Plum Slabs Now Available!

You can choose your own unfinished slab of plum wood from our wide selection of slabs cut from Niagara plum tree trunks.

Plum trees are pruned heavily, and if you have ever driven by a Niagara orchard you know how gnarly the trees are.  The wood naturally twists as the tree grows and the limbs are pruned hard each year.

Our slabs are from plum trees that are over 50 years old.  Plum is one of the few fruit trees that are allowed to grow old - most fruit trees like peaches are replaced every 20-25 years and so do not grow very large.

These plum tree trunks are wide but squat.  The growers prune the trees so they stay short so they are easy to pick. The trunk never grows more that a four feet tall before it branches out horizontally.

As a result, these slabs are all less that 40 inches long and vary from 10 inches to 20 inches in width.  All are cut to 10/4 or 2 1/2 inches.

The slabs have been dried in a vacuum kiln, which is expensive but results in fewer defects like splitting, checking and twisting.  However, plum by nature is full of defects like bark inclusions and some growth splitting.

Each tree trunk only gives 3 or four slabs, so most edges are angled.  The two sides of a slab are usually quite different.

The colours and grain pattern can also vary considerably between slabs and even within a single slab.

We also have available waste cuts and cookies that are air drying.  These are crazily shaped and coloured. 

I am slowly working my way through my wood slab inventory, so come early for the best selection!

Visit us at our Niagara-on-the-Lake studio and choose your slab today.