into boards on the mill. The boards are then stacked using “stickers” to separate layers and allow airflow across all surfaces, and are left to air dry for approximately one year per inch of thickness. Once suitably air-dried, the timber is transferred to the kiln, where it is dried slowly and evenly to a target moisture content of around 10%.
After drying, boards are moved into rough sawn storage, where selected stock is later planed to thickness before being made available to purchase through our timber shop.
It’s a long process, but in our experience, it’s one that is well worth the wait! Gradual, controlled drying is essential to ensure stability, quality, and long-term performance in use.
Urban wood as a renewable resource
Each year, tens of thousands of trees are removed from urban environments due to construction, storm damage, pests, or disease. Historically, this material was often treated as a costly waste product. Increasingly, however, there is recognition that urban trees represent a valuable and sustainable timber resource.
While not all logs are suitable for sawn timber and may be better used for firewood or biomass, many trees contain recoverable sections suitable for high-quality timber production. In addition to its practical value, urban wood often carries a strong local identity, reflecting the history of the places in which it grew.
Urban wood also forms part of a broader renewable cycle, with urban tree planting rates typically exceeding removals. When utilised effectively, it supports both environmental and local economic benefits.
From log to timber shop (in time!)
Once fully dried and processed, this reclaimed urban timber will move into our timber shop, ready for use in furniture and joinery. Without recovery, these trees could easily have been lost from the supply chain, ending up as waste, biomass, or low-value firewood rather than being processed into valuable, long-life sawn timber.
At Scottish Wood, we’re proud to be involved in the recovery of urban timber and in helping ensure that Scottish hardwoods are used to their full potential, retaining value within the material and supporting more sustainable use of locally sourced resources.
Tree Salvage and the future of urban timber (ASHS update 2026)
Scottish Wood is a member of the Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers (ASHS), which has been actively working to improve the recovery and use of urban trees through its “Tree Salvage” initiative.
A recent ASHS report, Seeing the Wood from the Trees, examines how to better capture the value of end-of-life urban trees that are currently underutilised or treated as waste. A follow-on phase of this work has now been approved by Scottish Forestry and is due to commence in 2026.
The report highlights that many urban trees in Scotland and the wider UK are removed for reasons unrelated to timber value and are often disposed of through low-value pathways such as firewood, biomass, or even landfill. In these cases, the stored carbon within the timber is rapidly released back into the atmosphere, while opportunities for local economic and social benefit are lost.
Under the “Tree Salvage” framework, the aim is to ensure end-of-life trees are used to their highest possible value, supporting a circular economy approach that maximises environmental, economic, and social benefit. By improving how urban timber is recovered and processed, the initiative seeks to reduce waste, retain stored carbon in long-life products, and strengthen local supply chains.
Read the full Tree Salvage report on ASHS website.
Towards a sustainable future for urban timber
Urban wood represents both a practical timber resource and a material connection to place and history. Through careful processing and evolving industry initiatives such as ASHS Tree Salvage, it continues to play an increasingly important role in sustainable timber use.
This blog post was updated in May 2026, as a part of the migration to the new Scottish Wood website.
