OUR WORKSHOP

We are very fortunate to have a great team of highly experienced green oak carpenters – traditionally trained by us – who make all of our oak frames by hand in our rural Herefordshire workshops.

Every oak frame we produce is made by hand, using medieval carpentry skills (such as mortice and tenon oak pegged joints), founded upon the unchanged principles of oak framing from the 14th and 15th century.

We use only the finest ‘Restoration Grade’ green oak from our long term supply partners. This is important because we are creating beautiful craftsman made homes from an incredible natural material that we hope will last for many centuries and the quality of the material is paramount.

Over the past five decades our team have produced the very best green oak frames in the world – now standing proudly in all corners of the globe.

Our carpenters are experienced, knowledgeable, skilled and passionate – and we are incredibly proud of their creativity alongside the care and attention they lavish on every frame, large or small.

Our carpentry team are also qualified Timber Graders. This enables them to independently check each piece of oak that delivered and uphold our self imposed stringent quality control and exemplary standards.

Passion, Pride & Excellence 

Border Oak was founded on John Greene’s vision to revive the lost art of green oak framing.

From years of studying, restoring and repairing original frames we were able to assemble a small team of craftsmen – who have since trained many generations of younger carpenters – always remaining true to the medieval carpentry skills that are fundamental to authentic structural framing systems.

We have consciously and deliberately avoided automated modern machinery –favouring an instinctive and craftsmanship based approach, prioritising hand work and artisan skills which ensure the character and qualities of the oak are best celebrated and imbues each home with the skills of the carpenter, rather than an automated machine.

We feel it is vitally important to protect and preserve the art of hand made green oak framing alongside the authenticity of the process and the standard of the end product as well as the skills themselves. Mass produced automated manufacturing may be cheaper  – but it simply isn’t best (and it isn’t any quicker). Hand making also enables us to offer the widest variety of frame and frame detailing – we aren’t limited by machine – and continuous quality control at every stage.

We view our commitment to craftsmanship as an integral element of our legacy and distinctive quality of our product, in the same way that handmade furniture will outlast and be more beautiful than imported flat pack.

We do combine appropriate technology and innovation when best suited – for example our Drawing Office use state of the art programs to engineer and develop each project and produce our intricate cutting lists, frame drawings, building regulation drawings and working drawings. We also deploy technology when investigating new products and exploring performance options.

Good frame design should always be a continual collaboration between the carpenter and the design team. Every frame we make is unique with infinite opportunities for customisation. Many require traditional templating and continual reassessment through the making phase- with precision refinement at every stage.

The green oak beams are ordered specifically for each project (rather than taken from generalised stock) and delivered to our yard from our long serving supply teams, where it is inspected and approved by our carpenters, before being accepted. The frame then works through the ‘marking out’ area where carpenters apply the complex maths into pen form – from the drawings to the timber. Each beam and each collection of beams with then move through the hand work tables adding additional cuts, joints and finishes. Once complete, all of our frames are test assembled in our ‘setting out’ yard with our carpenters marks (based loosely on Roman numerals) inscribed once the carpenters are satisfied.

Externally, beams are left ‘rough sawn’ – a traditional finish that suits the exterior best and is more authentic than a planed finish. Internally clients can choose either a smooth ‘flat planed’ finish or a less uniform ‘adzed’ surface; all produced by hand.

Corner edges are chamfered or draw knifed, with more intricate finishes and details available where appropriate.

We wholeheartedly believe that a Border Oak frame – crafted with care at every stage, and truly handmade – is unrivalled.

“We are, and have always been, the world’s finest oak frame makers”