From Hymns to Hoop-Leg Tables: The Resurrection of Rose Bay Church Timbers
October 2025
Rose Bay Uniting Church
We recently received a truckload of timbers from the renovation of the Rose Bay Methodist Church in Sydney, and the team has got them de-nailed and metal detected, ready to start a new life.
The subfloor joists and bearers were stripped out from the old church. Bearers are larger, primary beams that run perpendicular to the joists and are supported by posts or footings, carrying the load of the structure. Joists are smaller, secondary beams that rest on the bearers, run perpendicular to them, and support the flooring or decking boards. In the old days in a good quality building, durable hardwoods were used under the floor where there is more chance of moisture and termites. We have recovered a good haul of durable larger section 150x75mm hardwoods from the strip out.
Rose Bay Uniting Church with the floor joists and bearers stripped out. Check out the sandstone piers!
History
The new Methodist Church at Rose Bay in Sydney was opened for public worship on February 20, 1905. The 1905 opening marks the establishment of a specific Methodist church building in the Rose Bay area, a significant development for people of the time who followed the Methodist faith.
It became the Rose Bay Uniting Church in Australia in 1977, but sevices ceased in October 2017, when the congregation moved to Vaucluse. The church was leased as a dance studio, before development began on the site. The church is being retained and included in the new development as a community gathering space.
Rose Bay Uniting Church on-site signage.
Timber Industry in 1905
There was a wealth of old growth timbers available in 1905, with the NSW timber industry flourishing, even exporting timber to New Zealand. It wasn’t until 1916 that NSW got serious about forestry protection with the Forestry Act 1916.
The ANU reports that since European colonisation, 29 million hectares (54%) of the forests and woodlands that once existed in New South Wales have been destroyed. A further 9 million ha have been degraded in the past two centuries. This amounts to more than 60% of the state’s forest estate.
This is why the work we do at Thor’s Hammer is so important to salvage, restore and transform all the old Australian hardwoods available from old building sites. Their strength and durability is unmatched as these were originally big, old growth trees. The timber we recycle from old buildings has undergone years of seasoning and is ready for use making furniture and joinery. You can’t buy seasoned new timber thicker than 50mm, so the larger sections we sometimes get from demolitions are really special.
Australian hardwoods used at the time included tallowwood, spotted gum, blue gum, brushbox and ironbarks which were often used under the floor in high quality builds (like the Rose Bay Methodist Church). These are all durable Australian hardwoods that we use for our joinery and architectural products.
NSW logging crew with old growth timber © Forestry Corporation of NSW
What’s in the packs?
After de-nailing the timbers here at Thor’s Hammer, we have 294 linear metres of timber available, resulting in 5 packs of varying quantities of timber. These have been sorted via species, so if you’re looking for something specific then please don’t hesitate to contact us. The species available are:
109m of Blackbutt / Dense Browns
89m of Bluegum / Coastal Reds
44m of Spotted Gum
32m of Brushbox
20m of Ironbark / Dense Reds
Rose Bay Church timber packs ready to go!
Five different timber species to choose from.
What can we turn the timber into?
The size of the timber boards is 150 x 75mm which is perfect for manufacturing our Steel Hoop Leg tables. The wide, thick boards work well in creating the larger table tops of the steel hoop leg. If you’re interested in one of our Rose Bay Church packs, we have five different species we can manufacture your new table from.
Other products we can manufacture with the thicker boards include the stiles for our insulated clad doors, exposed beams and pergola timbers. We can also transform the recycled timber into any of our furniture and table designs.
Contact Us Today
If you’re interested in the Rose Bay Church timbers, or would like to have a chat with our design team, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We can transform the timber into exquisite joinery or architectural products, so get in touch with Thor’s Hammer today.