Stuart Timber Co Ltd started producing "MicroShades" at the start of October, concentrating mainly on decking, fencing and landscape sleepers, managing director Roger Stuart said.
Later, it will be used as weatherboard and fascia.
The MicroShades product is a new colouring system based on finely micronised iron oxide pigments, applied to treated radiata pine using a pressurised process that causes the pigment to penetrate deeply.
That meant the colour could not wear at the surface and would not wash off, Mr Stuart said.
The process was developed by Osmose, an American timber treatment company, and was unlike anything in New Zealand, he said.
The treated wood looked much like imported kwila and would hopefully be used as an alternative by the building industry.
Stuart Timber had started investigating the product 12 months ago when it decided to stop cutting macrocarpa and some other species because of quality and supply issues, Mr Stuart said.
"Now there is an even better reason to be producing MicroShades - kwila and some similar timbers are becoming scarce and very expensive, not to mention illegal logging of some of these timbers. So if you buy a MicroShade deck instead of an endangered one, then you're doing the environment a favour."
The new product was stocked in four South Island stores, Mitre 10 Mega in Invercargill, Mitre 10 in Wanaka, and Halswell Timber in Christchurch and Nelson, Mr Stuart said.
He would concentrate on having sufficient stock in those stores before expanding sales to Placemakers and ITM stores, hopefully by Christmas.
The company, which employees 30 full-time staff, built a new sawmill 18 months ago and is installing another saw which will be operational by Christmas. This would put the company at stage three of a five-stage programme, Mr Stuart said.
The next stage would be replacing two labour-intensive saws with two "hi-tech" saws, and stage five would be kiln upgrades.
Stuart Timber was started in 1980 as a family business by Roger Stuart's father, Campbell Stuart, and Roger and his three brothers.
Roger's brothers are no longer involved but three of his nephews are employed at the sawmill.
- Pam Jones
