Wood waxes have been used for centuries, but it was only in the 20^th century that they started to be blended and refined into the modern wax polishes that we know and love today. Although there are 100s of waxes in production today it’s the UK waxes that have become world renowned, partly driven by the pine furniture boom of the 80’s and 90’s.

Established over a hundred years ago and based in Cardiff, Fiddes are one such pioneer of the modern day wood wax and are always at the forefront of wax blending and development, driven by the ever changing market and demand for better performing waxes and polishes.

Fiddes Supreme Wax Polish

Fiddes Supreme Wax Polish is one such wax that has benefited from their years of experience. It contains a unique, environmentally friendly blend of waxes that naturally enhance the beauty of any wooden surface. Available in clear as well as seven shades, Fiddes Supreme Wax will feed, protect and finish almost any wooden surface throughout your home.

• Toluene free – a chemical compound in many waxes that has been proved to be harmful
• Quick drying – 3 to 5 minutes at room temperature
• Low odour – making it easy to work with in small or enclosed areas
• Soft consistency – can be applied by cloth, sponge or brush
• A non-sticky wax – offers excellent results on bare or sealed wood
• Versatile – can be buffed to a high sheen, or left as a natural matt finish

It’s been known for centuries that natural waxes can help to protect and enhance the appearance and beauty of real wood – used throughout history by craftsman, furniture makers and joiners – we’ve all seen how freshly spilled water beads on the surface of a freshly waxed wooden surface or even on a freshly waxed car! That being said, although a fine quality wax provides an effective barrier, it’s not an impenetrable one. If water or other liquids such as coffee, wine or fruit juices are left on the surface, they will eventually penetrate through the micro-porous structure of the wax to the wood and will potentially discolour or stain the surface of the wood – we recommend you wipe off any spillages as soon as you can.

An added benefit of waxed surfaces is that they are easy to repair and maintain. If your waxed floor or favorite peice of furniture does happen to pick up a minor scuff or scratch, it can often be repaired, buffed and polished to its original finish with no sign that it was ever damaged. A fresh application of wax from time to time as part of a maintenance program will help to keep wooden surfaces looking fresh and like new year after year.

The next time you come to wax the wood in your home, take a moment to think about the product in the tin that you’re about to use. It’s not simply a single wax that has been extracted from a plant or animal but rather centuries of development and testing with various waxes and compounds to produce the world leading products that we have today.

Daytime TV is awash with home improvement programs that show quick and easy ways to makeover bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms. With nothing more than a coat of paint, some fancy drapes, fluffy cushions and the odd canvas print thrown in for good measure, rooms that last saw a paint pot in the 1980’s are seemingly transformed to a modern day home oasis in hours.

A house make over can be easy with the right wood stain

Although these programs are great, they often neglect the more permanent fixtures and features of a room such as doors, floors, real wood furniture, skirting boards and architraves that can ultimately hold back the full potential of any living space.

A common issue with wooden fixtures and fittings is that over time, regardless of if they have been varnished, painted, waxed or oiled, is that they can get marked, scuffed, chipped or just become tired looking. Just as bad are the effects of years of over-painting and varnishing that can cover over details in the wood and hide the true beauty of the wood beneath.

With more people now deciding to renovate than move, recycling old furniture and fixtures to enhance the living environment has never been more popular. With a rising trend towards natural wooden floors, doors and renovated pieces of furniture, the use of water based wood stains is also on the increase.

Water based wood stains provide a safe and easy way to transform any tired looking wooden surface. They’re as popular with wood craft and DIY enthusiasts as with professional decorators and property restoration experts.

Being relatively inexpensive, wood stains are a great way of transforming otherwise uninteresting wooden surfaces into something far more exotic looking. Sanded back floors, doors, skirting boards and architraves can be transformed from bland pine to a deep rich Jacobean Oak or perhaps a more traditional oak colour. Furniture can be stripped and stained to any number of traditional, exotic or outlandish colours by simply mixing a combination of water based wood stains and water based wood dyes such as yellow, blue, orange, red, brown, black and white.

