Timber Swing Set & Climbing Frame Information
If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a BIG surprise…
From little acorns and tiny roots grow … super strong swing sets and big, beasty Wildebeest Playgrounds!
Plum’s range of wooden products is sourced from sustainable forests around the world. We carefully select and vet our wood before it’s sent to our factories to make sure it’s the strongest, the sturdiest and the best for the job.
CHINESE FIR
From far, far away forests in the East comes our Chinese Fir timber.
It’s a fast growing yet sturdy and stable Cedar Softwood, perfect for a range of wooden toys, from swing sets to sand pits. . At manufacture the timber can be stained, giving it its unique red colour, or natural, offering a more organic colour palette.
The wood is durable and long lasting in wet and dry conditions and reacts very little to changes in the atmosphere, meaning that it can be boxed up in our colourful boxes and easily sent out for delivery.
PINE AND SPRUCE
Our square cut, or dimensional timber, is manufactured from Norwegian Spruce and Scots Pine, native to the woodlands of Northern and Central Europe.
Trees selected for dimensional timber products are grown for 90 to 110 years before they are suitable for being used in our toys.
This hardy timber is very versatile and can be cut and sawn into different wood profiles, making it the perfect choice for Plum products of all shapes and sizes - from our teeny Wooden Baby Swing to our Giant Wildebeest Play Centre!
The Square Cut timber is relatively low maintenance and weathers into a beautiful silver-grey colour. We recommend that you treat your dimensional timber toy with a water-based stain each year to get optimum life from your product. You may also want to sand down any small splinters that may occur.
ROUND POLE TIMBER
Want to get a little closer to nature? Our round pole timber, Scots Pine, has fabulous natural properties, being durable and very strong. After being grown for up to 30 years the complete tree trunks are stripped of their bark and rough materials to be left in all their natural glory.
The timber is then dried, treated and cut to size, ready to be constructed into our famous round-pole swing sets.
The heartwood on Scots Pine timber is surrounded by softer sapwood which is susceptible to changes in the environment, causing some cracks in the wood. This is a completely natural occurrence and doesn’t affect the strength or integrity of the timber in any way. In fact, our 3.3m frames are load tested to hold a 500kg weight – that’s the same as a polar bear - for over one hour with no damage!
For extra reassurance and to ensure it is as resilient as possible, our round pole timber is vacuum pressure treated to safeguard it against wood-destroying insects and fungi that can sometimes cause wood rot. As a result of the copper-based pressure treatment solution interacting with the resin in the wood, occasionally a green mottling can appear on the pole. It’s completely harmless and we like to think that this only adds to the charm of the timber. You may want to carefully sand any surface scaling or discolouration on the poles.
Like with our dimensional timber, we do recommend annually treating your round pole swing set with a water based stain.
WOOD SPLITS
Plum swing sets are made from round poles manufactured using whole tree trunks trimmed to size.
Often, naturally occurring splits will appear in the poles. In warm sunny weather the wood shrinks, in wet weather it expands. These physical changes cause the cracks. We design our round poles to be really thick so that even wood splits like the one shown on the left won't affect the overall strength of the pole.
Safety is as important to Plum as having fun and we’d like to reassure our customers that the majority of wood splits will never become deep or wide enough to affect the reliability and strength of our swing sets.
Remember to follow the maintenance guidelines included in the instructions for your Plum swing set and from time to time carefully sand smooth any splinters or surface scaling.
WOOD COLOURATION
Certified FSC® pine from Poland is used in both Plum round pole and dimensional play centres and swing sets. To make sure it is as resilient as possible, the wood is vacuum pressure treated. This safeguards it against wood-destroying insects and fungi that can cause soft-rot.
After the treatment process it is natural for a green mottling to become visible on the surface of the wood. This colouration is caused when the copper based treatment which serves as the preservative reacts with the resin already present in the timber.
Pressure treatment is a vitally important process in increasing the long term resilience of the wood. Innovation in our timber treated products ensures that the preservative is both weather-resistant and safe to humans and your garden plants alike.
OUR ENVIRONMENT
Plum cares about the environment and takes an ethical and responsible approach to the products it creates. Responsible production and harvesting of forested products is important to Plum. Therefore we ensure that all of our timber and timber based products are sourced from FSC certified or sustainably managed forests. You can be assured that you are purchasing your Plum product with a clear conscience Plum has been a member of the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) since its inception and all of our solid timber remains FSC certified. Through our experience with FSC, Plum has ensured that we follow the same eco-friendly practices with our manufactured board materials so wherever you see the Plum ‘Eco’ logo on our products, you can be assured that they meet the standards outlined in our brand message. Plum Products declares not to be directly or indirectly involved in the following activities
- Illegal logging or the trade in illegal wood or forest products
- Violation of traditional and human rights in forestry operations
- Destruction of high conservation values in forestry operations
- Significant conversion of forests to plantations or non-forest use
- Introduction of genetically modified organisms in forestry operations
- Violation of any of the ILO Core Conventions, as defined in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work 1998
Safety is as important to Plum as having fun and we’d like to reassure our customers that the majority of wood splits will never become deep or wide enough to affect the reliability and strength of our swing sets.
DIMENSIONAL TIMBER
From the smallest baby swing set to the biggest Wildebeest play-centre, dimensional or ‘square cut’ timber is found in many of Plum’s wooden play sets.
Dimensional timber is taken from more mature trees between 90 and 110 years old; this means it contains very little heart wood so is less prone to splitting.
Small openings and hairline splits will still occur when the dimensional timber becomes wet and then dries out. This can occur when the timber is doused in a rain shower then dries afterwards in the sun.
Each Plum wooden play set has tolerances built into it to allow for natural occurrences such as these, they are designed to ensure that the structural integrity is not compromised.
Here are a few examples of dimensional splits that are natural, not faults:
Here are two images of splits in dimensional timber which would need replacing:
Of course it is really important to maintain the condition of timber products to ensure both safety and longevity, so full maintenance guidelines are provided with each Plum play set.
Every effort is made to reject parts where loose knots cause splits to propagate, however in the unlikely event you feel a part has a possible fault in the timber, contact us immediately with pictures of the parts so they can be reviewed.
Always ensure that you follow the information in the instructions thoroughly and site the swing or play-centre correctly.
Remember wood is a natural product so requires some care and maintenance as it weathers over time, periodically check over the whole product, sand away any sharp points and surface scaling and follow the timber advice provided in the instruction manual with the product.
We do not offer exchanges or refunds if you receive a product with normal wood cracks or splits. Where a split interferes with affixing that part to the play centre then we can have this replaced for you.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries about our wood.