Solid wood: species, drying, care

Solid wood is not chosen from a catalogue photo. Two tops from the same oak can produce one table that stays flat for twenty years and one board that cups within two winters, depending on drying, grain direction and how the top is fixed to its base. Here is what we check before cutting, and what it means for your budget and for upkeep.

Four species, four uses

Oak is hard, dense (about 700 kg/m³), stable once dry, with a strong grain: the best compromise for a tabletop or a stair tread. Walnut is warm brown and softer, marking more easily but repairing well. Beech is pale, even and affordable but very sensitive to humidity swings, while pine is light, resinous and cheap but marks quickly. Outdoors, forget beech and pine: oak or robinia, use class 3 or 4, oiled and never varnished.

Drying and stability

A top moves all its life: it widens in humid air, shrinks as it warms, cups if one face dries faster than the other. The only way to limit that is properly dried timber. We never machine a top above 12% moisture, and aim for 8 to 10% indoors. Air drying takes about one year per centimetre of thickness, followed by kiln stabilisation — which is why a 45 mm solid oak table cannot be delivered in three weeks.

Marrying steel and wood

Steel and wood move differently, so a top fixed rigidly to a welded frame always ends up splitting. We fix tops to rails with slotted holes that let the wood slide a few millimetres, never with a fully tightened bolt. Contact isolation matters too: untreated steel against damp wood rusts and stains it, so we insert a neoprene strip or isolating washer at contact points and treat the steel before assembly.

Oil, wax, varnish

Hard wax oil penetrates the wood, keeps a natural feel and repairs locally: fine sanding plus one coat and the mark is gone. Wax gives a silky patina but protects less against liquids. Varnish forms a film, resists hot cups better, but yellows, scratches and repairs badly — the whole surface has to be stripped.

Care over the years

An oiled top is wiped with a damp sponge, no aggressive detergent, no abrasive pad. Three habits add years: coasters under cold glasses, trivets under hot dishes (above 60 °C the oil marks), and a quick wipe of anything sugary. A pale haze is recoverable: light sanding along the grain, dust off, thin coat of oil. Oil once or twice a year to keep the colour, or accept the grey with a saturator every three years. Never varnish outdoors.

Wood outdoors

Outdoor joints must drain: no wood laid flat on a support, no end grain touching the ground, and galvanised steel feet rather than bare steel.

Prices and lead times

Ranges below are for an assembled, oiled top with a welded steel base, delivered within 200 km of the workshop.

Lead time: three to five weeks depending on species and board availability, with an extra week of curing for the oiled finish. A wide walnut top can take six weeks and we prefer to say so.