So next time you look at a room in your home and wish longingly that a TV makeover show would pay a visit, get a pen and paper and let your creative juices flow – It really can be done without costing the earth or taking a month of Sundays.

* Wooden surfaces must be stripped back to the bare wood when using water based wood stains – Wood stains will not work if applied to surfaces that have an existing varnish, waxed or oiled finish. Varnish, wax or oil can be applied on top of the wood stain to finish the project

Real wooden floors are very much back in fashion. If you’ve ever contemplated a flooring makeover but thought you might be limited by the original colour and type of floorboard, think again. With a little know how you could turn your old pine boards into a rich teak flooring showpiece.

Renovating your flooring needn’t cost the earth and with a quality floor stain it’s easy to turn an old pine into a Jacobean Oak, Wenge or Macassar.

Floor stains come in two varieties, namely water-based wood stains and solvent-based. As Varnishes have moved over to water-bourne formulations, water-based wood stains have grown in popularity, and they offer the quickest and safest solution for the average DIYer.

Benefits of Water Based Floor Stains

• Virtually no odour
• Inter-mixable to create your own unique colour or shade
• Create lighter shades by simply adding water!
• Easily applied with a paint brush or sponge

Once the floor stain has been applied and the required colour has been achieved, it’s then a simple matter of applying a top coat. Whether you use a varnish, hard wax oil or wax to seal and protect your floor, you can then sit back and enjoy the floor of your dreams.

As always we recommend you apply the floor stain to a small test area first – the exact same wood stain applied to 3 different woods will produce different results!.

The average household door takes its fair share of wear and tear through the years – from dirty fingerprints to shoe scuffs, pet scratches to the wonderful new art created by your kids. A door is one of the first things you see before entering a room, and the last as you leave. If your selling your house, or readying for a house makeover there’s a great little product called Osmo Door oil that offers an ideal solution to protect your interior doors whilst offering a pleasing natural finish.

Benefits of Osmo Door Oil

You’ll probably find that many old interior doors have been covered by layers of paint, or suffered from the “bright orange glow” from antiquated varnishes used through the 70s, 80s and 90s!. The fashion nowadays is to keep a door looking as fresh and as natural as possible (so we’re told anyhow!) so before you start slapping on a varnish, consider that Osmo Door Oil, formulated from a blend of natural waxes and oils, offers these key benefits:-

• It’s a natural oil helping to reduce shrinkage and warping
• It’s extremely easy to repair
• It offers superior coverage
• Hard wearing natural “wood like” finish
• Osmo Door oil will not peel or flake

Varnishes by contrast can look plasticy and be problematic if they are scratched or chipped – the only full proof way to repair the damage, is to strip the varnish off and start again, a time consuming and messy process.

Maintaining your interior doors

Any stains and dirt marks that appear over time can be quickly and easily removed by cleaning the affected surface and applying more Osmo Door Oil to the affected area. If marks go deeper and have penetrated into the wood grain, a light sanding of the area may be required before applying a fresh coat of the door oil for a completely seamless repair.

So there you have it… once you have stripped your door back to bare wood, or if you already have, apply Osmo Door Oil 3060 for the most natural, cost effective and easily maintainable solution for protecting your interior doors.

Kitchen design has become big business in recent years with more and more people opting for a natural country cottage look, with real wood work surfaces and Belfast Sinks over more modern designs.

Although real wood work-tops provide a level of class to any kitchen, traditional or modern, they do require more care to keep them looking at their best.

Osmo Top Oil 3058 On Kitchen Work Surfaces

A common issue with real wood surfaces is that if left untreated, water can penetrate into the grain, eventfully leading to water stains and damage. This can eventually lead to the wood turning black requiring treatment with a Fungicidal Wash before resealing. It’s therefore important that they are cared for from new and maintained on a regular basis.

With a wide range of oil and wax products on the market, it can be difficult to decide which is best and offers a good all round level of protection. One of the market leaders is Osmo Top Oil 3058, an inexpensive oil that provides a matt finish designed to enhance the natural beauty of the wood whilst offering an excellent level of protection.

Based on natural waxes and oils, Osmo Top Oil does not peel, flake, crack or blister allowing for good performance in high humidity areas. It’s a hard wearing oil with excellent resistance against water, juices, wine, beer and fizzy drinks.

