Caring for solid and reclaimed wood furniture

Solid wood is not a fragile material, but it is a living one. It moves with the weather, it marks, and it improves with sensible handling. Here's the short version of what we tell every customer at delivery.

Everyday cleaning

• A soft dry cloth, or barely damp with plain water. Wring it out until it feels almost dry.
• Dry immediately afterwards. Standing water is the one thing that genuinely damages a finish.
• Never use all-purpose sprays, bleach, ammonia or silicone polish. They strip oil finishes and leave a haze on waxed ones.

Feeding an oiled finish

Most of our pieces are oil- or wax-finished rather than lacquered, which is why they feel like wood instead of plastic. Re-oil roughly twice a year, or whenever the surface starts to look dry and pale. Apply a thin coat of furniture oil with a lint-free cloth along the grain, leave it twenty minutes, then buff off everything that hasn't soaked in. Leaving excess oil on the surface is the usual cause of a sticky finish.

Heat, water and sunlight

Use mats under anything hot and coasters under anything wet, an oil finish resists moisture but doesn't repel it. Keep pieces out of long, direct afternoon sun, which bleaches timber unevenly; if a table sits in a bright window, rotate it occasionally so it ages evenly rather than in a stripe.

About that crack

Fine checking along the end grain of a solid slab is normal and structural, it's the timber releasing tension as the humidity changes through the year, and it often closes again in a wetter month. It is not a defect and it will not spread through the piece. If a crack ever opens wide enough to catch a fingernail, send us a photograph and we'll advise.

Epoxy and resin surfaces

Resin is harder than the wood around it but scratches more visibly. Clean it the same way, avoid abrasive pads entirely, and never put a hot pan directly on it, resin softens well below the temperature timber tolerates.