The Roots of The Tree
- Archive -
(See what we did there?)
By ADRIAN BOARDMAN - Operations Manager
Thanks for visiting our site and welcome to our blog, here you will find postings on our latest news, projects and general endeavours…
From the sapling a mighty oak shall grow – 10/11/20.
It’s been an exciting, transformative and frenetic time for the team at The Tree, having found a home for our factory workshop, located just a half mile outside of Leigh town centre in the North West of England.
Over the last 6 months or so, we have put up the steelwork frame for the structure, completed block and brickworks, had the roof fabricated and installed and completed first fixes for plumbing and electrics etc.
We’ve had all of our machinery delivered to site, commissioned and calibrated, an AC-system professionally installed and a VOIP telephony system put into place ready to answer your calls.
Below is a gallery/slideshow (dependent on whether you are viewing on a smartphone or laptop/pc) illustrating our journey thus far…
Taking delivery of freshly cut slabs – 18/11/20.
Late November, The Tree took delivery of some beautiful, freshly-cut slabs of green (raw) material.
These slabs will need to cure before they can be utilised to create stunning pieces of bespoke furniture and alike but we’re over the moon with the haul – lots of character and oftentimes challenging to come by.
Safety First – 29/11/20.
On the 26th & 27th November, The Tree played host to Damian Smith of Safety Training Woodworking Ltd, to ensure that all staff regardless of role were aware of all relevant safety regulations, guidelines and best practices when working with our industrial-grade machinery and tools. We wanted to ensure that everyone could spot and callout bad practices and potentially prevent any unfortunate occurrences.
“We wanted to ensure that everyone could spot and callout bad practices and potentially prevent any unfortunate occurrences.”
Fun in 3D! – 10/12/20.
We like to believe that The Tree is a fun place to work, safety comes first of course, but we do get to use some cool technology, equipment and tools to make gorgeous pieces of furniture and alike… we also get to work with a wide suite of CAD (Computer Aided Design) software and this is my forte.
Below is some design work I’ve been working on this week to help give an idea of what can be achieved here at The Tree!
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Wood Wise – 15/12/20.
Now even a layperson knows that there are many different varieties of wood, therefore it goes without saying that some woods are naturally better suited to specific applications and use cases than others. Below we highlight a select few and explain why…
OAK
As an indication, there are in excess of 600 different species of Oak alone. It’s innate strength, density and hardness, pleasing tones and grain, make it an excellent all-rounder for interior and exterior purposes. In particular, Oak has seen a big upturn in demand for home furniture and interior doors and alike of late.
BEECH
Beech is even more diverse than Oak, with a myriad of species and sub-species to it’s name, it is highly workable and best for interior applications and can be stained effectively to alter it’s aesthetic.
TEAK
A wood synonymous with naval applications due to it’s inherent high water resistance , Teak is a hardwood that has benefitted over the last decade from a number of sustainability initiatives.
WALNUT (Black Walnut)
A premium hardwood which is extremely easy to work, Walnut is a luxurious high-end staple. Walnut has a medium texture and is highly resistant to decay. Arguably its best quality though is the finish that is achievable working this fantastic material.
Looking to have something created from a specific wood ?
dont hesitate, contact The tree today! - 01942 925 510 -
New Business Cards – 15/02/21.
It’s taken a while to finalise the design of our new business cards but I hope that you’ll agree, that it was worth taking the time to refine and perfect the look; we’re delighted with them and can’t wait to issue out cards to prospective clientele.
A door or Adore? – 15/12/20.
We’re currently experimenting with different door styles, beading profiles, colours and finishes as we look to perfect our 2021 range of standardised options.
Custom work will, of course, always be undertaken by The Tree as part of special commissions but we’re hoping to be able to reveal a significant addition to our site in quarter 2 (April – June) with the launch of our online store – watch this space!
Canine CAD… Doggy Den anyone? – 18/02/21.
Take a sneak peak of a design that we’re currently working on…
After something similar? Have a your own niche requirement? – contact The Tree today for a chat!
Practice Makes Perfect – 19/12/20.
At The Tree we’re always looking to improve and increase our skill sets and proficiencies…
Today one of our apprentices has been practising making and refining mortice and tenon joints with notch detail from some oak offcuts on a Morso Guillotine (please excuse the instruction manual).
