IC WOOD — Inventor of the Crawl-Through Hollow Log
Our Story
About
From Landfill to Landmark: 275 Tons Diverted Over the Last Decade
Our Roots: The Early Struggle
Our Roots: The Early Struggle
When IC WOOD LLC officially launched in 2014 in Taberg, New York, early operations faced severe equipment and space constraints. For the first four years, the entire business was housed in an unheated, 20'x28' residential garage located beneath Bob's house. Operating out of this tiny footprint until August of 2018, it quickly proved to be an inadequate space to both hollow and store massive logs, especially while enduring freezing Upstate New York winters and wet spring months.
Sourcing inventory was an exhausting, manual process, requiring Bob to spend weeks hunting for a single log and sometimes months searching for giants. Before acquiring a commercial forklift in 2015, the business relied on a used manual forklift that weighed 1,000 pounds, lacked self-propulsion, and was nearly impossible to navigate through winter slush and snow. Every step—from retrieving timber in the field to loading logs into the hollowing machine—had to be done manually using a hand-powered truck crane mounted to a small utility flatbed trailer. Because of these early equipment limitations, production was strictly capped at a maximum log size of 36 inches in diameter by 36 inches in length. Once retrieved, frozen and wet logs required extensive drying times, often extending the production cycle by months before a log was ready for shipment.
The business entered a new era of capability in November 2019, breaking ground on a brand-new, 3,200-square-foot production facility. While construction was completed later in 2020—finally delivering a dedicated workshop with a wood-boiler-heated concrete floor—even with this expansion, indoor storage remains a major premium and constraints persist today. Furthermore, the hunt for unique, large-diameter logs remains a never-ending journey, requiring ongoing persistence to secure the perfect raw materials for each project. While most commercial tree services default to dumping massive logs into landfills or running them through woodchippers, IC WOOD intercepts them.
Navigating Global Disruptions
Almost immediately after breaking ground on the new facility, the global pandemic struck, bringing unprecedented challenges to the business. Because IC WOOD serves municipal and institutional clients, the sudden and complete shutdown of every school and zoo across the country instantly froze incoming demand. Navigating a major construction project while the entire target market was entirely closed required immense resilience. The economic and operational disruptions of that prolonged stagnation altered the trajectory of the market, causing ripples that are still deeply felt in institutional procurement cycles today. Compounding these real-world market freezes was a hidden digital obstacle. As a 100% online business, maintaining an optimal website and computer system is critical to reaching buyers. However, because the original website architecture was built entirely in-house without corporate agency backing, critical coding flaws went unnoticed for years. These underlying technical issues inadvertently blocked search engines like Google from properly indexing the page, essentially preventing the company from being displayed to major institutional buyers searching for natural playground and habitat infrastructure. It was not until 2026 that a complete technical diagnostic finally uncovered these deep-seated backend errors. Resolving these code bottlenecks marked a definitive turning point for the brand, finally aligning a decade of physical manufacturing grit with an optimized digital presence capable of putting IC WOOD directly in front of the key clients who need it most.
From hazard tree to shop floor — Upstate NY sourcing
Finished and ready — hollowlog.com delivers nationwide
The Founder
The Story of the IC WOOD Method
How It Really Started
I knew I had a promising product. It was obvious after selling over 60 bowl blanks and 25 snare drum shells on eBay. However, those products were not profitable due to high shipping fees and the extra work required to make them salable. Bowl blanks needed to be sealed 100% in paraffin wax to stay "green" for woodturning, which was both time-consuming and cost-prohibitive. The drum shells had to be dried, which I did in the microwave in 15-minute increments over about two hours each. Then I lathe-turned them to drumhead specs. The result was a stunning, one-piece drum shell. But the results weren't predictable, because moisture levels differed at each shipping destination, something called EMC (Equilibrium Moisture Content). I shipped as far as Kazakhstan, Europe, and Hawaii. Unless the customer sealed them immediately, the results would be disappointing.
I had filed a patent on the method, and I was ready to commercialize something. In those early days, I actually discarded the outside hollow log portion. It's normally called "slab wood," and every mill throws it away or grinds it into mulch, so I didn't know any better. I soon realized, however, that the hollow portion was exactly what everyone wanted. The true commercial potential was in hollow logs and, eventually, tubular lumber.
