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

Big Daddy Teak tree!

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.

Freshly cut Teak

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 oil to maintain the natural lustre.

Oiled Teak

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 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!