Quote a crate
Dimensions of the object, its weight, where it is going, and how many.
Cleated plywood boxes
Plywood panels on a timber frame. Light, strong in the plane, and the standard for machinery and instruments. Our most-requested build.
Solid wood crates
Open-slat or fully sheathed timber. Takes abuse, breathes, and handles point loads that would dent plywood.
Shipping frames & skids
An engineered base with bracing, for things that do not want walls — tanks, coils, fabricated steel, architectural glass.
Knock-down crates
Bolted panels that ship flat and assemble on site. Cuts outbound cube by two-thirds on repeat lanes.
Reusable returnables
Built for twenty round trips with replaceable panels. For closed-loop lanes this is dramatically cheaper than one-way crating.
Internal bracing & blocking
Foam, timber blocking, cradles and chocks. The crate is the easy part; stopping movement inside it is the craft.
Stamped before it leaves the yard.
Crates crossing a border fall under ISPM-15 in full — panels, frame, cleats, internal blocking, all of it. We treat and mark on site, on two opposite faces, and log the batch against your shipment reference so a port query takes an email rather than a week.
How heat treatment works- Debarked lumber throughout — a single strip of bark voids compliance
- 56 °C core temperature held 30 continuous minutes
- IPPC wheat mark with our registered facility number
- Marked on two opposite sides, legibly, permanently
- Batch record retained and emailed with the packing list
- Repairs after treatment re-treated, never patched with untreated wood
Compliance, paperwork and timber.
A crate crossing a border falls under ISPM-15 in full — panels, frame, cleats and internal blocking alike.
- Every component debarked — a single strip on one bottom board voids the unit
- Core temperature 56 °C held for 30 continuous minutes, probed in the thickest member
- IPPC wheat mark with country code, registered facility number and HT treatment code
- Mark applied on at least two opposite faces, legibly and permanently
- Loose dunnage, blocking and bracing treated and marked independently
- Any post-treatment repair made with treated material, and the unit re-marked
- Batch record retained, tied to your shipment reference, issued with the packing list
- Methyl bromide (MB) avoided — phased out in most destinations and refused by several
| Document | When | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Certified weigh ticket | Every inbound and outbound movement | The evidentiary basis of any diversion claim |
| Count sheet by grade | Every purchase of your surplus | You get the sheet, not a summary |
| ISPM-15 batch record | Any heat-treated consignment | Turns a port query into an email |
| Pallet Passport record | Any remanufactured platform | Origin, repair history, treatment batch, running ledger |
| Quarterly diversion report | Programme customers | Measured tonnage for ESG reporting, not an industry average |
| Feedstock segregation attestation | Mulch and bedding buyers | Written statement of what the wood was |
| Certificate of insurance | On request | Named-insured endorsements for on-site crews |
| Grading criteria statement | On request | The written standard our graders work to |
Ask for any of these before an audit rather than during one. Assembling the pack takes us an afternoon and converts verbal questions into documents.
| Species | Group | Specific gravity | Stiffness | Nail holding | Weight | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern yellow pine | Softwood | 0.51 (oven-dry sg) | Moderate | Moderate | Light | $ | Plantation-grown, abundant, dimensionally stable once dried. The default for new builds. |
| Appalachian red oak | Hardwood | 0.63 | High | Excellent | Heavy | $$$ | Stiffest common option. Best for racked spans and high-cycle closed loops. |
| Poplar / tulipwood | Hardwood | 0.42 | Moderate | Good | Light-medium | $$ | Light for a hardwood, clean-looking, favoured on the millwork bench. |
| Maple (soft) | Hardwood | 0.54 | High | Very good | Medium-heavy | $$ | Common in mixed Appalachian loads; good all-rounder. |
| Sweetgum | Hardwood | 0.52 | Moderate | Good | Medium | $ | Prone to warping if dried badly. Fine in a repaired platform, awkward in millwork. |
| Mixed Appalachian | Hardwood | 0.42–0.63 | Variable | Good–excellent | Medium-heavy | $$ | What a recycled hardwood load actually is. Strong, heavy, and genuinely inconsistent. |
A recycled load is a mix by definition, because the recovered pool is a mix. We sort to a single species group on request, which costs more and takes longer.