Box Materials
Our boxes, and many smaller components, are made from #3 Bright kiln-dried Ponderosa pine sourced from The Collins Timber Company, a lumber business headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon, with a long history of sustainable forestry.
Collins manages forests in Oregon, California, and Pennsylvania, and was the first privately owned forest products company in the United States to receive Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.
FSC certification is an independent, third-party system that promotes responsible forest management. It requires regular audits and certifies practices that address environmental impact, wildlife habitat, worker welfare, Indigenous land rights and long-term forest health.
We do our best to source wood from forests managed for sustainability rather than short-term gain, helping maintain soil health, water quality, and wildlife habitat while ensuring timber remains available for the future.
Among global forest certification systems, FSC is widely recognized as one of the most credible and rigorously audited standards, supported by major environmental organizations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and often cited as the benchmark for responsible forestry. It has also drawn criticism from groups like Greenpeace over implementation and enforcement in some regions, reflecting the broader challenges of auditing complex supply chains.
When we say our lumber comes from FSC-certified forests, it is sourced with long-term ecological health and responsible harvesting in mind, recognizing that no certification system is perfect, but that FSC remains the most credible system for independently verifying environmental and community protections.
We choose Collins lumber because it allows us to build consistent woodenware while supporting responsible forestry and a company with decades of experience in sustainable timber management in the Pacific Northwest.
Why This Matters to Us
As woodworkers and small farmers, we depend on resilient forests just as much as we depend on healthy soil — they’re closely connected. We buy the most responsibly sourced lumber we can find because diverse, productive forests are worth protecting.
If you’d like more information about FSC or our lumber sources, please contact us — we’re happy to share the details.
Materials in our Bottom Boards and Top Covers
The bottoms and covers we make are cut from High Density Overlay (HDO) plywood. HDO is commonly used for concrete forms, road signs, and other demanding applications where strength and weather resistance are essential. It is superior to other exterior-grade plywoods, like CDX, for several reasons. First, it is made from higher-quality, more uniform veneer layers. This means the core has fewer voids, knots, and irregularities, making it stronger and more stable over time when exposed to repeated wet and dry cycles. It tends to warp and swell less under humidity and sun exposure, and even the edges absorb moisture more slowly than CDX because the core is denser and more stable.
The second major advantage is the resin-impregnated fiber overlay bonded to both sides. This material is closely related to Bakelite, and it is bonded under heat and pressure, creating a tough, water-resistant surface that resists water absorption, surface cracking, and wear. Over time, sunlight will slowly degrade the resin, so we recommend painting HDO covers to protect them from UV light and to seal the edges. Even without paint, HDO covers last a long time, but painted, and occasionally repainted, covers can easily last decades.
Like other synthetic products, HDO has some environmental trade-offs. The phenolic resin is not biodegradable and limits recyclability at the end of its useful life. Compared to CDX, HDO has a larger environmental footprint when manufactured, but its longer lifespan can offset that initial impact.
We can also make lids and bottom boards from CDX or other materials if you prefer. If you’d like another option and want to explore alternatives, let us know—we’re happy to discuss what works best for your needs.