A new method of treating wood, which gives it the appearance of a piece of shining polished metal, with a surface so hard and smooth as to be susceptible of a high polish, is as follows: The wood is first steeped in a bath of caustic alkali for two or three days, according to its degree of permeability, at a temperature of between 165° and 197° Fahrenheit, It is then placed in a second bath of hydrosulphate of calcium, to which a concentrated solution of sulphur is added after some twenty-four to thirty-six hours. The third bath is one of acetate of lead, at a temperature of from 95° to 120° Fahrenheit, and in this latter the wood is allowed to remain from thirty to fifty hours. After being subjected to a thorough drying, it is in a condition for being polished with lead, tin, or zinc, as may be desired, finishing the process with a burnisher of either glass or porcelain, the appearance of the wood being in every respect that of polished metal, having, in fact, the semblance of a polished mirror, which is unaffected by moisture.