Choose from our in-house designs or collaborate with us to create something unique.
Our skilled team offers sawmilling, kiln drying, surfacing, and more for you.
Helmwood, based in Houston, Texas, is a haven for those seeking high-quality materials and exceptional craftsmanship.
Our knowledgeable team will guide you through the process no matter your experience with wood or design. We are dedicated to ensuring your project’s success.
Our sole mission is to give trees a second life. At Helmwood, we value the beauty and potential of wood and are invested in ensuring its quality. That takes knowledge and equipment. Lots of it.
As a family-owned company, we are passionate about promoting resourceful practices. By sourcing otherwise discarded logs and by being vertically integrated, we have the flexibility in lumber production and building custom wood products — all while minimizing environmental impact.
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We provide full-service sawmill solutions for all aspects of lumber production for customers who have their own logs. Learn more on our sawmill services page.
We produce kiln-dried hardwood lumber and live-edge slabs that you can purchase for your next project.
We design and build beautiful hardwood furniture. We offer designs you can buy online, custom furniture designed and built for you, and tree-to-table furniture for customers looking to turn their downed tree into furniture.
Finally, we offer shop services for other furniture makers and hobbyists needing to outsource some portion of a project, such as slab surfacing. Our team and equipment will help keep your project moving.
At the end of the day, whether you're a woodworking enthusiast or a customer looking for quality furniture, we’ve got you covered.
That depends on the size of the log. And, even with the right dimensions, it all depends on what the ultimate goal of the project is.
We determine how to mill your log depending on what you are trying to
do with it. Often people reach out to us when a tree on their property came down and they do not want it thrown out or burned. Understandably so.
Since every log is unique, it’s important to get the proper measurements first. Next, we will discuss your goals and what you’d like to do with the tree. That will determine how wood rich you are. As an example, a log can yield a lot of lumber but only one slab appropriate for a conference table 20 feet long by 6 feet wide.
This process involves several steps and we will guide you along the way.
Log Recovery: Logs are transported from your property to our woodshop. We offer this as a service or you are welcome to deliver your logs to us. Note that the tree must be cut down for us to pick it up. We'd be happy to share a list of trusted companies we have worked with in the past.
Milling: The logs are cut into specified dimensions using our specialized equipment (explore our full sawmill and shop services).
Drying: The rough lumber is air dried and then kiln dried to reduce its moisture content and kill bugs.
After these steps, the wood is ready to be used for a variety of applications, including furniture, flooring, and more.
Lumber production is the process of transforming trees into usable wood.
At Helmwood, we take pride in our thoughtful approach to lumber production, which starts with identifying the best use for the log before it’s milled.
After milling, the lumber is properly stacked, stickered and strapped to be air dried. Depending on species and thickness, the air-drying process can take from 2 to 12 months.
The wood is then kiln dried in our vacuum kilns, which controls the temperature, humidity, and airflow in order to dry the wood quickly and with minimum defect.
Kiln drying is an important step in producing high-quality lumber for use in interior, climate-controlled environments. The purpose of kiln drying is to remove excess moisture from the wood.
Logs and freshly milled lumber are very wet. Proper kiln drying ensures that the wood is dried evenly and thoroughly, which helps to prevent issues and improves the overall stability of the wood.
Additionally, kiln drying eliminates pests and fungi that may be present in the wood, making it a safer and more sanitary material for use in your living spaces.
Kiln drying is important for lumber production because it removes moisture from the wood, which makes it more stable and less susceptible to warping, cracking, and other defects.
Kiln drying wood is particularly important for furniture and other items that will be in climate-controlled areas, which have low humidity.
Additionally, proper kiln drying kills insects, fungi, and bacteria that may be present in the wood.
We sure can. Our team will schedule a time that works for you to pick up a tree that has already been cut down.
Learn how to turn your tree to table or to see all of our sawmill and shop services.
Every day we get to see the beauty that has been hidden inside the trees that grow all around us. We get to turn that beauty into usable material, and build unique furniture that our customers will enjoy for decades.
Through all of it we get to play with amazing tools and machines, and work with customers who appreciate the beauty and potential of wood as much as we do. It never gets old.
