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.