Wood Selection

Every day trees are cut down in all of our communities.  These urban forests are managed by municipalities, corporations, and private citizens.  Trees are removed for many reasons, including disease, over growth, land development, etc., and are destined to become firewood, landfill or are chipped for mulch and landscaping.  An estimated two billion board feet of urban timber is wasted in North America every day.
All Paul Chilton Pepper and Salt Mills are turned from wood harvested from urban tree waste.  The wood is then blocked, waxed and dried for about 12 months. 
Careful hand selection for color and grain such as  fiddle back, quilting, burl, enhancing defects, and crotch feather, yields the final turning blanks.

As a wood turner and craftsman, Paul is continually searching for the best figured wood.  By making unique heirlooms from this wood it gives the trees an extended life, perhaps even beyond our own.