Wood Care 101
How to Take Care of Solid Wood Furniture
This basic guide is meant for those who are considering investing in solid wood furniture or floors and want to learn about the fundamentals of wood care. Care and maintenance doesn’t have to be complicated, but there are some crucial things to keep in mind in order to keep your furniture in top quality shape.
What to Avoid
The first thing to take note of is that sunlight and direct heat will increase the risk of warping and cracking in wood. So, don’t put your furniture in direct sunlight or very close to heat sources such as radiators, stoves, or fireplaces. Similarly, rapid, large changes in temperature and/or humidity may also increase risk of warping and cracking. Avoid subjecting your furniture to these changes – so don’t move your live edge slab table out from your living room into your unheated garage in the middle of winter!
Of course, this is not applicable to wood floors. For floors, the way to ensure best results to start off with a great product to begin with. Then, select a high quality, durable finishing product – we’ll talk about this more in the next section.
Ok, So What Should I Do?
For best results, it’s recommended to seal your furniture using a high quality finishing product that will enhance the grain and colour of the wood while protecting it from damage. Properly applied finishes will also provide water resistance, which is absolutely crucial for pieces like coffee tables, dining tables, kitchen counters and islands, work surfaces, and floors.
Here at Canadian Salvaged Timber, our go-to product is Osmo Polyx-Oil in Satin-Matt. The finish is subtle, smooth, and provides great durability. All custom products we produce are finished using Osmo products unless otherwise specified. Doing the finishing yourself? You can purchase Polyx-Oil from our online store.
Finally, the last pointer for basic wood care is quite simply to keep the furniture or floors clean. Dust regularly and wipe with a lint free cloth. A clean surface helps the wood look its best, and ensures its devoid of any possible debris that may scratch the wood. For optimal results, use a cleaning product that is compatible with oil-wax wood finishes. We recommend Osmo Liquid Wax Cleaner, which is a great all-in-one product that cleans, regenerates, and maintains. It’s made with the same base products as the Osmo Polyx Oil, and is a fantastic, easy-to-use system. For floors, we recommend Osmo’s Wash and Care.
And that’s it! These are the most basic steps you can take to care for your wood furniture and floors. If you are interested in finding out more, like how to refinish wood surfaces, leave us a comment below.
