We’re in the home straight now in the construction of the new incisor and post pointing line. The inciser has completed its journey from Oregon to Shropshire and the electricians are starting the process of making everything work.. We were delighted to receive this 3D render of the new line from manufacturer Kalfass over the… Read more »
Category: Highways Agency
TWELVE STEPS TO SUSTAINABILITY: #1
Forestry and sawmilling are among the most sustainable activities in the UK economy. During the course of the year we aim to demonstrate 12 ways in which Ransfords plays its part. Here’s the first. We mill most of our timber from forests very close to home thus reducing timber miles. Wood from sustainably managed forests… Read more »
Nearly time to toast your toes. Happy Christmas from everyone at Ransfords.
A cold morning – and plenty to do!
We’re making great progress on the new building for our in-house engineering department and the new line for adding different finishes to posts from 75mm to 200mm. We’ll show more of that later but in the meantime here’s a reminder of how the weather has turned and the temperatures have dropped: steaming asphalt being laid… Read more »
Sound sense in Southampton
When the Highways Agency reconfigured the road layout where the M271 meets the A33 in Southampton it was decided that neighbouring residential properties needed protection from traffic noise. Arbus fencing chose Ransfords Noisewall® single-sided acoustic fencing panels and, as we can see, they were installed in a curved configuration to match the road layout. The… Read more »
Latest statistics on UK forestry and sawmilling
The latest National Statistics on forestry produced by the Forestry Commission were released recently in line with arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. They include information on woodland area, planting, timber, trade, carbon, environment, social, employment and finance & prices as well as some statistics on international forestry. Where possible, figures are also provided… Read more »
Sound sense in West Yorkshire
This impressive load is part of an order bound for West Yorkshire to create an acoustic barrier round a distribution hub being built close to a residential area. Planning authorities, whilst keen to encourage economic development, are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of noise from commercial activities on nearby residents. This has led to… Read more »
3 nations timber – and a pat on the back
Here’s a sight for sore eyes: a full load of Welsh Larch that has been cut at our sawmill in England ready for delivery to a customer in Scotland. Talk about Great British Timber! On the subject of delivery, it was really good to receive this feedback from a customer in Somerset yesterday: “We just… Read more »
We’re in Building Design and Construction Magazine
There’s an extensive profile of our company in this month’s Building Design and Construction Magazine The article focusses on the sustainability of timber as a raw material the advanced processes at our sawmill including our state of the art timber treatment centre the lead we’ve taken in the supply of acoustic fencing panels Specifiers are… Read more »
Bishop’s Castle timber for a Bishop’s Castle school
Bishop’s Castle Community College is one of our home town’s most important assets and one which as a business we’ve been pleased to support over the years. Many of the team who work at the Mill attended the school, as have their children and in some cases grandchildren. We were especially pleased to help… Read more »
Ransfords from the air
One of things that visitors coming to the sawmill for the first time comment on is the sheer buzz of the place: there’s always something going on as the we take logs in, process them, and then send the finished timber products on their way. One important feature of that process is that nothing in… Read more »
Even more (solar) power to our elbow!
Here’s a dramatic picture to start the week with. It’s taken on the roof of our Timber Treatment Centre where we are installing solar panels to add to the 2000 panels already installed on various buildings at our mill. The energy generated is used to power the mill. This means that the same solar energy… Read more »
There’s tidy for you
Many of our customers never get the chance to visit the mill (although those that do always enjoy the experience) so we like to post pictures from time to time to show how things are. These shots were taken from a cherry picker undertaking some maintenance work, Above we see the area around our Timber… Read more »
Keeping the family busy during lockdown: Ransfords style
These two members of the Evans family (owners of the sawmill) normally work at sister business Mellington Hall Hotel and Holiday Home Park. Alex came in for a day to cover holidays helping out at an extremely busy sawmill with some fork lift driving (for which he is fully trained) whilst his younger brother Sam… Read more »
The finished colour of treated timber
We’re often asked about the different colours of treated timber and these two packs illustrate things nicely. The posts in the two packs are of the same timber cut the same day but treated two weeks apart. The pack on the left goes a warm honey colour in the sun exactly as it is supposed… Read more »
All chip-shape and Bristol fashion
It’s a process of constant improvement here at Ranfords both in how we mill and treat the timber and how we make certain that we get the most value out of every bit iof timber we handle. This newly completed chip store (complete with Great Brtish Timber Yorkshire Boarding) means we can store more material… Read more »
Keeping the noise down for the neighbours
Our business is in a small town which has grown and spread in recent years so that houses now stand quite close to the sawmill (which has been here for well over 100 years!) in what once were fields. We are keen to minimise the impact of our activites on our neighbours so, the new… Read more »
We’re making good progress on the new chip store
We’ve had more than our share of downpours here recently but enough dry weather to be able to crack on with our new chip store. The roof is half on and the wall panels are all in. Next we need to put some Yorkshire Boarding on. Good job we know a good sawmill producing Great… Read more »
Visit by students at Bishop’s Castle Community College
Lightfoot Enterprises and the Community College, Bishop’s Castle (the secondary school which serves the town and surrounding villages) have been working together to introduce pupils to the delights of woodlands. As part of the College’s enrichment programme, a group of Year 7 pupils have been going into the woods to experience the richness & diversity… Read more »
Our war on waste keeps us warm as toast (and kiln dries the timber!)
Outside, it’s a cold and extremely wet November day. Inside, the shed is kept at a fairly constant 20 degrees thanks to the biomass boiler which also fires the kiln into which we’re busy loading another charge. The boiler burns the butt chips which are peeled off the bottom of the log at the very… Read more »