A hands-on Whanganui timber team crafting quality from forest to finished product
Business Summary: MacBlack Timber is a Whanganui-based specialist timber merchant, sawmill and joinery workshop that mills, processes and retails sustainably grown New Zealand exotic timbers and produces custom barn doors, benchtops, flooring and panelling nationwide.
Meet the staff
As a business, we are passionate about timber and believe in giving honest, practical advice, ensuring you always know exactly where your boards come from and why they suit the job.
Our workshop operates as a collaborative team of "artisans with tools." We are a close-knit crew of experienced joiners, former builders, and talented craftspeople who share a genuine passion for the trade. Every member brings practical knowledge, careful workmanship, and immense pride to every project—whether we're milling rough timber, crafting a benchtop, or building a custom door.
Honesty, reliability, and a continuous drive to learn are the core values that guide our team, and they are reflected in every single piece of timber that leaves our yard.
Our workshop operates as a collaborative team of "artisans with tools." We are a close-knit crew of experienced joiners, former builders, and talented craftspeople who share a genuine passion for the trade. Every member brings practical knowledge, careful workmanship, and immense pride to every project—whether we're milling rough timber, crafting a benchtop, or building a custom door.
Honesty, reliability, and a continuous drive to learn are the core values that guide our team, and they are reflected in every single piece of timber that leaves our yard.
From a planted forest to a working timber yard
MacBlack's roots trace back to a forest planted by a previous owner just down the road from the current site, and timber from that block is still milled today. That history is part of the story, but not all of it.
Under Jake's ownership, MacBlack sources quality logs from farm forestry blocks across the region and manages the production process in-house—from milling and drying through to crafting finished benchtops, doors, flooring and panelling in the workshop.
This forest-to-form approach keeps every stage of production close to the source, while maintaining strong connections with both the timber and the people who grow it.
The benefits of choosing a Specialist Timber Merchant
Most people come to us because they want something a big-box supplier cannot help with: a benchtop from a tree grown in their own suburb, a barn door built to fit an odd opening, or a species nobody else has in stock.
MacBlack's drying process exceeds industry standards to deliver exceptionally stable timber with minimal risk of warping or movement.
We also spend a lot of time talking through options. Plenty of customers come in asking for native timber and leave happy with a farm-grown Australian eucalypt or acacia that will hold up well in our climate.
Honest advice, plainly given, is part of the work.
We stand behind our timber and our work 100% of the time. Every board is handled and inspected; anything showing rot or active borer is rejected on the spot, and our drying process is careful enough that we have seen warping just once in the last seven years.
MacBlack's drying process exceeds industry standards to deliver exceptionally stable timber with minimal risk of warping or movement.
We also spend a lot of time talking through options. Plenty of customers come in asking for native timber and leave happy with a farm-grown Australian eucalypt or acacia that will hold up well in our climate.
Honest advice, plainly given, is part of the work.
We stand behind our timber and our work 100% of the time. Every board is handled and inspected; anything showing rot or active borer is rejected on the spot, and our drying process is careful enough that we have seen warping just once in the last seven years.
Traceable New Zealand-grown timber from farm forestry
Our timber is milled on-site from locally grown New Zealand farm forestry, so the origin of every board is traceable from standing tree to finished product.
Chemical-free, untreated timber dried on-site
Every piece we supply is chemical-free and untreated, then dried in our on-site dehumidifying kiln - honest material for homes, workspaces and bespoke builds.
Around 20 speciality timber species available
Around 20 New Zealand-grown speciality timbers pass through the yard, including macrocarpa, eucalyptus and cedar, opening up options rarely stocked at a standard timber yard.
