Sustainable Practices

Rough cut lumber is sourced primarily through local private millers located in Washington, who get trees that are diseased or dead and fell from a storm.  Rather than have these trees get turned into firewood, Custom Wood Connections gives them a second life living on as a wonderful piece of art.  Species can vary from Western Red and Alaska Yellow Cedar, Maple, Walnut, Elm, Birch, Alder, and many others.  No clear cutting, no exotics and no lumber gathered from outside the PNW.  On average 1 board foot of lumber pollutes 4.71lbs of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. By sourcing wood only within the PNW saves more on the costs of pollutants that get dispelled by transportation vehicles.  

Custom Wood Connections utilizes local salvage centers like the Re-Use Innovation Center and/or the ReStore in Bellingham, WA, to obtain materials that would have been thrown into the local landfill.  By reusing  many of these materials can help save the environment, but also clients budgets.  Often times quality of the wood is better too, having been cut in times when people used old growth timber.  

All waste from production is considered and minimized as much as possible.  Small cut off  materials are donated to the Bellingham Makerspace and sawdust is given to the Master Gardeners for composting throughout Whatcom County. 

3% of proceeds go to the Whatcom Million Trees Project, a local non-rofit focused on planting indigenous trees and forests around Whatcom County.