What's a Boule? The Bit Most People Never See

Ask most people what happens after a log gets milled and you'll get a shrug. Fair enough. It's not exactly the glamorous part. But it's one of the things we care about most in the yard, because it decides how good the finished timber actually turns out.

From Log to Boule

Once a tree's been milled, we don't just throw the boards onto general stock. We stack them straight back up in the same order and the same way round as they came off the log. Like a book that's been sliced through but never taken apart. That stack is what's known in the trade as a boule.

We put stickers (small spacer battens) between each board so air can move evenly through the whole stack, and then it sits and seasons.

Why We Bother

• The grain stays matched. Boards from the same boule share the same figure, colour and grain, which matters a lot if you want a set of shelves, a stair run, or a table top that reads as one continuous piece rather than having patchwork
• It dries evenly. Stickered and stacked properly, air gets to every board the same way, so you get fewer surprises with warping or twist
• We can see the whole tree at once. Keeping a boule together means we can plan a cut for a specific job. Say a set of matched dining chairs or a run of window sills, with far less waste than working from mismatched boards pulled from different logs

What It Means When You Buy From Us

If you're after more than one board for a project - matched shelving, a run of skirting, a set of gate posts - ask us whether we can pull them from the same boule. More often than not, we can, and it's the difference between timber that looks assembled and timber that looks like it grew that way.

FAQ

What is a boule in woodworking? A boule is a log that's been milled into boards and re-stacked in its original order, so the boards can season together and be matched for grain and colour later.

Why stack timber as a boule instead of sorting it straight away? It keeps boards from the same tree matched for grain and colour, and lets the whole stack season more evenly.

Can I buy multiple boards from the same boule? Yes! Get in touch and we can check whether matched boards from the same tree are available for your project.