At Natural Bed Company we love writing blogs on our elegant, hand crafted bed frames. However this blog is a little different – as here we take a look at the grass roots (or should we say tree roots?…) of our bed manufacturing process, following a recent visit to our timber suppliers – Arnold Lavers.
Arnold Lavers are a local, family run timber suppliers – founded in Sheffield ninety-eight years ago. They supply us with all the hardwood and softwood timbers for our solid wood bed frames, bedside tables and under-bed drawers. With over 30 solid hardwood timbers in stock we couldn’t possibly offer them all, as part of our standard range we offer the following:
American White AshBeechCherryMapleAmerican White OakAmerican Black Walnut
All our timber is from a legally certified source and purchased under the EUTR (European Union Timber Regulation). Our pine is from Scandinavia and our hardwoods – ash, oak, maple, cherry, walnut and beech are from the USA or northern Europe.American hardwoods come from well-managed, sustainable forests. They employ natural, non-invasive methods that have served them and the ecosystem well. All are managed under strict guidelines from Federal Government and the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) and therefore we can be confident the timber supplied is absolutely sustainable.
In future we may add to our range of quality timbers, we plan on liaising with Arnold Lavers on the possibility of offering limited edition hardwoods to our range, all of which will also be sustainably sourced. Keep an eye on our news feed and social media to be the first to see our beds in any new and exclusive timbers!
On arrival at Arnold Lavers the scale of the operation was surprising, with huge towering racks of timber stretching over vast, well managed warehouse spaces. Chatting with the expert staff at Arnold Lavers it was hardly surprising to learn they supplied over 50% of the timber to the London Olympics, including the track for the Velodrome!
Our solid hardwood timbers were barely recognisable in their rough sawn state, the hardwood timbers with more pronounced, heavier grains stood out from the racks – such as walnut, maple and ash. Our softwood timber option – Pine, was easily noticeable with its characteristic knots and grain.
From these racks our timbers are hand picked and processed through the mill, before its journey on to our Sheffield workshop. As the majority of our bed frames use timber sections of differing widths and thickness, the process of picking our orders, and hand processing them through the mill is quite a lengthy task (for which we are very grateful Arnold Lavers!).
We could cut down this process and produce solid wooden bed frames all with the same sections of timber, this would be much quicker and easier for everyone involved, however this would take away the unique quality and character of the Natural Bed Company designs. Just take a look at our bed collection – you can really tell the difference!
When our sales team takes an order, we send this to our workshop manager who orders the timber for each individual bed frame. This process ensures each bed frame is made from fresh cut timber delivered straight from Arnold Lavers, rather than keeping stock at our workshop that is at risk of warping over time. This again is not the quickest way to go about things, but we are most concerned with getting the best quality solid wooden bed frames, and quality cannot be rushed. The order is then allocated to one of our team of talented wood workers and that craftsman will make the bed from start to finish.
For more information on buying a handmade bed from the Natural Bed Company and the process involved, please see our blogs section.
By: Amanda – Natural Bed Company Sales Manager