Products > Boules and Flitches

“Balancing industry and artistry”

Horizon’s “signature” division for manufactured products has two primary features:

Industry – Horizon provides boules by the container load to customers throughout the world who are looking for high quality. The industrial applications Horizon’s wood is used for are significantly different from the mass produced, volume driven industry that demands large quantities of wood without concern for character or color. Horizon succeeds in making a comfortable connection between the manufacturer and the artist.

Artistry – This is an area where Horizon’s uniqueness shines. A board is not viewed as simply a square edged product, but as a part of a “whole”. In this case, the “whole” is the entire log the board came from. All of Horizon’s flitches are sequenced and labeled so the log could actually be reconstructed from the pieces. The implications this has for the high end user who is concerned about consistency of color, character and structure are endless. Sequenced flitches are a direct link for specific applications in furniture manufacturing, architectural projects, or flooring that require the highest quality wood, which is properly processed to take advantage of its finest characteristics.

At Horizon, each log is analyzed before it is opened to determine how it can provide the best yield and pattern and value while still maintaining the complete integrity of the log. The resulting boules or flitches can be manufactured in many different ways according to the customer’s needs. Horizon has invested in highly specialized and unique machinery to do more than simply live saw. Certain parts of the log, such as jacket boards or center boards, that might not fit the customers’ needs can be removed. Thickness can be varied.

Boules can be produced in a number of ways:
(click to enlarge photos)

• Unedged:

Maintains the raw, untrimmed edge of the board that represents the outer dynamic of the tree

• Edged:

Can be cut with a reference edge, “hit or miss” or perfectly straight.

• Green or air dried:

For those customers who wish to provide their own drying.

• Kiln dried:

In gentle hot water, not steam driven, kiln.

• Steamed:

For consistency of color in certain species such as Black Walnut

• Custom thickness:

Can be measured by the millimeter, which is a tribute to the accuracy of the Horizon equipment and work habits. Such precise measurements provides the customer a significant savings over the larger thickness dictated by the NHLA standards. For example: a 1 mm reduction on the inch saves 4% of both wood and expense. “If you don’t need it, why waste it?”

<< Back to Products | Lumber >>