West Coast Woods

SwiftSure Milling and Mouldings is located in the heart of the vast British Columbia Coastal Temperate Rainforest. Our forests are renowned for producing a wide variety of softwood and hardwood species. No matter your need, interior or exterior, you are sure to find a BC wood that will fill your requirements. We pride ourselves on offering the absolute best of the best in West Coast Wood.

Softwood Species

Douglas Fir – Renowned for its beauty, strength and resistance to wear, this wood is an excellent choice for flooring, baseboards, casing, ceiling decking and exterior soffit. The sapwood is light in colour and of narrow width. The heartwood ranges from yellowish to reddish-brown. This species is one of Canada’s strongest commercial softwoods with high bending strength, shear strength and stiffness. Its hardness and high resistance to abrasion make it suitable for uses where wear is a factor.

Western Hemlock – The most plentiful species on the British Columbia Coast, this wood is renowned for its excellent working properties and finishing characteristics. The wood is light in colour with a pinkish to reddish-brown tinge.

Hemlock is an excellent cost efficient choice for exterior soffit, mouldings, flooring, panelling, doors, windows and staircase.

Western Red Cedar – Weather resistant and highly resistant to decay, western red cedar is ideally suited to exterior applications where durability and dimensional stability are required. Its unique properties make it ideal for weather-resistant applications including exterior siding, decking, doors, outdoor furniture, ship and boat building.

With its dark, attractive colouring, this wood also has many interior applications.  This wood is popular for doors, windows, ceilings, wall paneling as well as for millwork. Due to its dimensional stability it is perfectly suited to uses such a sauna panelling, mouldings and window blinds. Red cedar is also a good choice for musical instruments due to its superb acoustic resonance properties.

Yellow Cedar – One of the world’s most durable woods. Yellow Cedar has a distinctive and uniform yellow colour. Yellow Cedar’s natural extractives make it a decay resistant wood and aromatic when cut.

Yellow-cedar is well-suited for flooring and bridge decking because of its strength, hardness and wearing properties. It is resistant to corrosion and the elements which makes it an excellent choice for all exterior applications such as siding, soffit, decking and fencing. The wood is incredibly easy to work with and prized for applications such as moulding, panelling and other interior millwork applications.

Hardwood Species

Alder – The most plentiful hardwood on the Coast of British Columbia. Alder is a popular choice for use in mouldings, baseboard, casings, panelling, flooring, doors and other interior home decor.

Pacific Maple – The largest maple in Canada, it grows exclusively in the southwest corner of British Columbia. It is a hard, heavy, attractive wood that’s generally used for higher value appearance-grade products such as flooring, cabinetry and furniture, as well as turnings, musical instruments and interior millwork.

White Birch – Is found throughout the British Columbia Interior and a few locations on the Coast. White Birch is known for it hardness and finishing characteristics. An excellent choice for mouldings, panelling, flooring and other interior millwork applications.

Arbutus/Madrone – Referred to as Arbutus in Canada and Madrone in the United States. The Color tends to be a cream or pinkish brown color, but can also have dark red patches. Arbutus/Madrone grows in close proximity to the ocean and is a protected species which can only be cut in small quantities with special permits making it limited in availability compared to other West Coast Woods. The wood is extremely hard thus making it an excellent choice for hardwood flooring and can also be used for wall panelling, ceiling decking and other interior millwork applications.

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