… and here’s a finished example, to show just what we can achieve.
Illustrated here – solid oak, mortice and tenon, face framed and custom beaded edge in a shaker presentation.
Looking the part – Uniforms have arrived! – 12/03/21.
Purple Stripe Bench – 15/03/21.
So, last week we found ourselves with an abundance of scrap lengths of ply and a solitary piece of purple coloured mdf.
Ever creative and endlessly resourceful, the crew decided to create something from these oddments; below is the result of their labour!
Fancy one of these benches made to measure available in a selection of stripe colours?
dont hesitate, contact The tree today! - 01942 925 510 -
An Early Delivery from the Easter Bunny – 06/04/21.
Our client approached us to commission this custom-painted entrance door with matching panelled and glazed side aspects. The entire unit is made from the finest sapele mahogany hardwood and was/is a detailed item crafted to exacting specifications.
The new owner of this beautiful piece is rightly delighted with it, providing as it does, a fitting focal piece for their build adding oodles of kerb appeal; another project well executed, even if we do say so ourselves.
(please excuse the sundry tools and such forth in the imagery; the site is going to be an active building ground for some time)
Kitchen Creation – 20/04/21.
We’re hard at work this week creating a bespoke 30+ unit face-frame kitchen for one of our clients…
We’ve been putting the flatbed CNC and multi-axis machines to good use and there’s plenty of assembly to keep the team busy.
The face frames are what takes the time as each is individually hand-built to exacting standards.
This makes three kitchens that we’ve worked on in as many months as our workload begins to snowball.
Custom Colour? … Not a problem! – 04/05/21.
That’s not a problem at The Tree; for larger projects we can have the perfect colour matched and mixed for you then your project sprayed in our pro-booth.
Below are a few frames and panels for a large bespoke kitchen commission that we are working on at the moment…
New – Enhanced Quality Control Checks & Delivery Prep’ – 12/05/21.
At The Tree, we’re constantly reviewing our processes and systems, manufacturing techniques and methodologies etc to maintain our high standards and where possible… strive to further improve upon these when such implementation is proven to be practical.
Below, some finished components are being QC checked for imperfections after a wipe down and gentle clean before being securely wrapped and protected to ensure that anything leaving the factory workshop can be safely transported to site ready for install.
New Cabinetry for The Tree… but these ones are of the metal variety! – 28/05/21.
Red and Yellow and Pink and Blue, Purple and Orange and Blue – 02/06/21.
An Englishman’s home is his Castle! – 10/06/21.
The Tree are honoured to have been asked to design, create and fit all the kitchen and bedroom furniture at our client’s stunning property and cant wait to get started.
Would you like to live here? What and where would your dream home be?
Laser Cutter! – 23/06/21.
Watch this space for future developments as we continue to test the machine and start to integrate it into the mix and expand our capabilities further.
Laser Cutter – Part 2! – 01/07/21.
As promised, we’ve been hard at work/play, dialling in the settings for our new toy and wanted to share with you a small example of out initial efforts. We’re happy with our first attempts at incorporating the tech into our work. What are your thoughts?
Truly Bespoke! – 05/07/21.
Well these are just two items that have passed out of our workshop last week. If you have the vision, we have the skills, tools, machinery and experience to realise your ideas.
We were especially pleased with the drawers which were sprayed in a custom, near ‘British Racing Green’ colour and finished with one off specially crafted drawer fronts fashioned from Oak.
Pressing Matters – 12/07/21.
I’ve said it before and no doubt i will say it again… we are always looking for ways to increase efficiency and refine our manufacturing processes. Our latest addition to the workshop floor is a hydraulic press which allows us to significantly reduce the time required to bond wooden panels together for an array of varied requirements, see it in action below….
Marvellous Machinery – 27/07/21.
Today we thought that we’d pull back the curtain as it were and offer you a brief glimpse behind the scenes into how some of our furniture is manufactured here at The Tree.
We have an array of machinery on the workshop floor to assist us in our daily endeavours but for the purpose of this article, have opted to single out x3 as can be seen below.
These are as follows:-
3-Axis CNC – Can cut and drill in 3 different axis.
Flatbed CNC – Cuts out panels from board stock primarily.
Edge Bander – This gives a nice finished edge to panels.