With so much air pollution, waste destroying Earth’s oceans and non-recyclable products it can feel like an impossible task to create something without adding to the destruction, but Wind River Timber Company does just that. Wind River Timber Company is located in Hooper, Utah. The northern-based company was founded when Bryce Widdison, the owner, discovered that they already had the “equipment, and things in place for an easy transition to start making more reclaimed wood products to fill orders, and extend the business to where we can sell our products all over the state, and even to other states all around the country.”
Wind River fulfills a variety of projects from exterior sightings to shiplap walls. Their “exterior stain is guaranteed to last at least ten years. It is a water-based stain, which is eco-friendly; there’s no EOC’s in it.” Their interior products, “Barnwood in a Box”, are all created from stains mixed with water, which creates a reliable, quality design. Barnwood in a Box is offered in a “Homestead Series, Timberline Series, or a Shadow wood Series.” Each series has a unique look that will give any project a distinct appearance. All orders that the Wind River completes is done with the idea in mind that “everything that we do we try to be sustainable with it.”
At Wind River they do one of two things to fabricate the desired end-product. Widdison says, “either we’ll do the demo, or we’ll have other companies do the demo, but we’ll bring the wood in and get it all prepped so we’ll resell.” The other option is to “bring in new lumber and treat it to make it look like old wood. We take it through some different machineries that we’ve actually made at our shop. We’ll process the wood through there, and then treat it with different stains.’
Most of the old reclaimed wood that Wind River “brings in isn’t necessarily from an old barn or an old fence that’s torn down. We try to take historical structures.” This is an important aspect for Widdidson. He says, “the biggest thing that reclaimed wood offers that other products don’t is the character. Wood has a distinct look to it. Whether it’s a new piece of lumber that we make look old, or a piece of old lumber that’s been on a building for 150 years, it has its own individual characteristics.” He believes that “people in general like to be a part of history” or a part of something that’s bigger than them. This is an aspect of woodworking that Widdison really enjoys; being able to “bring in a piece of history and giving it that repurposed look.”
Again everything they do, they try to be as sustainable as possible. That being said, in terms of “all of the new lumber that we bring in, it’s either dead-growth or beetle-killed trees from forests. We’re not going and cutting down a bunch of good living trees, it’s all dead trees that we take out of the forest.”
Whether it’s a seamless hidden door, a custom matching or giving a house its own character and warmth, Widdison, with over 15 years of woodworking under his belt, he and the rest of the Wind River Timber Company can get the job done. Widdison enjoys the challenge of “taking the time to sit down and figure something out knowing that there’s been several other shops that have been asked to do it that can’t or won’t do it, so knowing that with the experience and the technology that we use, we’re able to do things that other people can’t or won’t do.
