Unfinished Oak Furniture

Oak is widely used for making furniture since the Middle Ages. As it is hard wood that lasts generations, it is the second most popular kind of wood for making furniture after pine. Oak has a warm, coarse texture, but has one drawback: its price can be quite high. This is why more and more people decide to save some money on buying unfinished oak furniture.

The savings can be substantial if you are buying not only one, but several pieces of furniture. Staining or waxing doesn't need any particular skill you just need to be patient and to pay attention to the instructions given. With little attention to detail everybody can finish oak furniture just as nicely as they do in the factory. It is not even time consuming, you can stain quite a few pieces of furniture over the course of a weekend.

Unfinished oak furniture gives you the freedom to choose whatever color and finish you like. This way you can be sure newly bought items will fit perfectly with other pieces of furniture. On the Internet there are dozens of pages where you can get a lot of tips and advices on how to finish yourself the furniture. However, there are some general rules: staining is the application of suspended pigments carried by a solvent and a binding agent. The pigments stay near the surface, while stain stays below the surface of the wood.

You must thoroughly mix wood staining solution before applying. It is advisable to test the stain on areas less visible, such as the back or underside of furniture. Start the work only when the stain has the desired look. One coating should be enough. If you plan to stain more pieces, you should mix a larger amount of stain, because if it is not enough, it is very hard to reproduce the exact shade of a certain stain once again. Unfinished oak furniture require extra fine sanding after finishing. Sanding should follow the direction of the wood grain.

There are two kinds of oak used for furniture making: the white oak and red oak. Red oak is somewhat darker, while white oak is a little bit lighter and more durable. Both kinds are great for making furniture. If you decide to buy unfinished furniture made of oak, you can choose to buy a pre-made one from a store, or you can have it custom built.

The first option is the most simple: it is faster and usually cheaper to buy furniture from a store, and most people are happy with the range that can be found in stores. However, some people prefer custom-built furniture. One of the reasons for this is that they need special sizing, or they want to have a special design that can't be found in stores.

If you decide to custom build your unfinished oak furniture, you must know that finding a master craftsman is not easy, so you must be prepared to spend some time with the search process. Then you must be prepared that your custom-built furniture must be designed and built, which can also take some time. But at the end, you will have a very unique piece of furniture.