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If you’re about to spend hundreds or thousands of pounds on a piece of oak furniture, read on. These quick tips could add years and elegance to your purchase and save you a bundle in the long run.

Oak is one of the most beautiful woods in the world; sturdy, durable and aged with a character of its own. When you buy a piece of oak furniture, it’s a purchase that should give you decades of pleasure and use. Over the years, the colour of the oak will mellow and take unique look of its own based on how you care for it.

Oak is a hard wood and is more susceptible than most woods to stains. Read on to see how you can minimise the effect of stains and get the look you want.

Caring for oak furniture.

There are different methods you need to use depending on where your oak furniture is at. If it’s outside, you must treat it differently than if it’s inside, but we’ll come back to that.

There are 3 steps to caring for your indoor oak pieces.

1. Original conditioning to get the look you want with a new piece of wood.

2. Cleaning properly.

3. Ongoing conditioning to maintain the look you want.

If you buy a new piece of oak furniture, you want to condition it for several reasons.

1. To help to protect it against stains

2. To get the look you want.

3. To enhance the longevity of the wood against infestation.

Depending on the type of oak furniture you have, you can either stain it, wax it or both. Staining is preferred for the tops of tables and sideboards to help protect it. You can do that with something like Ronseals English Oak hardwood furniture stain.

For the legs of coffee tables and other areas of oak furniture, you can simply wax them with a high quality beeswax. Once you’ve waxed them, allow them about half an hour to dry off and then get busy with a clean, dry lint free cloth like a cotton cloth and buff to a high shine.

For the first few years, this waxing process should be repeated every 3 months (more during winter) and then every 6 months to get the patina that you want.

Cleaning the oak.

If you do get a stain or watermark on a piece of oak, you can simply sand it away with a fine piece of sandpaper or fine steel wool, going with the grain, and then re-wax it.

Cleaning should be done thoroughly every 3 months. Many chemical cleaners will strip wood so it’s important to use something that doesn’t strip it like a natural oil based cleaner like Murphy’s oil soap.

Once you’ve cleaned it you need to condition it every 6 months with something like linseed oil which soaks into the wood and conditions it, enhancing the grain. You can even use lemon oil for this which makes your room smell beautiful. For best results, rotate the two conditioners.

If you have an oak wardrobe or a set of oak drawers, you can use a high quality bee’s wax and polish them to your preferred patina as shown above. Personally, I’d stain the top of a set of oak drawers. Repeat the waxing every 6 months.

If you are lucky enough to have oak garden furniture, you can use an oil based stain to make it waterproof. Be careful not to use linseed oil to condition it however as it might not dry properly and can result in mildew. Instead, use lemon oil.

And then sit back, relax and enjoy your beautiful furniture.

Oak, the widely known deciduous tree has some of the strongest and most durable pieces of wood available. Famous for the waved pattern of its grain and the natural reddish color, it is especially favored for use in flooring and strong furniture, lasting for decades. Woodwork artists have therefore come up with ways to keep the amazingly beautiful pieces looking bright and new as always and therefore the concept of reclaimed oak. Though the word “reclaimed oak” might seem as a cliché word for the environmentally correct and a buzzword for recycle, reuse, and so on, it is important to note that the concept of reclaimed oak is not a shabby chic or fashionable idea, but rather one that has come down through generations. With the challenges the planet and environment are facing today however, it also worth emphasizing the positive attributes of considering the idea. Responsible buying, reduction of waste, preserving nature and keeping the planet green are all concepts worth considering when purchasing any woodwork or oak furniture, being one of the few species of trees to withstand the test of time, should be preserved. This preservation is what has made the reclaimed oak pieces of furniture such jewels to marvel. These strong, traditional and antique products of the hardwood, with some fine touches over time can leave them spackling new. Whether it is for resale, or continued use at home, your reclaimed oak furniture will always attract attention to lookers with its strong ambience and natural reddish color that needs little furnishing. The one thing that stands out about oak, and reclaimed oak furniture is how crisp and smooth it will always look. The bright color of it’s furnish reflects light well, making cleaning it a joy. Oak is easily recognizable and highly respected as wood and with the modern synthetic furniture being reported to contain toxic substances, it is always a safe bet to stick with the old timer. With more stringent controls being taken on restoring the planet’s past glory where oak was in plenty and oak furniture easily available, it is important to take note of how best to make a furniture purchase, whether a bedroom furniture or living room furniture. Considering reclaimed oak is therefore one of the preferred methods where new furniture may not be really necessary. Earth friendly materials for use as restorers are also available in the market and it is therefore easy to work on your old piece of oak. If you’re buying a reclaimed oak piece of old furniture, it is also important to check where the oak has come from, and if not from a legal and sustainable source, keep away from it. In the US, certification for the source of oak is done by the Forest Stewardship Council, FSC, and since most of these precious woodworks such as oak furniture are second hand, be sure to always check their sources. Most importantly however, having oak furniture, whether reclaimed oak, or new, as a living room furniture or bedroom furniture is always a treasure and should be considered as a long term investment rather than an expense.