An advantage of Osmo Top Oil over a work surface that has been varnished is that should the product get marked, it’s both quick and easy to repair without leaving any sign that it has been.

As with any type of wooden surface, taking a proactive approach to protection and maintenance is the preferred option as this prevents the need to resort to sanding and the use of other products to repair water related damage.

Period homes throughout the country offer some of the most beautiful and intricate examples of heritage design. Unfortunately, these creative gems are often hidden away during “renovations” when home owners opt for the seemingly “easier” task of painting over the existing finish rather than stripping it back to the original moulding. Thankfully there is a way to uncover these hidden treasures with a modern day stripper – simply, effectively and with minimal fuss. With a host of paint-stripping products and myths in circulation, we decided to pitch one of the strangest myths against one of the best known strippers on the market to reveal all…

Round 1 – Peel Away 7 Squares Up To Porridge

In the right corner, we have ‘porridge’, yes the hot breakfast cereal enjoyed by millions in the winter months, and in the left corner, Peel Away, the all-in-one paint and varnish removal system. While Peelaway 7 arrives cool and calm with it’s accompanying blanket and scraper, the porridge is busy warming up on the hob at gas mark 5. We felt that if we were going to give porridge a fighting chance, we would opt for one of the finest by selecting an organic premium brand from one of the local supermarkets.

Application of the peelaway 7 was quick and easy while the porridge tried to wimp out early by refusing to stick to the fireplace, perhaps a little too much milk. After a gentle re-heat and some sweet talking the porridge was ready to return to the ring.

Round 2 – The Reveal

After a night of snuggling together under the provided ‘peelaway 7′ blanket, we remove the covering to see exactly what the two methods have achieved through the dark hours of the night. It doesn’t take long to see that while peelaway 7 was getting hot and busy under the blanket, porridge was getting cool and do we dare say, sticky.

It seems at this stage that ‘Peel Away’ has the advantage with sections of the original fireplace clearly visible while porridge has left us with a sticky cold mess.

Round 3 – Peelaway 7 Declared The Winner

After a quick clean up, it’s clear to see that although porridge has a reputation for being good for the digestive and circulatory systems, it’s clearly not as effective for tackling layers of paint or varnish. The clear knock-out winner in this challenge is the Peelaway 7 paint and varnish removal system. To rid the fireplace of the last layer of lead-based paint we applied PeelAway 1 – the following morning we were back to the bare metal with no need to scrap in any of the detailed areas.

Do it yourself

If you’ve always wanted to restore a period fixture or piece of furniture but have been afraid to tackle it with sandpaper and a scraper, Peel Away offers the perfect solution. Depending on the age and type of paint or varnish involved, Peel Away paint and varnish removal systems can help to restore all types of plaster fixtures, metal fireplaces, wooden fixtures and furniture to their original detailed glory.

Peel Away 1 Paint Remover offers the best solution for older lead-based paints and is able to remove up to 32 layers of older varnishes and paints in a single application. Peelaway 1 is widely used by the trade as well as the marine and automobile industry.

For modern paints and varnishes Peel Away 7 paint stripper offers a safe and easy way to remove up to 20 layers of modern paint or varnish in one go. Peelaway 7 is a versatile product and can be used to remove paint from wood, brick, masonry, fibre glass and metal.

Varnishing wood

Today I’ll be trying to unravel what can truly earn the right to be called a lacquer.

The first thing to establish is the difference between a lacquer and a varnish. It may be surprising to learn that lacquer and varnish are, in fact, the same thing!

What we’ve noticed is the trade tend to refer to them as ‘lacquers’ and the general public tend to call them ‘varnishes’.

I’m now left with the dilemma of how to refer to them for the rest of this blog – eeny, meeny, miny, mo… I’ll go for lacquer!

What Is Lacquer?

The Origins of Lacquer

The word lacquer derives from the Portuguese word lac, and the word varnish derives from the Latin word vernix. Vernix means odorous resin and lac is the word for a resin that comes from certain insects. Well, whatever their roots both words have simply been integrated into the English language.  A bit like the words rapid and swift, same meanings, different roots.

