The stuff that trees are made of

The stuff that
trees are made of

Even though it may not be immediately apparent, special wood goes into making COR upholstered furniture. But where does it come from? And how does it find its way into a Conseta, for example? Let us trace the path of Westphalian wood.

When it bore leaves for the first time, Germany was still ruled by an Emperor. When its crown rose 20 metres into the sky above Hamelin’s municipal forest, the Weimar Republic was just coming to an end. And it was 35 metres high when the inner German border ceased to exist about 150 kilometres further to the east.

100 percent of our wood comes from sustainably managed forests.

Now, with its top reaching nearly 40 metres and at the ripe old age of 135, the beech tree is ready to begin its second life.

Ottmar Heise, head of Hamelin’s municipal forestry office

Before being processed, the wood is left to rest properly.

Ottmar Heise, head of Hamelin’s municipal forestry office

Beech wood is a stable, local, durable wood and therefore very much in demand in furniture manufacturing. For example, four beech boards form the stable base of every “Conseta” and the arm- and backrests of the COR classic also contain solid beech. The joiners at COR work with a total of 1,000 solid cubic metres of this renewable raw material every year – that’s about 50 fully loaded articulated trucks, which arrive at the factory site in Rheda-Wiedenbrück year after year.

With about 100 annual rings the beech is ready to begin its second life.

WE USE ONLY SOLID BEECHWOOD FROM INDIGENOUS FORESTS FOR OUR FURNITURE.

The number of trees harvested in Hamelin municipal forest never exceeds the number that grow back naturally.

The timber trucks do not have far to travel, however, because COR traditionally buys its wood locally. In the Weser Uplands, for example, one of the largest Central European forest regions with mild winters and moist clay soil, growth conditions are ideal for beech trees.

Ottmar Heise, head of Hamelin’s municipal forestry office

Every year, Ottmar Heise, head of Hamelin’s municipal forestry office, sprays red marks on to those fully mature trees that his staff may harvest. Clear-cutting is unthinkable in Hamelin’s municipal forest – only the amount of timber that grows back is felled. “We were already sustainable,” Heise comments, “when people outside forestry had never even heard the word before.”

100 years is the minimum age of the beech trees that we use.

100 percent is the proportion of wood waste that we convert into energy at our own wood chip plant.

A few kilometres away at the LMH sawmill in Hamelin, which has been supplying Westphalian furniture makers with round and sawn timber since 1837, the beech is barked, sawn into planks and pre-dried in the open air for several months. Finally, practically all the remaining moisture is removed over a period of four weeks in a drying chamber at 50 °C. The wood is now “calm”, as the specialists say: ready for transportation and processing.

BEECHWOOD FORMS THE FRAME FOR MUCH OF OUR FURNITURE. IT ENSURES THAT THE FURNITURE STILL REMAINS STABLE EVEN AFTER DECADES OF USE.

A head saw cuts round logs into flat planks at the LMH sawmill in Hamelin.

Volker Meyer, Managing Director LMH Hameln

For COR , only a certain proportion of the harvest is even considered, namely wood which is free of splits and rot spots and has very few knotholes. Because COR furniture – contrary to customary practice in the industry – is not tensioned on the underside, the quality and finishing of the material are an open secret for every customer. Anyone wanting confirmation of the kind of beech used in their Conseta simply has to take a brief peek underneath.

Wood department (COR)

In the joiner’s workshop at the COR factory in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, the beech planks – depending on whether a one-, two- or three-seat Conseta is to be made from them – are sawn to the required length and breadth, planed and grooved for the channel beading piping typical of COR .

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