Yakisugi is also becoming increasingly popular with architects and private and commercial customers outside Japan. There are now several manufacturers worldwide who carbonise the black wood with the special surface structure themselves. However, there are major differences between the producers in the production of carbonised wood!
Instead of carefully burning the wood by hand with a pure flame, they carbonise it with gas, a fossil fuel. This not only means that the roots of the original Shou Sugi Ban are lost: In terms of a sustainable future, the industrial gas firing method is also less environmentally and climate friendly than the traditional Yakisugi method with a pure flame.
We carbonise our woods using the traditional Yakisugi method in a special and sustainable deep-charring process
In short: the industrial burning method with gas is much less sustainable than the traditional burning method with a pure flame according to the Japanese tradition of Yakisugi!
Below you will find a detailed description and comparison of the industrial and traditional burning methods.
In the traditional, vertical yakisugi method, three wooden boards are tied together in a triangular shape and placed on edge.
In Japan, Japanese cedar is usually used for this, but in Europe, local wood species with very similar properties are used instead.
In the next step, the cavity between the wooden boards is filled with a natural fuel such as paper and lit.
The vertical alignment of the wooden planks creates a natural chimney effect, whereby the wood surface is evenly and deeply charred – “carbonised” in technical terms – and the wood cells become denser.
After the top layer of wood has been carbonised to a depth of a few millimetres with a pure flame, the fire is extinguished.
The resulting, deeply carbonised carbon layer on the surface of the wood now protects the layers of wood below from water penetration and thus from wood-decaying fungi. This greatly slows down and reduces the natural weathering processes of the wood.
Depending on their area of application on the interior or exterior facade, the black wood is then brushed and sealed to visually enhance its surface and further improve the natural weather resistance of the charred wood. Exactly how the finishing process is carried out varies depending on the manufacturer and product.
The special thing about the traditional burning process: Since the wood surface is carbonized with pure flame, no external fossil energy sources and no chemicals are required for the entire process!
In addition, traditional carbonization is carried out by hand using the Yakisugi method. This makes it possible to respond individually to the characteristics of the individual wooden boards and to adapt the firing method to these woods.
For this reason, traditionally carbonized woods are not only regarded as sustainable natural products, but also as unique and individual custom-made products of high quality.
We are building for the future. With sustainable measures such as traditional deep charring according to Yakisugi, we turn our carbonised woods into long-lasting, innovative natural products – for a more beautiful tomorrow.
In contrast to the traditional, vertical burning process, the industrial carbonization method involves several pieces of wood being lined up horizontally next to each other and flamed in a mechanical, automated process using gas. The industrial version differs from the Japanese original and is considered less environmentally and climate-friendly due to the use of gas as a fossil fuel.
Nevertheless, industrially carbonized woods are advertised with the terms “Yakisugi” and “Shou Sugi Ban”. So be careful where you source your carbonized wood from!
Ennobled is one of the few manufacturers that uses the sustainable Yakisugi method and traditionally carbonizes with pure flame in a special deep-charring process.