Facts About Lacquer

• They have been used on wooden objects for at least 4,000 years
• A French Polisher applies shellac varnish with an applicator called a rubber, although there is no rubber in it!
• By using a rubber a French polisher can typically apply 50 thin coats of French polish to a table (for example) in under an hour!
• Most experts believe that lacquers were first used in China, but there is evidence to suggest that India may have been using them before the Chinese
• Gold and silver lacquers contain real gold and silver!
• Gold and silver are harder to produce in a water based formula because being a metal they can oxidise in the water (becoming a bit ‘rust-like’)

What’s It Made Of?

In short a lacquer is a resin, mixed with a solvent. When the lacquer is applied, the solvent evaporates and the hard resin is left on the surface of the wood forming a clear, durable seal. There may be other additives, such as binding agents that make up a small percentage of the blend.

The most popular resins are lac, acrylic, polyurethane (aka PU), nitrocellulose and alkyd. Briefly their origins are as follows:

• Lac is from a lac bug
• Polyurethane is a synthetic material derived through a polymerization process
• Acrylic could be described as a liquid plastic
• Alkyd is a modified polyester

Toxicodendron vernicifluum aka Chinese Lacquer Tree Leaves

We don’t see much Chinese lacquer in Europe, but you’ve probably heard of it. So, for the record it is a (toxic) sap taken from a tree (called toxicodendron vernicifluum) that grows in mainly in China and Japan. It’s probably the most ancient of all the resins used in lacquers.

All lacquers are gloss when they are first manufactured. An ingredient called a matting agent is then added to them to reduce the sheen level. Therefore a gloss is the most durable, although it’s fair to say the difference is minimal.

No More 70′s ‘You’ve Been Tangoed’ Effect!

Lacquers are termed as clear and indeed they are, in as much as they don’t contain pigment but their ingredients will inevitably influence the colour to some degree. Polyurethane lacquers tend to add a slight, warm brown effect to the wood. They don’t add that disliked orange effect that lacquers of the 70’s and 80’s were renowned for, which could be described as resembling the appearance of a toffee apple. Today’s good PU lacquers are much clearer. Shellac lacquers also add quite a lot of colour to the wood. The clearest lacquers are the pure acrylic ones. Our pure acrylic lacquer is called Interior Varnish.

Try The Lacquer Look At Home Before You Buy!

If you want to get an idea of how your wood will look without making a purchase, then simply apply a little water to the surface. The look you get when the wood is wet (after about 10 seconds) is how it will look once varnished.

The following lacquers will give the look of wet wood:

• Extra Tough Clear Varnish
• Polyurethane Varnish
• Floor Varnish
• Bona Mega
• Bona Traffic HD
• Two Pack Varnish

Other Lacquer Resources

Some more interesting info can be read on the following link:

• http://woodworking.about.com/od/finishing/p/LacquerFinishes.htm

Well I hope I didn’t give you too much detail. I didn’t want to glossover it!

After a little break we are back with part 3 of our series on wood types. This week I’ll be discussing Teak. If you haven’t already read parts 1 and 2, feel free to go check them out here: All about Pine Wood & All about Oak Wood.

A Little Info About Teak

Teak is a deciduous tree with a latin name of Tectona which often grows up to 40 metres (130 ft) tall. Ideally a Teak tree needs to be at least 40 years old if the best wood is to be harvested, but new technology has enabled good quality wood to be produced once the tree has reached just 10 years of age.

It is one of the most expensive mass-produced woods in the world. Indonesia is the worlds leading producer of teak and its importance to their economy has helped to sustain replanting programmes.

The Benefits Of Teak

Teak has a high oil content making it very weather resistant, therefore it offers good elasticity. This means it’s an ideal timber for garden furniture and boat decks, amongst other things. Another great benefit of Teak’s high oil content, is that it gives the wood a high resistance against insect infestation.

It is a hard and heavy wood, with older teak trees supplying the best quality timber. However, Teak has a high silica content; making it renowned for blunting wood working tools!

Teak Can Take The Heat!

