SELECTION
Did you know that only one in 100 boards will become a PROMETHEUS?
The most time-consuming and vital process for us is selecting the heart of the product – wood. We have to focus on many factors when choosing that one unique piece, which makes the whole process complicated, yet more exciting.
The most challenging issue we faced was bark, which is removed by most sawmills before the drying stage begins. This is mainly due to its unsuitability for carpenter’s shops and the prevalence of worms precisely in this part of the tree, which dramatically increases the likelihood of their spreading throughout the stored material, causing significant losses.
As the pieces we select must not have a moisture content exceeding 8-10%, they must be seasoned for up to 6-7 years. During the entire drying process, the wood undergoes numerous compressions and expansions, which have an additional negative impact on the bark, which in most cases falls off either in parts or entirely. To avoid this problem over the years of using the ecological fireplace, we manually coat it with special polyurethane glue.
The next aspect determining if a particular piece of wood will become the next PROMETHEUS is a very inconspicuous thing, namely the cardinal direction in which it was growing. Pieces of wood growing facing north, generally less sunny and more humid, often have rotten green bark that eliminates it in advance from starting the manufacturing process.
