Denver Wood Slabs is a family-owned local sawmill that specializes in milling and kiln-drying felled, urban trees. Located just a few minutes from Downtown, we have one of the largest selections of live edge, kiln-dried wood slabs in Colorado.
Our business was first established in 2007 as a custom furniture company, Where Wood Meets Steel, which was born out of the desire to rescue Denver’s urban trees from landfill. After several years spent figuring out how to transport logs to one of the few mills in the state, then carefully air drying or renting space in someone else’s kiln, we invested in our first mill.
Now, many years (and 2 more mills and a vacuum kiln) later, we have amassed an impressive inventory available for sale to the public.
Our first tiny trailer transporting a tree we had milled.
What We Have to Offer
Our inventory includes not only large, live edge slabs, but shorts and off-cuts, specialty pieces like burls, book match sets, beams, cookies, wide lumber, tree stumps and bases. In addition to selling this material, we also offer milling and woodworking services to our clients. These services include anything from planing to dimensioning and fabrication all the way through finish. Our in-house designers can work from existing drawings or create custom designs perfectly suited to our clients’ spaces.
Who Are Our Clients?
We work with anyone from hobbyists to home and business owners, museums, designers and architects, fellow craftsmen, custom home builders, kitchen and bath showrooms and artists. We have designers we have been working with for almost 16 years as partners in their quest to create unique pieces for their customers’ spaces. Many local woodworkers source slabs from us for their own custom projects often bringing their clients to the warehouse to personally select the wood for their pieces. Working with repeat customers has allowed us to be a part of a wide variety of projects over the years and develop important relationships with like-minded creatives.
How Do People Use Our Wood Slabs?
WIth 18+ years in business we have seen a lot of projects fabricated from our wood slabs – either by us or our clients. One of the most common uses for larger live edge slabs has always been custom dining tables. Also popular are countertops and bars which we have made for homes, rentals, restaurants and bars. In recent years, live edge vanities with vessel sinks have been popular and we have seen an increased interest in mantels and hearths.
A versatile material, wood slabs can be used in traditional or modern settings and help bring warmth and character to a space. For this reason, many of our customers use floating wood shelves, live edge slab coffee or accent tables, and even wall art made from wood to accentuate their spaces. As no two slabs are the same, our clients love selecting a piece that is unique to them, often displaying stunning grain and figuring, something you cannot get at any store.
Live edged white oak slab countertop with resin fill.
Barn door made of live edge slab of walnut wood with custom steel hardware.
Walnut slabs with bark inclusion
Book matched elm slab dining table
Elm slab bar
Our Wood is Kiln-Dried, Acclimated and Bug Free
Unless you specifically ask for green wood, everything we sell has been kiln-dried in our vacuum kiln. Not only does this acclimate the wood to our climate to prevent cracking, but it sterilizes the wood from bugs. Over the years we have had numerous clients bring us slabs they purchased elsewhere that was not actually kiln-dried causing it to warp and crack. It is crucial that you know who is selling the wood and that it has been properly kiln-dried to avoid costly fixes (or bug infestations!) down the road.
How to Schedule an Appointment
Whether you are looking for wood slabs with specific dimensions or are just browsing to find something that speaks to you, there are two options. You can start by searching our online inventory tool which allows you to select filters suck as specie and dimensions. If you find something you like you can click the claim item button, enter your info and submit to us to hold the slab. If you prefer, you can fill out a request for and we will send you back a list of possible options. Once we have a good idea of what you are looking for we can set up an appointment to come view the pieces in person.
If you are looking for custom milling, planing or woodworking services, please fill out the request form and tell us a bit more about what you are looking for. We will reach out to set up a time to come in and give you some more information specific to your project. Feel to also reach out by phone: 720.780.7752.
Ash
COMMON NAMES
White Ash, American White Ash
TREE SIZE
65-100 ft (20-30 m) tall, 2-5 ft (.6-1.5 m) trunk diameter
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The sapwood is light-colored to nearly white and the heartwood varies from grayish or light brown, to pale yellow streaked with brown. The wood is generally straight-grained with a coarse uniform texture. The degree and availability of light-colored sapwood, and other properties, will vary according to the growing regions.
WORKING PROPERTIES
Ash machines well, is good in nailing, screwing and gluing, and can be stained to a very good finish. It dries fairly easily with minimal degrade, and there is little movement in performance.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Ash has very good overall strength properties relative to its weight. It has excellent shock resistance and is good for steam bending.
MAIN USES
Furniture, flooring, doors, architectural millwork and moulding, kitchen cabinets, paneling, tool handles, baseball bats, sporting equipment, and turnings. It is particularly suitable for food and liquid containers since there is no odor or taste.