Category: Ransfords

When the sun shines

Added to a recent order from our contractor customer Roocroft was this unusual item: a specially made flat-pack picnic bench to be used by those working on site as they install our post and rail fencing. Charlotte Harris, Construction Project Manager with Roocroft wrote to say “It’s made such a difference to team morale already,…

The work’s going well at Henley Wood

The dry spell has certainly helped us crack on at our holding at Henley Wood not far from our Mill where the Goodwin family are undertaking some thinning work for us. As these pictures show, not only are we extracting some excellent quality logs, we are also involving yet another local family firm to haul…

Champions all!

Hats off to Bishops Castle Onny Valley Rugby Club who have won their league this year after a thrilling season and some really tough games. We’re a proud sponsor of the club. You’ll forgive us for giving a special shout out to Sam Evans who is family and works at the mill, but rugby is…

Forestry’s a local family affair – and our timber is local too

We have two of our own local properties being thinned at present. The first is the one we’ve posted on recently at Henley, very close to the mill, where the work is being undertaken by the Goodwin family. The second wood is near Pulverbatch, less than 15 miles from us, being worked by Simon Flack…

Ransfords: the zero waste sawmill

People who know #Ransfords will know that we have a policy of zero waste. Day in, day out, every part of every log that comes into our mill is used. Sawdust and woodchips which are generated as the timber is processed have several uses – as does the tree bark. So, when logs like the…

Timber from even closer to home

We’re getting raw material from even closer to home this week, undertaking some thinning of Douglas Fir in one of our own holdings very close to the mill. Alex Evans used #Ransfords own low loader to move the harvester to the required position. …

More windblown timber coming to the mill

Here are some more pictures of that windblown timber being loaded in the forest before being brought to the mill for processing.. The location is practcally on our doorstep so it’s especially pleasing to know that, as with forestry generally, lo…

Early morning at the mill

It’s a cracking morning here in #Bishop’s Castle and what better sight than a new load of logs coming into #Ransfords? From the forest to the wagon and into the mill to be turned into a host of useful timber products. We take great pains to ensure that not a scrap of any delivery is…

Clean lines and a traditional feel for a new home in Shrewsbury

One of the great things about timber is its sheer versatility. It is used in housebuilding in many often unseen ways but because it’s such a natural material more and more architects are using timber cladding as a way of making new homes look both traditional and modern at exactly the same time. This new…

From one rural business to another

Andrew Masterman, who is our man in the North of England, must have one of the most picturesque territories going – but there’s serious business going on there. He took this picture today whilst visiting Hartlington Fencing Supplies a family-run fencing business based 9 miles from Skipton in North Yorkshire. The business offers anything fencing and…

Round bits to square bits…and back again!

Sawmilling is a fascinating activity and, as in any other business, success relies on being able to supply the customer with what they want. So, whilst our logs arrive as round sections of tree the first thing we do is cut them up into square bits of useable timber like posts and rails. However, some…

Good acoustic fences make Wren Kitchens good neighbours at their new plant in Humberside

The huge purpose-built manufacturing, management and training facility built for Wren Kitchens in South Humberside (aptly named The Nest!) embraces modern technology in just about every aspect of its design and construction. In one respect however it suffers from a very traditional problem: the noise created by vehicles coming and going from the site at…

Supporting our stockists

It was great to support #ransfords stockist #DaviesBuildersMerchants at their trade show last night. There was a big turnout and our sales Director Chris Offa reports lots of interesting conversations about #greatbritishtimber As a company that believes in strong partnerships with our customers we’re always happy to help stockists with activities like this in whatever…

New outdoor shelter and pond nears completion at St George’s Clun

It was great to hear from St George’s Primary School in Clun that work on their outdoor shelter and pond is almost complete. We donated some timber to the project. Class 4 have invited us to a celebration opening on 21st June which we wouldn’t miss for anything and we’ll post pictures of the event…

Efficient transport operations make perfect sense all round

One of  the areas we pay a lot of attention to is the efficient use of transport. For example, in almost every case lorries taking finished product from our mill to customers run with full loads. It makes sound environmental sense because part loads mean more wagons on the road, full loads mean fewer. It…

More progress on the new production lines

Work on the new lines for adding various added-value finishes to posts from 75mm to 200mm s coming on very well thanks to a superb team effort. Above we can see the new 4 head saw being installed and, below, we can see our new inciser being loaded onto a truck in Oregon, USA ready… Read more »

Our new line is coming together nicely

As you can see from this image we’ve made huge strides in setting out the new lines for adding various added-value finishes to posts from 75mm to 200mm. There’s still a lot to do and even more equipment to arrive – but we’re ge…

Sometimes it’s nice to have room to swing a cat

We’ve placed great emphasis in recent posts on the ability of our new firewood delivery vehicle to squeeze into very tight spots. Sometimes though it’s nice to have room to swing a cat as we had on this recent delivery in Bishop’s Castle. Don’t forget that firewood sales are handled by the weighbridge: call 01588… Read more »

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 »

Breathe in!

There are plenty of narrow roads and tiny lanes in our part of the world which is why we went to some lengths to design our new firewood delivery vehicle so it could cope. This is us out on Saturday morning in some pretty tight spots but the wagon and the hoist coped admirably! Firewood… Read more »