A survey that was carried out in 2000 found that Burmese Teak and Plantation Teak were ranked as the best performing woods for resisting cracking and warping under different humidity and temperature conditions.

Teak Facts

• There are just 3 teak species, the most popular is called ‘Common Teak’. All 3 timbers have their own natural warm glow (when cut), also as a result of the high oil content.
• Before Teak trees are cut down, the water content is drained. This is done by making a cut to the under side of the tree. This draining process typically takes 2 years before it is ready for use in furniture making and other products!
• The leaves of the teak tree are edible and often used in a dish called jackfruit
• 2 species of Teak called Dahat and Phillipine Teak are endangered
• The fruit of the Teak tree is called drupe

Finishing Teak Wood

Teak that has been sanded after going silver as a result of UV rays.

External Teak tends to go silver quite quickly (within 3 years) due to the effects of the sun’s UV rays. The silvering of the teak can be removed with Osmo’s wood reviver or often a light sand will do the trick.

The amount of sanding required depends on how long the teak has been left in the sun and rain etc. Once the teak has been restored back to its’ natural warm glow, it can then be re-finished with teak oilto maintain the natural lustre.

Teak oil is a blend of linseed oil, other ‘seed oils’, including rapeseed oil and vegetable oils. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t contain Teak oil! The natural oils in the teak oil nourish and protect the wood, making it ideal for use on both internal and external wood. Alternatively Osmo teak oil can be used. It is a more durable teak oil that offers greater durability and requires just 2-3 initial coats rather than the 3-5 coats necessary when using ‘regular Teak oils’. External wood should always be coated with a wood preservative before applying the teak oil to prevent wood related diseases such as wet rot, dry rot and blue stone.

Despite what is commonly believed, it is not ideal to sand oily woods ‘as fine as possible’ because it is the open ‘pores’ of the grain that help the oil to sink into wood grain. Indeed it is always advisable to sand wood with sandpaper that is no finer than 150 grit when oils are to be applied.

Other Teak Resources

For more information on Teak, see the following resources: -

• http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf2001/willi01d.pdf
• http://www.giantchess.com/manufacturer/about_teak_wood.html
• http://teakfurnituremanufacturers.com/teak-finishing-maintenance.html

Well, I hope that’s put to bed some of the mis-teak surrounding this wood. Next time we’ll be discussing… Beech!

Welcome to part 2 of our series on wood types. This week I’ll be discussing Oak. If you haven’t already read part 1, feel free to go check it out here: All about Pine Wood.

A little history of Oak

Oak(or quercus as it is known in Latin) is a hardwood with some 400 known species. It has always been a popular wood in The UK, but in recent times it is even more widely used in construction and also as internal fixtures in clubs and gyms etc. For furniture construction oak has become ever more the wood of choice, a trend expanding year on year since the year 2000 when China, India and Indonesia substantially increased their export markets. Pine has been the wood to suffer from oak’s popularity as it is more widely available in the Far East.

The flowers of many oak trees are known as catkins and they are produced by oaks when they reach their reproductive age which is typically aged 20. They are triggered by rising temperatures in spring. Ultimately it is the catkins of many oaks that turn into the acorns, so maybe that popular phrase… ‘mighty oaks from little acorns grow’ should be ‘mighty oaks from little catkins grow’ although it doesn’t quite have the same ring does it?

Treating Oak wood

With regards to finishing and treating oak there are numerous possibilities but there are certain requirements that are asked for time and again… Often we are asked how external oak can be kept looking natural. Whilst the question is easy, the answer is not so straight forward. These are the necessary considerations: -

• When water penetrates oak it reacts with the high tannin content within oak, resulting in ‘blackening’.
• The Sun’s UV rays will turn the oak to a silvery hue over time.
• Clear products are inevitably not completely clear so they tend to ‘bring out’ the natural colours of the oak, normally making it a bit darker and warmer.
• The levels of rain, wind and sun will make a difference to how quickly the oak changes colour.

