Love the beauty of the outdoors? Add a designed-by-nature element to your home with live-edge wood.
“Live-edge wood is essentially a design feature leaving the natural edge of the wood so you have a unique, nature-designed piece,” explains Joshua Farquharson, manager of Windsor Plywood at Keating Cross Road.
Originally championed by American furniture maker George Nakashima, who used live-edge wood to create tables, the concept was embraced here on Canada’s West Coast as homeowners and designers look to incorporate more natural elements into our built environment.
On the Island, “the big trend initially was using live-edge products for fireplace mantels, now it’s mantels, it’s tabletops, it’s counters, it’s kitchen islands and more,” Farquharson says. “People do all sorts of interesting things. I have one client who creates live-edge serving boards.”
Need ideas? Get inspired by Windsor’s in-store showpieces.
Which wood? Let your imagination soar: “We carry woods from all over the world, including olive wood from Italy, wenge wood from Africa, zapatero wood reclaimed from the Panama Canal and various fast-growing woods from Costa Rica. We have over 20 different species and each has a different look and characteristics,” Farquharson says.
What you see isn’t always what you get. While lots of people are selling live edge lumber at the moment you have to be wary of the unseen condition of the wood, “green (undried) lumber can crack and warp as it dries, so almost all of our stock is kiln-dried and stored indoors so it’s very stable. We know it isn’t going to do anything,” Farquharson says.
Wood in the raw. What you will find, for the most part, is “raw” wood, meaning it’s been machined, allowing you to see the grain, but will need to be sanded and treated with a clear coat, varnish or stain, for example. Those not woodworkers themselves will often choose the wood they want and leave the finishing to their contractor. Alternatively, Windsor on Keating offers sanding and finishing services, Farquharson notes. If needed, Windsor can also source pre-finished pieces.
The right finish. Picking a finish depends on a few factors, what type of wood are you using and what is the piece going to be used for? “Something like olivewood wants a simple tung oil finish, nothing looks nicer, but for a dining room table or bar-top you may want something stronger, a clear coat finish or even an epoxy finish,” Farquharson recommends.
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Windsor Plywood, 2120 Keating X Rd., specializes in interior and exterior home finishing products including flooring, doors, mouldings, especially wood products and hard-to-source products. Any questions? Just ask! The Windsor experts are happy to help.
