Raul’s Blog

Ed Homer, a filmmaker and supporter of restoration forestry, sent us a link to one of his recent videos:

The video shows a great example of the best of what the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has to offer. Most FSC-certified forests have lower standards than those of the gentlemen’s lands in the video. (Merve Wilkensen, the forester in the video, is one of the people I studied years ago. He is a pioneer in the field.) The 10% set aside for Old-Growth trees is fantastic. It’s not required by FSC, but this is the key to restoring and not just sustaining lands.

In fact, we’re meeting the same higher standards here at Old-Growth Again. The key is to cut at a very low rate that allows the forest to bring back the Old-Growth on its own over time. We also set aside 5 trees per acre to never be cut. Combining the very low cut rate and the set asides is the key to restoration forestry. Restoration forestry exceeds sustainable forestry standards because of the lower rates of cut set in perpetuity.

Thanks to Ed for the video link and keep up the good work!

We are always willing to do a custom new design. Custom designs, custom options & details and custom sizing are the secrets to our ever-expanding product selection. We don’t run a factory. We operate an old-fashioned wood working shop. Everything is made by hand and will always be done this way. This gives us the flexibility to say yes as often as possible. Sometimes we can’t get it done, but usually it leads to interesting new items we wind up adding to our website’s offerings.

If you have a design you’d like made, send it over. It will take a bit of time, but odds are we’ll come up with a beauty.

In this photo our in-house master carpenter Tony Toledo and I are working out ways of strengthening and refining the basic skeleton of an arched hammock stand design (next to us on the table).

This is the finished product, which we've named the Noah's Arc Hammock.

Boxes of Redwood furniture ready to ship across the country... and even farther

Yes, you can have large wood furniture items shipped cross-country (or across the oceans) to your door without a glitch. We do it every day. Since 1995, Forever Redwood has shipped thousands of items of all sizes all over the US, Canada, and occasionally Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Our shipping partners (Fed Ex, UPS, YellowFreight and other LTL carriers) are fast and reliable. In the rare case something gets dinked, we remake replacement parts at no cost and ship within a week.

If you order Forever Redwood furniture, you will never receive boxes full of hundreds of parts to decipher. All small items ship fully assembled (that includes Planter Boxes up to 1′ W x 1′ H up to 8′ L, Swing Seats, Mini & Tiny Foot Stools, all the folding items, etc.). For larger items, we design to minimize re-assembly (ship many sections already assembled). For example, Dining Chairs usually ship in 4 to 6 parts—just enough to limit the size of the packaging and keep shipping costs down. Even many large items are less than 10 parts, for example, the 8 ft Patio Table ships in 8 parts.

If you’re curious how an item is re-assembled, download the PDF instructions for it at:
www.foreverredwood.com/assembly.html

Small orders usually ship Fed Ex Ground. Large items (like picnic tables, swing sets or pergolas) ship in a crate with padded boxes strapped in it via LTL carriers like FedEx Freight or UPS Freight. Once your crate arrives at the distribution center near you, you’ll be called to set up a convenient time to deliver. Crates are dropped off on your driveway. Then, you can unscrew the crate and move the individual boxes easily (no box weighs over 90 lbs). We ship from San Diego, CA.  If you live in CA, we can assemble your order for a small extra charge.

If you live in California, we can hand-deliver your furniture and even assemble it for you!

When your order ships, you’ll receive tracking information by email to know when its arriving. Standard orders ship in 4-6 weeks, with FREE SHIPPING available on orders totaling over $1000 within the Continental U.S. If you need your items sooner, consider our Priority and Rush shipping options. We also ship to Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, and other countries. We’ve shipped our furniture to Italy, Japan, even Dubai.

To find more details about your shipping options, please visit:
www.foreverredwood.com/shipping.html

Forever Redwood operates an old-fashioned woodworking shop. Every item is made by hand to the highest standards and can be customized to meet you spatial or creative needs. Old-fashioned hand-building is becoming a lost art. Even though we may be far away, consider us your personal woodworking shop.  If it’s made of wood, odds are we can do it!

Great news. The Mexican government of the state of Baja California has awarded Old-Growth Again (makers of Forever Redwood furniture) the certification of officially being a “safe enterprise” (Empresa Segura). That means we met a series of standards to maintain safe working conditions for our employees. We’re very proud of all our employees whose diligence made this possible, and we commit ourselves to continually meeting the goals of workplace safety along with exceptional quality in our hand-crafted Redwood furniture. We also offer our thanks to the government of Baja California for the recognition and support.

Raul Hernandez (CEO of Old-Growth Again Restoration Forestry, Inc.) receives the "Empresa Segura Award" (Safe Enterprise Award for Employee Safety) from representatives of the State Government of Baja California. April 1, 2009; Ensenada, Baja California.