Oak affected by the sun

Oak affected by rain

If the requirement is to keep the oak looking as natural as possible, whilst preventing blackening or silvering as much as possible, then the following is the best system we know of: -

• 1 coat of clear wood preservative
• followed by 2-3 coats of Osmo 420

The Osmo 420 Wood Stain Protector offers UV resistance and also contains biocide which is important for external timbers as it prevents the wood from becoming diseased with wet rot, dry rot and blue stone etc. The oil also repels water, thus preventing it from going black.

If the requirement is to protect the oak whilst keeping the silvery appearance then the following is the best:

• 1 coat of clear wood preservative
• followed by 3-5 coats of tung oil

Tung oil is one of the clearest oils on the market and doesn’t offer UV resistance.

If the exterior oak needs to be coloured then the following system is recommended:

• 1 coat of clear wood preservative
• followed by 1 coat of your chosen colour of Osmo Natural Oil Woodstain
• followed by 1 coat of Osmo UV Protection Oil 420 Extra

If blackening on exterior oak needs removing then a scrub with a fungicidal wash is recommended, with various brands being available from DIY superstores and hardware shops. On the other hand it may be the silvering that needs removing. If so, a scrub with oxalic acid is required or even better, Osmo wood reviver (which contains oxalic acid, amongst other active ingredients).

Unfinished Oak

Finished Oak

One of the most common enquiries we get is how to keep internal oak looking natural. This is not just a case of simply applying ‘clear products’ as they bring out the natural colours of the wood, thus making it little darker and more golden. A very good indication of how your oak will look once it has been finished with a ‘clear’ coat is to apply water to a test area. The look achieved when the wood is wet is very close to how it will look once a clear varnish or a clear oil has been applied.

Some customers like the way oak colours when clear coatings are applied to it whilst others want it to be as close as possible to how it looks in its natural state. This natural look can almost be achieved by adding some white to your chosen top coat but test areas are vital because each wood needs a different mix of clear top coat to white. Here are some guidelines: -

• If an oiled finish is preferred then 1 part of the white hard wax oil can be mixed with 2 parts of the clear hard wax oil.
• If a varnished finish is preferred then 1 part white dye can be mixed with 50 parts clear varnish.

Clear wax polish is the one exception to the above… If a clear wax polish is applied to bare oak (or just about any other wood for that matter) then the colour is kept very natural indeed, it’s just a question of whether a wax polish is going to be durable enough. Internal doors, for example are considered, by most people, to be ideal for finishing with a wax, where as a floor will look nice once waxed but regular maintenance is required, so most people don’t opt for wax for this reason.

If the oak needs to be made darker then hard wax oil is ideal because it colours and protects the wood in the same application. It is always good to try and finish with a clear coat if possible because if the wood gets scratched it is the clear coat that scratches before the coloured coat and therefore the scratch is not as noticeable.

Oiling consideration

If oak is being oiled it is a good idea to sand it with a sandpaper that is no finer than 150 grit. The reason for this is that the pores of the wood are more open thus allowing the oil to sink into the wood better. Better absorption equals greater protection.

Interesting Oak Stats

• Oak bark is rich in tannin, and is used by tanners for tanning leather.
• Acorns can be used for making flour or they can be roasted for making acorn coffee.
• Tannin dissolves and escapes from the wood. Wine barrels are made from oak and it is the tannin that helps to give the wine its’ colour.
• Sessile oaks of Europe and can reach heights of up to 40 metres.
• Oak trees regularly live to be 500 years old, although 1,000 years old oaks are also known.
• A mature oak tree can produce up to 50,000 acorns!

For more information on Oak, see the following resources: -

• http://www.pinesolutions.co.uk/oak.html
• http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/species/oak.html
• http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/wfiles/W126.pdf

Oakey Dokey then   – tune in next time when we’ll be discussing………… Teak!

In this series we’ll be discussing different wood types. The first wood up for discussion is Pine or ‘Pinus’ as this species is known, but careful how you pronounce that one! There is so much pine used in The UK that it’s worth discussing it in detail. The first thing to say is that names for pine are often confused and grouped together with names such as Deal, Pitch or Spruce.

Most countries have pine trees (there are up to 125 types of pine) and the difference in the timbers from various pine trees are enormous. Generally speaking, pines fall into 3 broad categories: red pine, white pine and yellow pine. The most popular of these pines being used in Europe are Scandinavian Red Pine, Russian White Pine and Quebec Yellow Pine.

