ETHOS & ENVIRONMENTAL MANUFACTURE
Thor’s Hammer grew out of Thor Diesendorf’s hands-on passion for making furniture and building sustainably with recycled timbers. Reducing waste and care for the environment is at the core of what we do.
Recycled Australian hardwoods are an amazing resource - dense and durable and with a huge range of colours and grain.
We aim to show our respect for these timbers by putting in the effort to design products and pieces that are both practical and beautiful.
Our pieces are designed with thought for the design, the material and the environment.
Recycled Timber
At Thor’s Hammer we make all our products from timbers recycled from demolitions or salvaged from street or paddock trees.
By saving these timbers, waste going to landfill is reduced and a high quality, unique resource is available for building and furniture making.
Wood is around 50% carbon, bound from the atmosphere as the tree grows. When the wood is burnt or decays, the carbon is released as carbon dioxide. By recycling timber we are keeping this carbon stored, avoiding green house gas emissions.
You can learn about the history, timber knowledge and main uses, the durability and hardness of the various recycled timber species and mixes that we supply on our Timber Species page.
Other Materials
We take the same care with the other materials we use as we do choosing our timbers.
Glues: We use a low toxic water based Polyurethane glue called Titebond 3 for laminating our bench tops rather than a formaldehyde based glue.
Filling: The epoxy resin we use for filling cracks in our timbers is produced using 29% bio-carbon from the waste stream of other industrial processes. The resin is therefore also a form of carbon storage.
Coating: The Osmo finishes we use are based on natural plant oils and waxes and they are very high in solids. According to calculation by the Osmo Holz Und Color in Germany one litre of Polyx Oil Pure contains 2kg of bound CO2 from the atmosphere.
Energy
In this era of global warming we aim to minimise fossil fuel energy use.
Our workshop runs on 100% renewable electricity with the ACT successful reaching our 100% renewable target. We also have our own solar photovoltaic system which provides around 25-30% of our electricity needs. See more information on the ACT government"s ACTSmart program and our solar system here.
We use electric forklifts. So clean compared to diesel, and when an electric forklift isn’t moving or lifting it isn’t using energy unlike idling combustion engines.
Fuel use for our vehicles is offset using Greenfleet.
We also choose our machinery to minimise electricity usage. For example, our sawdust extraction is controlled with a variable speed unit. When we are making less sawdust, the motor slows down and consumes less power.
Another example is our planer sander. The planning head can remove 6 times as much material in one pass as a normal sanding machine. It also requires a less powerful motor than a sanding head. By operating the planer sander we are saving a lot of electricity compared to our previous sanding machine.
Low energy use LED lighting is used throughout our operation.
When required, we stabilise our timber in a solar kiln.
Sustainable Design
Our design is based on a few key principles:
BUILDING TO LAST. Our furniture and products are made to be used and enjoyed, and handed down through the generations. For us building to last encompasses not just designing for longevity, but also for practicality in use and for beautiful form. With all these considerations, a piece will stand the test of time.
Building to last also avoids the difficulty and waste of continually replacing poor quality products. It also keeps the carbon in the timber bound up for longer! We aim to be responsible materialists, not consumers.
A DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF OUR CRAFT. We make sure all our design solutions make best use of the natural qualities of timber. This includes the way timber will expand and contract with changes in the season and humidity, how incredibly strong it is along the grain but not across the grain and making use of the unique qualities of different species.
DESIGN FOR EASY MAINTENANCE. We use Osmo natural timber oils and waxes on our pieces which are certified food safe and can be easily cared for at home. With every furniture piece and finished product we supply care instructions and easily applied Osmo Liquid Wax Cleaner for regular refreshing of the surface.
If damage to the surface does ever occur, then Osmo finishes can be renovated at home with usually just a clean or possibly a light sand and a maintenance coat applied with a microfibre roller.
In comparison conventional lacquers generally must be applied in a spray booth, and require sanding back to bare wood to re-coat which reduces the thickness of the timber with each maintenance.
Waste
We minimise waste of timber by designing to suit the typical sizes that come from house and factory demolitions.
Offcuts are sorted and sold for use as firewood. Which you can purchase here!
Our sawdust is collected throughout the workshop in our extraction system, then compressed into high efficiency, clean burning fire briquettes. The briquettes are a cost efficient, environmentally friendly and convenient alternative to regular firewood. Learn more and purchase our recycled sawdust fire briquettes here.
Nails, spikes and bolts are sent for recycling, or saved if they are interesting enough to be used in a new piece.