Four finishes. A different feel.

Hardwax oiled

Hardwax oil, matt

The oil is in the wood, not on it. Grain slightly darkened and deepened, a broad low sheen, the pore rows still open and catching their own shadow. Nothing reflects in it.

How it wears

Thins where hands rest and where traffic runs, and darkens a little with use rather than going patchy. illustrative

How it is repaired

Local repair may be possible by preparing and re-oiling the worn area. The method and colour match depend on the specified finish and surface condition; test a small area and follow the finish maker’s instructions. illustrative

Waxed

Wax polish, buffed

A soft bloom sitting above the surface rather than in it — the light scatters off the film before it reaches the timber.

How it wears

The softest of the four. Marks with water and with heat, and scuffs where anything is dragged across it. illustrative

How it is repaired

Light wear may need only re-waxing and buffing. Suitability depends on the specified wax and surface condition; test a small area and follow the finish maker’s instructions. illustrative

Lacquered

Pre-catalysed lacquer, 20 % sheen

A film, and you can see it is a film: a tight specular highlight that travels independently of the grain, pore rows filled and flattened, the arris reading as a hard bright line.

How it wears

The hardest and most protective of the four, and the least forgiving when it does go: it chips at arrises and a scratch shows as a white line in the film. illustrative

How it is repaired

Local repair depends on the lacquer, damage and sheen. A visible patch may require refinishing the whole surface; test the proposed repair first. illustrative

Fumed

Ammonia-fumed, hardwax oiled

An oiled surface over a much darker wood, because the colour is in the timber and not in the gloss. In oak the ray fleck now flares against something close to black, which is the best thing this finish does and the reason it is in the set.

How it wears

The colour cannot wear off, because it is in the wood rather than on it. The oil over it wears like any oiled surface. illustrative

How it is repaired

The oil is repaired in place like any oiled surface. A cut deep enough to pass the fumed depth shows lighter wood and cannot be blended, so the depth is set by the fuming schedule rather than by the finish. illustrative

What it does to the timber

Ammonia fuming develops its colour by reacting with the extractives in the wood, not with the surface. In the study cited, oak (Quercus robur) darkened the most rapidly and the most intensively of the four woods tested, and the two hardwoods changed more than the two softwoods.¹⁰

Where a finish is not offered

Not every finish suits every timber. These combinations are excluded for the material reasons below.

Fumed on American black walnut

Fuming develops its colour by reacting with the extractives in the wood, and the species that change most are the ones carrying most. Walnut is already the darkest of the four and has little to gain, so the workshop does not offer it. Choose oiled for depth instead.

The workshop's own judgement, illustrative