Ask ten people the difference between "timber" and "wood" and you will get ten different answers, most of them by feel rather than definition. In our workshop the distinction matters, because it decides how a board is graded, sold and eventually built into outdoor furniture.
Wood is the raw material
Wood is simply the fibrous structure that makes up a tree. A fallen branch, a cut log, driftwood on the beach — these are all wood. It's a botanical term first, and it carries no promise about strength, moisture content or how it will behave once it's put to use.
Timber is wood with a purpose
Timber is wood that has been assessed, milled and prepared for construction or furniture making. The word carries an implicit standard: this has been graded for strength, checked for defects, and processed so a builder or furniture maker can trust it structurally. Every board that reaches our workshop floor is timber, not simply wood, because it has already been through that process.
Why the distinction shapes what we build
When we talk about a Structural Grade like F27, or a Durability Class like Class 1, we're talking about timber — graded, tested material, not the raw wood it came from. Whether a board is seasoned (kiln dried) or fresh cut also comes down to how the timber, not the wood, has been prepared. These are the specifications that let us tell you honestly how garden furniture built from it will perform in your climate, for decades.
Natural, and honestly represented
None of this changes the fact that timber is still a natural material, not a manufactured one. Knots, seasoning checks, colour variation and grain movement aren't defects — they're the tree's own history, still visible in the finished timber furniture. Grading and preparation give us confidence in the structure. The timber itself gives our outdoor furniture its character.
If you'd like to understand more about how we grade and prepare our timber, our Timber Selection Guide and Understanding Natural Timber & Wood page go into more detail on species, grading and what to expect as your furniture ages.