INTRODUCING KNOXFIELD TIMBER

Ever the entrepreneur, Lewis Knox saw a gap in the market and went for it… and that’s how Knoxfield Timber was born earlier this year!

Lewis has been running the Knoxfield Estate Services fencing business since 2007 covering Perthshire, Angus and Fife and specialising in agricultural and forestry fencing.

Lewis explained: “We work with fencing materials on a daily basis so have a good understanding of what is required in a good quality post.

“I got the opportunity to start Knoxfield Timber when BSW, our main supplier for natural round fence posts, closed their sawmill site at Boat of Garten. We had been buying from them since they started processing round fence posts back in 2017 and we had built up a good business relationship with them.

“Once I heard the mill was closing I thought I’d better look for a new supplier for my round fencing materials and, after doing some research, it was clear that there was a big demand for the type of product that BSW used to produce. Now there was an even bigger demand with BSW out of the market.

“I contacted BSW and offered to buy the round fencing line from Boat of Garten and, in January 2023, we removed the machine and relocated it to our new site not far from Forfar,” added Lewis.

Knoxfield Timber is a partnership between Lewis and Mark Laird who has been a very good customer of Knoxfield EstateServices for over 10 years.

“He brings good business knowledge and has a keen interest in new businesses and the timber market,” explained Lewis.

“Timber supply was one thing I was told at the start that was always going to be a challenge getting a consistent supply of raw material. With my background in fencing I have developed contacts with a good few of the forest management companies.

“We are sourcing Pine and Larch from 75mm up to 240mm in diameter and from 1700mm to 3400mm in length. Predominantly this material is coming from thinnings and clear fell sites where thinning has never taken place.

“We have recently have been processing timber from a clear fell site on a local estate less than 10 miles from the sawmill and one of the contracting teams from Knoxfield Estate Services will be going back later in the year to fence the restock site with the timber that came from that site.

“That’s a great thing to seenowadays but would have been very common In the past with a lot of estates having their own sawmills.

“As a company, we are looking to provide consistent quality timber with a minimum 15 year warranty. Later this year we will have a new 40m3 bespoke kiln built on site which gives us the capability of drying posts and bring the moisture content down below 28% which in turn allows the treatment company to offer a warranty on our products.

“We have set up our recording system where every pack of posts has an individual number and barcode. On our system this number will give us full traceability on every pack telling us where it was harvested, the processing date, moisture contents before and after kiln and the treatment date.

“The demand for our materials is already outstripping supply. As anew company it is great to see the demand out there already for our product.

“The forestry fencing sector in Scotland is busy with lots of woodland creation schemes and still the constant need for restock fencing. As a fencing contractor we have seen woodland creation project sizes go from 1-2000 metres 10 years ago to now massive projects needing 20,000m plus of fencing. This will also create more demand in the market.

“Our operation runs with 3 operators, one working in the control room and the other two pointing and stacking packs. As with every new business and setup we have had our teething problems and challenges but we are happy with the final product we are producing and looking forward to now seeing our products being used by fellow fencing contractors all over,” concluded Lewis.

The entrepreneurial spirit is clearly strong for Lewis with the new kids on the timber block already ‘pulling up trees’!

www.knoxfieldtimber.co.uk

07752 663424

info@knoxfieldtimber.co.uk