The Beauty of Becoming: The Materials Behind Woodsmoke
Updated: Aug 22
Walk into almost any new building and you'll find surfaces designed to resist time.
Floors that promise never to scratch. Metal that never changes. Paint that stays exactly the same.
The goal is permanence.
At Woodsmoke, we wanted something different.
We wanted to create a deeply organic experience. A place that feels living rather than engineered. One that belongs to the landscape instead of standing apart from it.
Because the best things in life don't stay new.
A favorite cast iron pan grows smoother with every meal. A leather journal softens at the edges. A well-worn hiking trail becomes easier to follow because thousands of footsteps have passed before yours.
The marks left behind aren't flaws. They're proof that something has been lived in, cared for, and loved.
From the beginning, we wanted the sauna itself to reflect the values behind woodsmoke. That meant choosing materials that were close to home whenever possible, selecting finishes that would age honestly, and weaving small pieces of our family's story into the building.
Every decision became an opportunity to ask: "How should this place feel?"
The answer was never luxury for luxury's sake.
It was warmth. Quiet. Authenticity. A sense that nature, not technology, was setting the tone.
We believe those choices become part of your experience. Perhaps not in ways you'll immediately notice, but in ways you'll undoubtedly feel.
Aspen
Ask most people what wood belongs in a sauna, and they'll probably answer, "cedar."
It's understandable. Cedar has become the North American standard, and for good reason. It's beautiful, aromatic, and readily available.
But it's not the wood that shaped the Finnish sauna tradition.
For centuries, Finns built saunas from what the surrounding forests provided. More often than not, that meant aspen. The philosophy wasn't to import the "best" material from somewhere else. It was to thoughtfully use what was close to home.
That idea resonated deeply with us.
We weren't trying to recreate a Finnish sauna. We were trying to honor the thinking behind one.
The heart of our sauna, from the wall cladding to the benches you'll sit on, is crafted from locally milled aspen from Allegheny Mountain Hardwoods. Like the Finns before us, we chose a softwood that grows close to where we live, honoring the landscape that surrounds us rather than borrowing one from somewhere else.
Aspen also offers a quieter sensory experience. Unlike cedar, which carries a rich and unmistakable aroma, aspen has only a subtle natural scent. We didn't choose it because we wanted to avoid cedar, but we've come to appreciate that many guests who find strongly aromatic woods a bit overwhelming may find aspen more comfortable. It allows the scent of fresh steam, botanicals, and the forest outside to become part of the experience without competing for your attention.
The pale boards you see today won't remain this color forever.
Years of heat, steam, and changing seasons will slowly deepen their tone. Sunlight will leave its own quiet signature. The wood will gently record the life of the sauna, becoming richer with every ritual, every conversation, and every moment of stillness shared within its walls.
It won't look worn.
It will look lived in.
To us, that's exactly as it should be.
Copper
There is one material in woodsmoke that may best represent our entire design philosophy: copper.
Copper has long been used where durability and heat resistance matter, including sauna heat shields. It is a beautiful, functional material, but it is not often chosen. Part of that is practical: copper is expensive. Part of it is that many materials are selected because they promise to stay exactly as they are.
That was never what we wanted.
We wanted something that would change.
The copper heat shield behind our stove began as 63 square feet of raw copper sheet. Before it ever became part of the sauna, it became a piece of art.
Every dimple. Every ridge. Every subtle variation was created by hand.
Using ball peen hammers, I slowly and carefully worked across each sheet, creating an organic pattern that feels like dimples left in the sand after a passing rain.
Each mark was its own small moment. Alone, they are simple. Together, thousands of individual impressions create something unexpected: a pattern that feels both intentional and completely natural.
There is something a little magical about it. The beauty comes from the randomness, from the sheer number of small decisions layered together. The result feels less designed and more discovered.
Hand-hammering copper at this scale required patience, experimentation, and problem solving. I had to think through seams, vents, installation, and how the metal would respond over time.
And that last part mattered most.
Because copper was never meant to remain exactly as it was on the day we installed it.
Right now, it catches and reflects the light. The warm glow of the stove dances across the surface, highlighting every mark created by hand.
But it has already begun to change.
The oils from our hands have started the process. Small variations are appearing. The bright surface will gradually deepen, darken, and evolve.
There will be moments along the way when the copper is not at its most beautiful. Areas may change faster than others. The color may shift in ways we didn't expect.
We're embracing that.
Even before the copper found its place in the sauna, it had already started recording its own history.
It doesn't fight time.
It collaborates with it.
Years from now, today's warm amber tones will deepen into something that cannot be rushed or replicated.
Its beauty won't be frozen in the day we opened.
It will keep becoming.
So will everyone who sits beside the fire, absorbing the heat, and leaves woodsmoke a little different than they arrived.
Warmly,
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