The Pentland Furniture Company - Our technique & Materials

Pentland Furniture Company forms an alliance with SMARTimbers

Sugar gum used by Pentland Furniture is made from farm plantation timber sourced by SMARTimbers. It is made of select grade, sugar gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx) a South Australian species, which for over 100 years has been grown by farmers as a plantation species in Victoria's Western District, providing shelter for stock & some 40,000 cubic metres of firewood annually.

Now sugar gum is rising from the ashes as a lowley firewood species to become thw 'belle of the ball' as a premium, high quality furniture timber. Not only does sugar gum cut a fine figure, but it is also easy to machine, has high strength & density, & a Class 1 durability rating.

Sugar gum is one of the few native hardwood species that can be found in mature form in Australian plantations. Sugar gum's suitability to low rainfall areas also means it has valuable environmental benefits for the arid zone, which makes up 70% of Australia's land mass.

The timber in SMARTimbers products can be traced back to a farm or privately-owed landholding in the Otways, Western District & central Victorian regions. Treegrower members of SMARTimbers have formed a co-operative, with the aims of value adding & drawing people's attention to the uniqueness & beauty of native timber, while ensuring that the co-op's grower members sustainably manage their farm forests & plantations.

Most native trees never rise above becoming a post, pole, pallet or woodchip, yet so many of them have the capability to become - like sugar gum - fine furniture. SMARTimbers is dedicated to treating Australian timber with the respect & care it deserves.