In early 2014, the epiphany came during a trip to the zoo, when I turned to my wife and said, "That fox is using a plastic 55-gallon drum as a cave. It looks bad. I bet zoos could use a hollow log instead!" I went home with a vision: I would donate some logs to a local zoo and see how they responded.
In April 2014, I wrote to several zoos offering log donations. Every zoo was interested, and they all wanted to meet. Everyone was excited to learn that a natural alternative to plastic existed, and they loved the logs. And thus, IC WOOD: The Hollow Log Company was born.
After more than eight years of office actions, the patent was granted in 2022.
Where It All Began
Our First Advertisement — AKF Forum, June 2014
The ad that started it all — published in the Animal Keepers' Forum in June 2014.
June 2014 — Animal Keepers' Forum
History
The Evolution of an Innovation
The Original Concept
The technology was originally conceived to produce an "endless stream of wood fabric" — a revolutionary method for creating continuous veneer. This vision required a custom-built machine capable of hollowing nature's giants with unprecedented precision.
Mastery of Form
While the machine was a success, its true potential lay elsewhere. Focus shifted toward high-precision structural applications, including the creation of one-piece bowl blanks and resonant snare drum shells. These early successes proved the method could produce superior, seamless wood products for the most demanding users.
A New Standard
As demand for authentic zoo enrichment grew, the focus turned exclusively to large-scale hollow logs. A provisional patent application was filed to protect this proprietary process, ensuring that every log remains a 100% natural resource that synthetic imitators simply cannot replicate.
Nuts & Bolts
How IC WOOD Hollow Logs Are Made
From storm-felled tree to finished hollow log — a process that wastes almost nothing and produces something no other manufacturer can replicate at scale.
The patented radial duplicator — the only machine in the world capable of mass-producing large crawl-through hollow logs. IC WOOD production yard, June 2015.
The Inner Circle Wood Method mid-process — the core is removed intact, leaving a perfectly smooth hollow cylinder. IC WOOD production shop.
Real Wood Is Better — There Is No Real Substitute
So much of our world economy looks to nature for product ideas. There has been a push to use artificial structures as substitutes for real log hollows. Although the Log Hollow or Tree Hollow forms naturally in the wild, we thought — why not help nature a little and form our own Natural Hollows. Our Hollows come from 100% ALL NATURAL LOGS.
Where We Find Our Logs
Sourced From Nature. Saved From Waste.
There are many ways to find chunks of log and tree trunks. In the past we've found our logs in landfills, Craigslist ads, and also word of mouth. Finding logs this way is a great way to get free or cheap logs for hollowing.
However, currently we've found the easiest way to acquire recycled logs is from tree service companies who take down hazard trees in villages and cities.
Our Tree Service Suppliers
Greater Heights Tree Service
Current primary supplier
Mergill Tree Service
Current primary supplier
Rick Turk Tree Service
Rome, NY
If a zoo has trees they would like hollowed on-site, we are glad to provide that service. We bring our mobile milling station directly to you — contact us for more information.
The Process
Eco-Friendly by Design. Patented by Necessity.
The Inner Circle Wood Method is eco-friendly and sustainable by nature. Unlike chainsaw hollowing — which produces heaps of waste debris — our patented milling technology removes layers of wood directly from a tree trunk in the initial stage of manufacturing with minimal waste shavings.
Starting with a solid log chunk, we remove layers of the core one by one until the final core is too small to handle. Each layer becomes what we call a "hollow cylinder" or "tubular lumber" — and the remaining center becomes a solid cylinder. Nothing is wasted. Everything has a use.
01
Storm-Felled Trees
Hazard trees removed from cities by storm or tree service — saved from landfill and brought to the IC WOOD yard.
02
Mobile Milling
Our mobile milling station can come to you — ideal for zoos and institutions with on-site trees to hollow.
03
Layer by Layer
The patented Inner Circle Wood Method removes concentric layers from the core — each one a finished hollow cylinder with minimal waste.
04
Ready to Transform
Cut, drill, shape, hang, chainsaw — IC WOOD logs arrive ready for whatever you have in mind. Completely natural. Completely workable.
