New Untreated British Larch / Douglas Fir Railway Sleeper

British Larch/Douglas Fir is possibly the most hardy and most durable of domestic softwoods. These sleepers are left untreated because their high resin content acts as nature's own highly effective preservative making the need for treatment redundant.

Larch/Douglas Fir has a striking appearance with colour variations from cream to pink to bronze, it can have all 3 in the same piece of timber. And as with all timber, if left untreated it turn to a silver-grey over time with the bleaching effect of the sun.

Overall, these are a superb sleeper that, in most cases, will last for decades and are perfect for many uses in and around the garden including sensitive areas like childrens play areas, ponds and raised garden beds.

Due to the nature of the material, there can always be a light variance in the dimensions. We offer planed all round and planed & chamfered finish options in the dropdown that will help regularise the overall size and will reduce the dimensions by approximately 6mm (+/- 2mm). For example, a 200mm x 100mm section size will become 194mm x 94mm.

Sleeper Planing Service

As probably the most complete railway and landscaping sleeper supplier in the Country,  UK Timber Ltd have installed every machine required to adapt and finish sleepers to the customers individual requirements.

In the finish dropdown in this listing you have the following options:

Sawn

Sawn sleepers are the standard for use in most landscaping projects, they have a sawn finish with primarily straight edges yet will have that intrinsic roughness that all sawn timber materials share.

Planed

These sleepers are planed all round with high speed large capacity planing machines.

Larch/Douglas Fir sleepers will lose approximately 6mm on all dimensions eg a 200x100mm sleeper will become 194x94mm in order to take as many defects out during the planing process as possible and to straighten the material within the constraints of this low grade timber.

The planed sleepers will have a lovely smooth finish but may have some or all of the standard Larch/Douglas Fir sleeper anomalies such as dead knots, splits, small amounts of wane to their edges and potential for some historic insect damage. They are still absolutely suitable for all landscaping requirements where a smooth, almost splinter free aesthetic is required. Sleepers with this finish can also be treated with one of our Treatex products to retain and enhance the natural beauty of the grain and character that is unearthed by the planed surface. If left untreated they will turn grey over time.

Planed and Chamfered

This finish is the same as the planed finish but with the additional benefit of having a 2 to 3mm chamfer or bevel taken off all four edges. It is a final touch that can suit many contemporary tastes.