Article by Steve McLean published in the Full Circle journal, by Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers
Full Circle Edition 14, Winter 2021
This article, written by Steve McLean of Dovetail Scotland, offers a practical, first-hand account of how the Scottish Working Woods label works in practice. Drawing on over two decades of experience using Scottish timber, it explores the environmental, economic and community benefits of sourcing and adding value to timber locally, and explains why the label plays an important role for small Scottish workshops and sawmills.
Continue reading below…
The Scottish Working Woods Label in Practise
Dovetail Scotland was set up in 2000 with the specific policy to only use local hardwoods and quality softwoods and procure all materials as close to home as reasonably possible. Our view was to spread any money we made from our business locally and encourage a wider use of home grown timbers and locally produced materials. This we hoped in turn, would contribute to the revitalisation of the local woodland culture and related industries. Using local timber and other home made products is a good thing. It also contributes to the local economy. It benefits the environment - leading to better managed woodlands, and reduced transport. And it generates local jobs.
When we started Dovetail Scotland it was difficult to find local hardwoods to build our furniture. We had only two sawmills close to us, who rarely stocked or processed local hardwoods. This was a clear indication that our local hardwoods were undervalued and underutilised. Both of those mills are now gone and we have had to travel a reasonable distance to Falkirk, Dunfermline, Edinburgh and South Lanarkshire to procure the timber we needed. 21 years on, there is a new generation of small and medium sized hardwood sawmills operating across Scotland, ourself included – with room, I believe for many more.
Scottish timber is a valuable and beautiful resource, and so are the woodlands it comes from. Yet there are always questions about the sustainability of using timber…. “Will the use of wood promote deforestation?” And across the world there are devastating stories about the loss of habitat and huge scale deforestation from illegal logging. So could this really happen in Scotland?
Scotland’s forests are covered by protective legislation, except in a few specific cases. In order to cut down a tree you will normally require a felling licence. We have recently gone through this process to obtain the timber we will need to build our house. The timber we finally fell will move from the woodland to our yard. It will then be converted into post and beams for the house frame and finally erected next to the same woodland. To get that felling licence you need to state what the felled trees are getting replaced with, in our case oak, which will be planted at a density of 1600 stems per hectare. On top of this the Scottish government has an ongoing woodland expansion strategy with 80% of all trees planted in the UK last year being in Scotland. This puts Scotland at “Low risk” on an international scale for the possibility of illegal felling which is a reputation we should be proud of.
So timber that is legally felled in Scotland is not destroying our environment. On the contrary, it makes up part of a sustainable and local resource, and the more we can add value to this timber at source (i.e. near to where it is grown), the better it all works. However sustainability is not just about the environment, it is also about local communities and the economy. To be truly sustainable we have to make the most efficient use of our natural resources, and this is something ASHS & some SFMA members excel at – adding value at source, contributing to a vibrant and diverse local economy rooted in our environment.
This is why at Dovetail Scotland, along with other ASHS & SFMA members, we use the Scottish Working Woods label.
It’s all about local…. doing as much as possible with our local woodlands in a local context. True, it isn’t hugely known about, and it cannot hope to compete with world wide brands such as FSC (The Forestry Stewardship Council), but it plays an important role for small yards and workshops in both promoting our ethos and fulfilling the criteria for public procurement contracts.
UK Public Procurement Rules state that “timber must come from a legal and sustainable source”. This means that most large company or Local Authority timber specifiers simply make a blanket demand for all timber to be supplied as FSC certified.
This is one of the areas where the SWW comes into its own.
Although most of our work to date has been on the furniture making side of the industry we have had a number of projects for local authorities over the years where our sawmill comes into use. We simply explain that we support the Scottish Working Woods label as a better and more appropriate alternative for Scotland’s woodlands; outlining its benefits of sustainable timber, reduced carbon miles, support for local communities and making best use of an otherwise often under utilised resource. In our case the local council’s were more than happy with this approach and welcomed the additional elements that the SWW label promotes. It has also helped us when dealing with the general public who are now more interested than ever, where the timber for their kitchen or piece of furniture or oak frame comes from. Through our promotion of the SWW label and it’s ethos of sustainability and environmental credentials we have more often than not secured that contract. So put simply; ‘It’s good for your business’.
The Scottish Working Woods label is free to join as long as you meet the criteria, and open to members of;
The Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers (ASHS)
The Scottish Furniture Makers Association (SFMA)
The Scottish Basketmakers Circle (SBC)
Written by,
Steve McLean
dovetailscotland@gmail.com