If you don't see what you need here, that doesn't mean it isn't available. Contact us anytime — we'll return with a call or email within 24 hours.
Ask Us Anything →Our Mission
We Exist to Enrich Your Environment
We provide our customers with high quality hollow log products without heaps of waste debris other methods produce. We thrive on re-purposed log chunks that would normally be ground into mulch or sent to the landfill — and our process creates very little waste, which means our products are sustainable and renewable by nature.
Zoo Animal Enrichment
Puzzle feeders, hollows, natural nesting — vital tools for reducing stress and encouraging natural behavior in captive animals.
Animal Furniture
Cat trees, dog houses, pet caves, and natural retreats — furniture that looks and feels like the wild.
Nesting Boxes
Specialist nesting for hornbills, porcupines, and other species with specific cavity requirements.
Garden Planters
With a plastic insert or fully natural — a living planter that only gets more beautiful as it weathers.
Natural Playground Logs
Crawl-through tunnels, stepping logs, and natural play structures for child parks and school playgrounds.
Hollow Log Bee Hives
Replicating the original wild bee habitat — better insulation, natural cavity, and a stunning addition to any apiary or garden.
Specialty Lumber & Staves
Tubular lumber, bowl blanks, furniture members, and building components for craftspeople and builders.
Drum Shells & Speaker Enclosures
Premium acoustic blanks for luthiers, percussion builders, and audio craftspeople who demand natural resonance.
Architectural & Decorative
Pillars, columns, retail displays, host desks, set design, and log home accents — wherever natural timber makes a statement.
Animal Enrichment
A Diverse Array of Animals. One Natural Solution.
From primates to armadillos, animals use hollow logs for a wide variety of natural behaviors — nesting, climbing, hiding, scratching, and exploring. IC WOOD hollow logs are designed to encourage exactly those behaviors, replicating what animals experience in the wild.
Stimulating species-typical behaviors through enrichment improves the well-being of animals in captivity, and improves the success rates of species reintroduction and captive breeding programs.
Natural Play
Kids Use Hollow Logs Too.
Crawl-through tunnels, stepping from one log to another, hiding underneath, exploring the natural textures of bark and real wood — children interact with IC WOOD logs in ways no plastic playground equipment can inspire.
The same instinct that drives a fox into a hollow log drives a child into one too. Nature built the design. IC WOOD just made it available.
Why This Matters
Around the World, Natural Hollows Are Disappearing
The loss of hollow-bearing trees is a global conservation crisis. IC WOOD exists, in part, as an answer to that crisis.
North America
Eastern Bluebird
Nest boxes required
Recovery of the Eastern Bluebird has required artificial nest boxes due to the widespread loss of natural tree hollows.
Scandinavia
Native Bird Life
Almost 50% of red-listed species
In Sweden, nearly half of all red-listed species are dependent on dead hollow-bearing trees or logs.
Australia
304 Vertebrate Species
~100 now threatened
304 vertebrate species use tree hollows in Australia. Approximately 100 are now rare, threatened, or near-threatened — in part due to removal of hollow-bearing trees.
Asia
Asian Black Bear
Winter dens at risk
Asian Black Bears prefer large tree hollows for winter denning. Massive deforestation combined with direct poaching of wintering bears — with selective destruction of the best hollow trees — threatens their survival.
Conservation of Hollow-Using Fauna
"In Australia, 304 vertebrate species are known to use tree hollows: 29 amphibians, 78 reptiles, 111 birds, 86 mammals. Approximately 100 of these are now rare, threatened or near-threatened on Australian State or Commonwealth legislation, in part because of the removal of hollow-bearing trees. Threats to hollows include native forest silviculture, firewood collection, rural dieback, grazing by cattle, and land clearing."
"Asian Black Bears, in northern parts of their range, prefer to spend winter periods in large tree hollows, where females also give birth to cubs. Threats include massive deforestation combined with direct poaching of wintering bears — with selective destruction of the best hollow trees."
— Wikipedia, 2015
IC WOOD Is Part of the Answer
When natural hollows disappear, the animals that depend on them suffer. IC WOOD's patented manufacturing process creates healthy, safe, commercially available hollow logs — giving zoos, wildlife centers, conservation programs, and nature parks a reliable supply of the enrichment that animals instinctively seek.