Scandinavian Red Pine

This is a reasonably dense pine that is ethically grown so it’s a popular choice that is used worldwide. It is distinctive because it tends to have pinkish stripes running through it. In other words there are lighter and darker ‘stripes’ in the wood.

Russian White Pine

This is grown in the far north of Russia in an area called Angel. It’s very cold there resulting in a slow grown timber, meaning it’s one of the strongest pines around but it’s also one of the more expensive ones. It has small/no knots due to the trunk being so long before any branches appear (and as we all know the knots show where the branches of the tree were). It is very pale in colour and also very consistent with small knots if there are any.

Quebec Yellow Pine

As the name suggests, this pine is from Quebec and indeed other parts of Canada. It has distinctive large knots (and therefore large branches) and a strong, pleasant smell with a light, warm yellowy hue to it. It is not as dense as the above 2 but it is great for machining and therefore widely used in furniture manufacturing although the European furniture industry is in decline since the more cost effective furniture is being imported from The Far East.

Incidentally the Pines from The Far East are more of a hard wood than the soft pines we are used to. They are incredibly dense and heavy and often not from renewable sources which is something we should all be aware of, but the quality has improved and the prices of Far Eastern furniture is generally unmatchable in Europe.

The UK had large areas of pine trees offering a medium density wood that is ideal for manufacturing, but our supplies were mostly exhausted well before the Victorian era. About 2% of our forests still remain and a lot of it is pine that is protected (thankfully), although Scots Pine is still ethically produced in some parts of Scotland, and a few other pockets of the UK still produce ethically grown pine often collectively called Deal or Softwood. White Deal or Spruce is often used for the manufacture of the ‘budget furniture’ popular in our superstores.

During Victorian times and in particular during the Industrial Revolution, there was a huge demand for pine with one of the main markets being for buildings. As anyone will know who’s lived in a Victorian house (and more modern houses), just about all the doors, window frames, stair cases and other permanent fixtures are made from pine and often a Genus called Pinus Sylvestris. This is a Scandinavian Redwood and many of the phone calls and emails we receive are asking how they can match new pine with old pine which more often than not is Scandinavian Red Pine.

As the name suggests the wood has a reddish tinge and the older the wood, the more prominent this reddish tinge tends to be, so matching new, pale Softwood to Scandinavian Red Pine (for example matching new skirting to old floor boards) can be tricky but Hard Wax Oil is as good as anything at doing this. The reason being, that oils soak into the wood, colouring it and protecting it at the same time, so the staining process is eliminated. The usual way to go about matching different shades of wood is to impose colour onto the lightest wood with a water or solvent based colouring liquid, known as a stain or a dye so that it can then be over coated with a clear varnish or similar. The downside to staining is it’s virtually impossible to find the right shade off the shelf and inevitably some mixing is required. For example, 1 litre of Honey Pine Water stain could be mixed with a little red or orange dye, but mixing colours is often not appealing to customers as it can be time consuming and difficult to repeat accurately where small measurements are concerned. Hard Wax Oil, in the American shade, is ideal for the above scenario. For example a neat coat of American HWO could be applied to the new wood and then a 2^nd coat of American mixed 50/50 with clear could be applied to the light and dark wood to tie it all in better. Colour matching is always more effective when the same product is used on all woods. Of course the mix required all depends on what colour you are trying to achieve but there is a good range of colours available in the Hard Wax Oil so it is recommended for most colour matching requirements.

Interesting Pine Stats

• Pine trees have a life time of 100 to 1,000 years.
• The oldest known pine is 4,840 years old. It is still alive and is one of the oldest known organisms in the world!
• They are evergreens.
• They vary in height from just 3 mtrs to 80 mtrs (Sugar Pine).
• Some food sources from the pine tree are pine oil, pine nuts, and the white interior of the bark of some pines can be used to make pine bread!

This link has further interesting and detailed information about pine.

Well I hope you found this piece interesting, if so and you are pining for more (groan) look in next week when we’ll be discussing Oak!