If you use wood for DIY projects then you may like to take a look at “The Wood Shop” on Milton Park south of Abingdon. It’s a simple name for a really interesting business. The Wood Shop is run by Oxford Wood Recycling, a social enterprise that hates waste.
In the shop they sell used wood that they have collected from local businesses. Their aim is to is ensure that no re-usable wood within 30miles is wasted. Step inside the shop and you’ll find a real Aladdin’s cave of construction timber, plywood, mouldings, reclaimed doors and gates and plenty of interesting pieces often with their own history as well as firewood and kindling. It’s the perfect place to find timber for allotments, outbuildings, fencing and animal shelters and it’s a great source of old scaffolding boards – ideal for making raised beds.
The people that find their way to the Wood Shop are as diverse as the range of timber inside, recent customers include bee keepers needing to restore their bee- hives, art students needing timber for a final year installation and someone wanting to build a log cabin in his garden.
However, there is more to Oxford Wood Recycling than just the Wood Shop. As a social enterprise it offers work experience and employment to people who face severe barriers to employment. In 2010 it was awarded the title of European Social Firm of the Year for its work in this area.
The team in the Wood Shop enjoy helping people find just what they need for the job in hand and they know about wood. Very often people buy a higher specification of wood than is actually needed, simply because that’s all that is available on the shelves in the DIY store. The idea is that visitors to the Wood Shop can wander about and discover just the right piece or the team will find it for them – they’ll even cut it to size and deliver if necessary.
The Wood Shop: 46a Milton Park OX14 4RU – www.oxfordwoodrecycling.org.uk
Open from 8:30 – 5pm Monday to Friday and from 9am till 1pm on Saturdays .