The evolution of the finish



Early wood furniture was subjected to very damp condition. Given uneven heating (or often the total lack of a heating system) coupled with wood-eating insect and fungi, it is clear that only in the warm and dry climates of Egypt and the Midle East, or the more moderate climate of Greece and southern Italy, was there any chance unifinished furniture could survive. Not only was climate a major factor in the daterioration of wood products, sunlight itself was, and is, one of nature’s great destructive forces. Given time, sunlight will destroy any furniture finish. With these natural conditions, it was clear from the earlist times that wood items had to be protected from the elements. The fundamental point of finishing is protecting the wood Beutifying the wood was a pleasant bonus.

Pitching was one of the earlist methods of protecting wood, as was “charring” – burning or scorching the surface to a depth of about 1/8 inch to protect the wood from fun-Gal growth and allow it to touch the soil without the repaid decay suffered by untreated wood. Greeks and others used vegetable oils, resins from acacia trees, and turpentine from pines as early types of varnish. Secretions of certain insects from the Far East produced a hard shield coating for wood objects. This product, called lac, formed the basis for great advances in finish materials in the late eighteenth century. Beeswax was readily available as another surface treatment, and for centuries these natural products protected and “finished” wood structures and wood furniture. In more northern climate zones, huge fireplace emitted large amounts of soot and smoke which, added to these natural oils and fats, provided additional protection, as well as a layer of grime that produced the dark finished characteristic of early furniture. Animal fats were rubbed on furniture items in an effort to clean them – which worked, to a certain extend, and further protected the surface.

The occasional happy result was a beautifully rich finis with a patina that not only glowed, but also had a dep richness to it. I say “occasional” because most furniture produced in these early years did not survive the rigors of the climate, either indoors or out, or the unruliness of the owners. I am sure they were not treating their furniture with an eye to the future. Our attitude is not much different – many of us still think furniture is merely a consumable item to be used up and discarded when its job is done.

Through luck and happenstance, a few glowing examples of beautifully – preserved wood items have survived to come our way. Without a proper perspective it would be easy to slip into a falsely romantic nation that all old furniture was beautiful and was made better than present – day furniture. This simply is not true, but I’ll get to this point later.