Natural Hollows by IC WOOD — the better choice for natural animal enrichment, worldwide.
Know the Difference
Naturally-Hollowed Logs vs. Natural Hollow Logs
They sound the same. They are not.
Naturally-Hollowed Log
A Tree Hollow Formed by Nature
"A 'Naturally-Hollowed' tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. These are predominantly found in old trees, whether living or not. Hollows act as a resource or habitat for a number of vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Hollows may form as the result of physiological stress from natural forces causing the excavating and exposure of the heartwood. Forces including wind, fire, heat, lightning, rain, attack from insects (such as termites or beetles), bacteria, or fungi. Also, trees may self-prune, dropping lower branches as they reach maturity, exposing the area where the branch was attached. Many animals further develop the hollows using instruments such as their beak, teeth or claws."
— Wikipedia, 2014
- ✕Formed by decay, disease, insects, or fungus
- ✕Structural integrity unknown — may be unsafe
- ✕May harbor bacteria, mold, and infestations
- ✕Found only in old trees — increasingly rare
- ✕Impossible to source in consistent quantities
- ✕No size control — whatever nature left behind
IC WOOD Natural Hollow Log
A Man-Made Tree Hollow — The Better Choice
An "ICW Hollow" is a man-made tree hollow — the result of a new milling technology. ICW has developed an eco-friendly patented technology for creating Hollow Logs and Round Lumber from solid log chunks.
- ✓Manufactured from sound, solid reclaimed timber
- ✓No decay, no fungus, no hidden infestations
- ✓Safe for direct animal contact — zoo-vetted
- ✓Available in consistent sizes from 24" to 72"
- ✓Produced at scale — no foraging, no shortage
- ✓Eco-friendly, sustainable, and Made in the USA
Made in the USA
Join Us in Making Natural Hollows an Everyday Part of Our World
Natural Hollows by IC WOOD — the better choice for natural animal enrichment products. Eco-friendly, patented, and built from re-purposed timber that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
Impact
A Decade of Solving Needs
Since 2014, IC WOOD LLC has successfully diverted 275 tons of wood from landfills, repurposing massive timbers into vital habitat features. The company's top-tier industry ranking is the direct result of providing a specialized solution that the world's leading institutions — including the Columbus Zoo and Shedd Aquarium — have relied on for over a decade.
Today, IC WOOD LLC continues to lead the industry through dedicated and expert consulting for zoo enrichment specialists and landscape architects nationwide.
"The goal has always been to provide a real-world alternative to a plastic-focused industry. Nature provides the best materials; I simply provided the technology to make them accessible and safe for everyone."
Bob Kilgore, Founder & Inventor
Who We Serve
Built for Every Setting
Pet Owners
The very best natural playhouse for the animals you love
Schools
The natural feel of a real log playground for every child
Zoos & Sanctuaries
Environmental enrichment that replicates the wild
Our Mission
From Nature, For Nature: The IC WOOD Story
Since 2014, IC WOOD LLC has been driven by a single question: Why use plastic and concrete imitations when the real thing is better for the environment, better for animals, and better for children? Our mission is to bridge the gap between rugged, reclaimed timber and safe, structural design.
Proprietary Hollowing Technology
What sets IC WOOD apart is our proprietary hollowing process. Developed by our founder, this specialized technology allows us to take massive, reclaimed trees and transform them into lightweight, structural forms. We maintain the natural bark, scent, and texture of the wood while ensuring the interior is clean, safe, and ready for use in world-class habitats and natural playgrounds.
A National Standard for Enrichment and Play
Over the last decade, we have become the trusted partner for 130+ premier institutions across North America. From the high-traffic exhibits at Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Smithsonian National Zoo to the sensory-rich playgrounds of Natural Playgrounds NH, our logs have set the standard for durability and authenticity. We aren't just a supplier; we are a key partner in creating environments that inspire.
Our Reach
Where Our Logs Live
From Hawaii to New York, IC WOOD logs enrich habitats, classrooms, and playgrounds across North America.
Customer Locations
Tap a pin to explore
Tap a pin to see details
The next time you think about using wood hollows or cylinders or anything related, we recommend you contact us first.
It doesn't hurt to ask!
Contact Us