Archive for 2009

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 wood stain and protector
• followed by 1 coat of Osmo 420

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!

Many a back garden becomes a no-mans land over the winter, but thankfully this period of dormancy is coming to an end. Now is the ideal time to start preparing for the approaching spring and summer seasons.

Features of the garden that tend to get a raw deal over the winter period are the wooden fixtures and fittings such as sheds, garden fences, decking and wooden patio furniture. Exposed to the ravishes of wind, rain, snow and frost, the once warm, vibrant shades and tones of exterior wood have dulled or turned to a lifeless green or grey.

If you’re heading out to the garden for the first time in the next couple of weeks and are looking to restore exterior wooden features back to their former glory, here are some superior quality, environmentally friendly products to consider:

• Exterior Wood Oil – UV Resistant and water repellent in 3 coats, this exterior wood oil is resistant to weathering and the bleaching effects of the sun. Perfect for garden furniture, decking and other exterior wooden surfaces, this exterior hardwood preservative offers unrivalled protection and performance. It is recommended that a coat of clear wood preservative is applied to the wooden surface before this product.
• Osmo Wood Stain and Protector – Ideal for all exterior woodwork. This oil based product, that also contains natural waxes is available in a range of colours and can be used to maintain the natural appearance of exterior wood. Using this product retains the original appearance of the wood texture and grain.
• Osmo Country Colour – Perfect on all wood types, new or weathered, rough or smooth, Osmo Country Colour can be used to renew previously stained, weathered or discoloured wooden surfaces ensuring further protection for many years to come. A range of colours are available. This product gives the look of a  paint and covers over the texture and  grain of the wood to leave a smooth finish.
• Spray On Fence Stain – Provides a quick and easy solution to stain and protect your fence or shed. Economical and easy to use, spray on fence treatment can extend the life of garden fence panels and sheds by protecting against the damaging effects of weathering. This product can be quickly and easily applied with an affordable hand pump spray system or by paint brush.
• Wood Preservative – An all in one solution for the treatment and prevention of damage from wood rot and fungi on timber. Wood preservatives can be left as they are or over-coated with oil or one of the above products when dry to achieve the desired finish.

Revitalising tired, external wooden items can be a job that many wish to avoid, however in a matter of hours, these surfaces can be treated to look like new again. Before grabbing a tub of Creosote, (a product soon to be outlawed because of its high toxicity and environmental impact) it is worth considering the newer, safer and environmentally friendly products now available. The natural oils and waxes that these products contain offer far superior protection and will bring tired looking sheds, fences, decking and patio furniture, back to life and ready for the summer season and beyond once again.

This process isn’t just about the cosmetics of making wood look good for another summer, it’s  a maintenance program that will help to protect your investments and help prolong the life of garden sheds, fences and decking for many years to come.

If you’re unsure of what you need, contact Wood Finishes Direct whose team are on hand to offer guidance and advice on what products are suitable. No matter what the job, whether interior or exterior, big or small, they have it all.

For many years now the words ’sustainable’ and ’sustainability’ have been banded around, especially in farming and fishing. With increasing pressure to recycle, restore and use environmentally safe products in a bid to save the planet, many people are beginning to ask what they can do from a sustainability point of view when building or restoring a house or home.

Back in early 2008, such a challenge was given to TV Presenter Kevin McCloud, the face of the Channel 4 program ‘Grand Designs’.

Kevin’s brief was simple; to design and build a sustainable house, using traditional materials and techniques along side cutting-edge 21st Century technology which underpins his green principles – Simple!

The house was built at the Excel Centre in London as part of Channel 4’s Grand Design Live exhibition and incorporated sustainable products and materials from around the country. The build included everything from the day to day throw away materials such as glass bottles and newspapers, environmentally and user friendly Tung Oil from Wood Finishes Direct in Kent and the latest echo technology from a host of suppliers from around the country.

To read more on the project, the suppliers and the materials used, visit the Channel 4 website for more inforamtion about Grand Designs Live: The House That Kevin Built.

Whether looking to design and build your own home from scratch or to simply renovate or give a room a face lift, this program shows that with the right products and materials, great things can be accomplished with minimal impact on the environment.