Bark Laminates
White Pine Bark House® Laminates are used in cabinetry, on walls, picture frames, doors or numerous other applications.
Yellow Birch has a luminous quality that creates a little magic. These laminates work well on picture frames and mirrors or craft projects. HC has developed a way to affix the fringe so that other applications are possible. Be sure and ask us.
Yellow Poplar Bark House® laminates are used to make a one-of-a-kind signature piece.
Bark laminates have multiple applications and uses including interior paneling, wainscoting, facing doors and furniture, frames for mirrors and artwork, covering decorative boxes, shelving and other projects. Bark that is un-laminated is often used to wrap flower vases, or in other cylinder type applications. The materials are most often purchased laminated to a 1/4” or 1/8” interior grade plywood backing for ease of use. On special orders the thickness, grade and specie of plywood backing that the bark is laminated to may be specified. FSC certified plywood backing and low VOC glues enhance the “green” attributes of these products.
You may specify fabrication materials and methods.
Bark Laminates: A Green Product
HC has a number of Bark House® Laminates. They include white pine, yellow poplar, white birch, fire cherry and yellow birch.
White pine and yellow poplar laminates are similar to our Bark House® shingles regarding how they qualify as green products. These laminates are a by-product of the forest industry. We do not cut trees to harvest the bark. Before Highland Craftsmen Inc., the bark from the tree was left in the woods to decay, skinned from the tree at the saw mill or chipped into undesirable low grade mulch.
White birch bark is procured in areas where trees are scheduled to be cut. Teams remove the bark from a standing tree just before the tree is felled.
Fire cherry and yellow birch are not harvested by the forest industry. We procure the bark of these trees when individuals clear personal land and don’t want to waste the material. The land owners bring us the trees and we peel them.
The bark is removed from logs using hand tools such as bark spuds, knives and sometimes fingers. This means the main source of energy used to produce our laminates is human energy. Water is not used to reconstitute anything. Simplicity (with exacting measures) is the beauty of this process. All the waste generated from trimming the bark into dimensional pieces is burned in furnaces to create steam to heat an off-site plant.
The actual lamination process permits clients to choose green glues and backings. We are happy to assist in the education of available sustainable products and encourage clients to make fully informed decisions.
Highland Craftsmen Inc. is the premier purveyor, creating the procurement, manufacturing and sales for these products.
Yellow Poplar
The name of this bark does not describe its mottled grayish appearance. Speckles of green lichens and occasional knots may be present. Yellow Poplar has high ridges and deep crevices. These are solid flat kiln dried sheets. Treat them as you would a sheet of standard paneling. The thickness ranges from 1/4” to 1 1/2”. It may be laminated to a plywood backing with glue or stapled to a substrate. Length and width of a single piece may be as great as 12’ high & 4’ wide. One in one thousand trees will yield a poplar bark sheet this large. They are that rare. Other options are 18” and 26” long. Widths are random between 4” and 4’.
The thickness of the laminates below range from 1/16” to 3/32” un-laminated.
“Fire Cherry”
This bark comes from the Pincherry tree. It has a deep reddish brown to black color with brilliant bright red splashes. The texture is relatively smooth to glossy with multiple small, prominent lenticels. The sheets vary in length and width. The largest individual sheets are 3’x4’. When laminated, seams are usually strategically placed and generally covered with moldings.
White Birch
As the name indicates, the bark is chalky white with occasional small black limb scars and patches of black scale. It is the most commonly used bark laminate product. Although individual sheets vary in length and width, we laminate this product so that the seams virtually disappear and the size is limited only by the plywood backing.
White Pine
White Pine is a beautiful chestnut brown color that looks similar to leather with speckles of green lichens and occasional knots. The sheets vary in length and width. The largest individual sheets are 3’ x 3’. When laminated, seams are usually strategically placed and generally covered with moldings.
Yellow Birch
Yellow Birch is a papery bark with luminescent gold and silver tones. Individual sheets vary in length and width with a maximum size of 2’x2’. When we laminate this product, the seams virtually disappear. The size is limited only by the plywood backing.
