This section is from the book "Your Home And Its Decoration", by The Sherwin-Williams Company. See also: Nell Hill's Feather Your Nest: It's All in the Details.
Because of its great durability and handsome grain, oak is the most popular wood for all kinds of interior trim. This wood, either straight grained or quarter sawed, is susceptible of a greater variety of handsome effects by staining than any other wood.
PLATE J. Oak Lends Itself Admirably to Handcraft Effects.
See Specifications, Chapter XXI (The Importance Of Working Specifications).
Oakwood is extremely tough and durable. It is found on all of the continents of the northern hemisphere as well as at high altitudes just south of the equator. The several kinds are commercially divisible into three general groups, white oak, red or black oak, and live oak. White and red oaks are used for interior woodwork, furniture, floors, etc.; while live oak is heavier, harder, and tougher, and, therefore, used for shipbuilding, implements, wagons, tool handles, etc. When used for interior woodwork or other interior purposes, it is frequently quarter sawed. This is done in various ways, that most approved being to cut the quarter in two equal parts from the pith to the bark and then to saw off boards by cuts parallel to the bisecting section. Plate CXIV illustrates this method. Plain oak cutting is shown in Plate CXV.
Oak wood lends itself admirably to many styles of finishing. It is open grained, and when a varnished and rubbed or polished finish is desired the pores of the wood must be filled and followed with various coats of varnish. When a mission or wax finish is desired, the filler is unnecessary. The natural finish, in which transparent filler and no stain are used, and the golden oak finish have been in use for a long period and are now rather commonplace. The most popular shades in the stained oak are the fumed oak (a rich brown, light in tone), old English oak (a medium tone of rich brown), cathedral oak (a dark, reddish brown), early English oak (weathered brown in medium tones), and silver gray (light silvery effect); these effects are all found in Handcraft Stains, and any or all of them can be treated in the rubbed, polished, mission, or waxed finish. Complete working specifications for these various finishes are as follows: Mission finish using any shade of Handcraft Stain (specification 9); waxed finish in any shade of stain (specification 10); rubbed finish (specification 14); natural finish (specification 12).
Plate CXIII. Quartered Oak.
Plate CXIV. Showing the Method of Quartered Oak Sawing.
Plate CXV. Showing the Method of Straight Oak Sawing.
Plate CXVI. Plain Oak.
Oak, on account of its open grain, can be treated in Handcraft system effects, which consist of a stain, a first coater, and a color toner. The rich colors of this stain blend perfectly with the toner, which fills up the wood pores and forms an unusual effect. Working specifications for this finish will be found in specification 41. Oak wood has many peculiar qualities which demand stains of exact character and quality. It contains gallic acid, which attacks stains of unsuitable nature. Handcraft Stains are particularly adaptable to use on oak. They are not affected by the wood acids, and by thorough penetration accentuate the beauty of the grain.
 
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