the quiet care of hand-finished wood
Hand-finished pieces ask for less than you think. A short guide to doing almost nothing, well.
The most common question after a delivery is how to look after the piece. The honest answer is: barely. A hand-rubbed finish is not a coating that fails; it is a surface that deepens. Most of the care is restraint.
week to week
Dust with a soft, dry cloth, working along the grain. On carved panels use a dry brush and follow the openings. That is the whole routine. Skip the supermarket polish: silicone sprays sit on a hand-finished surface like plastic and are miserable to remove.
year to year
Stained furniture, like the Auren console, takes a thin coat of natural furniture wax once a year. Work it in, let it haze, rub it back. The stain deepens rather than ages. Wall pieces need nothing at all; their patina is the finish doing its job.
Natural finishes prefer to be left alone. They deepen with use.
what to avoid
- Standing water on any flat top: wipe it as you would a spill on paper
- Silicone polishes and aerosol sprays
- Direct steam and bathroom humidity
- Hard afternoon sun, day after day, on one exposed face
If a piece ever takes real damage, write to the studio before anyone sands anything. Most marks can be worked back by the same hands that finished the piece.