Hilton Changde, Hunan

Lacquer (lacquer) has a very long history, archaeologists in the Hemudu site found a lacquer (sound xiu, refers to objects painted) lacquer wooden bowl, more than 7,000 years ago.

I: Origin of Lacquer

Seal Script Writing of the Character Lacquer

Lacquer (lacquer) has a very long history, archaeologists in the Hemudu site found a lacquer (sound xiu, refers to the objects painted) lacquer wooden bowl, more than 7,000 years ago. According to historical data, in the Neolithic period, the ancients had already recognised the performance of lacquer and used it to make tools. The composition of the character "lacquer" can also be proved: lacquer comes from the lacquer tree (sumach, lacque tree), and all the Chinese characters for the name of the tree are from the wood side, such as: pine, cypress, zelkova, poplar and so on, but only the character "lacquer" from the water.

This is because the sap from the trunk of this tree is called "chui": the upper part is from wood, the middle part is from man, and the lower part is from water, which figuratively shows the connection between lacquer tree, man and lacquer. There is a saying in Zhuangzi: "Lac is available, so I cut it", which is the earliest record in China about the harvesting and cutting of raw lacquer.

II: Lacquer and lacquer trees

Lacquer (Chinese lacquer; japan; Japanlac), also known as natural lacquer, raw lacquer, earthenware lacquer, and national lacquer. In the past, people did not know the chemical principles that underlie the production of lacquer, but mastered the mystery of lacquer through constant observation and practice. The natural secretion of lacquer from the lacquer tree would form a black shiny lacquer film after being exposed to sunlight, which attracted the attention of the ancient people, and they thought about how to make use of it. Slowly, people learnt to collect more lacquer from the lacquer tree and brushed it on the objects, which became the original lacquerware.

Artificial cultivation of the lacquer tree came into being, "Poetry" recorded: "set the square in the middle, made in the Chu Palace, the premise to say, made in the Chu room, the tree of hazelnut, chestnut, tung, catalpa, lacquer," indicating that in the pre-Qin period, the lacquer tree has become a kind of economic tree species.

Characteristics of lacquer trees

The lacquer tree is a deciduous tree that can reach a height of 20 metres. It has oval-shaped leaves and yellow-green flowers in early summer and flat spherical fruits in autumn. Lacquer trees are widely distributed in China, with the provinces surrounding the Sichuan Basin being the centre of their distribution, as these areas have a temperate climate that is very suitable for their growth.

This is a small wood lacquer grown by hand, and cutting the lacquer requires climbing a tree.

Lacquer trees over eight years old can produce lacquer. Lacquer farmers cut the bark of the tree with mussels, insert the mussel shells or bamboo blades underneath the cuts, and the collected lacquer sap is remitted into wooden barrels and then sealed and preserved with greaseproof paper. The natural lacquer sap cut from the lacquer tree is called raw lacquer, while cooked lacquer refers to the raw lacquer that has been oxidised by sunlight, stirred and mixed with tung oil.

The lacquer, which had been running for about two hours, had turned from a creamy white to a chestnut shell colour.

The main component of lacquer is lacquer phenol, and there are also gum, nitrogen, water and trace volatile acid, etc. The lacquer just cut is milky white and thick, and the oxidised colour slowly becomes darker after contact with air, and finally becomes chestnut shell colour. Raw lacquer is very difficult to be adjusted into bright colour lacquer, because raw lacquer itself is deep in colour, pigment added to it, it is easy to be conquered by the original colour of raw lacquer, so most of the ancient lacquer ware is black, vermilion two colours.

Collect the lacquer a little at a time in a jar

"The vermilion lacquered gate in Du Fu's poem was reserved for the government during the feudal period, and most ordinary people chose black lacquer to avoid suspicion. As the saying goes, "all lacquers are black if they don't say they are colourful", and now people still use the term "darkness" to describe the darkness of the night. As for the raw lacquer black, you can rust water into the lacquer, iron oxide and lacquer phenol colouring reaction, stirred evenly, brushed on the object, dark as ink. This kind of black lacquer is also called Wu Lacquer and Xuan Lacquer.

Lacquer Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Although lacquer belongs to natural plant lacquer, some people will have skin allergy when touching the undried lacquer, and even the smell of lacquer can give them a rash. When encountering such a situation, the masters will say that they have been "bitten" by the lacquer, but in fact, this is a lacquer allergy. In fact, this is a lacquer allergy. Generally speaking, no special treatment is needed, and it will be cured in seven days or so.

Exquisite Japanese Lacquerware

Lacquer painting application has a long history and is known in ancient and modern times. It has a small impact on the environment, with the efficacy of waterproofing, anti-insect, sterilisation and anticorrosion in addition to the lacquer's strong resistance to acidity, salt and humidity. Its function is not only to beautify, but also to protect the artefacts, has been regarded as the first choice of ideal paint, the lacquer industry is therefore very prosperous and enduring. Lacquer and porcelain were regarded as symbols of oriental civilisation, and later spread to Japan, where the Japanese relied on lacquer to a far greater extent than any other people in their lives, leading Westerners to refer to lacquer as "Japan" and porcelain as "China".

The practice of treating chopsticks with lacquer is still very popular

Lacquer encountered a real challenge in the 20th century. Due to the limitations of lacquer itself, such as single variety, low labour productivity, low batch production and high cost, the scope of application of lacquer became narrower and narrower with the emergence of modern chemical paints. Due to the cheap raw materials, easy mass production, low cost, multi-functionality and wide application of chemical paints, they have almost replaced the traditional paints that have been used for thousands of years.

III: Tung oil

Tung Tree and Oil Tree Flower

Because of the limited production of lacquer, the ancients found tung oil (tung oil), tung oil is easier to obtain than lacquer, the cost is lower, so the ancients often in the lacquer mixed with tung oil, oil and lacquer mixed, complementary to the shortcomings of the best use of things can be said to be the creation of the paint (paint) is so the word arose.

Tung tree seeds for oil extraction

Tung oil is the harvested tung tree seeds by mechanical pressing, processing and refining made of industrial vegetable oil. Oil tung seed oil content is generally more than 35%, of which the seed kernel oil content of about 60%. Raw tung oil, also called embryo oil, has a yellowish appearance, dries slowly, and the transparency and viscosity of the film is poor, so it can't be used directly as a coating. Raw tung oil after high-temperature boiling, and add rosin (rosin) as a drying agent, after precision filtration to become cooked tung oil, stability and painting effect greatly improved, the oil film texture is obvious, not only a certain degree of hardness, but also has a good ductility and elasticity, but the anti-aging properties are not as good as the paint.

The colour difference between cooked and raw tung oil is obvious

Cooked tung oil boiling process is more complex, sensitive to the oil temperature, there is no uniform quality standards of tung oil products on the market, can be used for painting, but can not guarantee predictable results. Some poor quality cooked tung oil oil film will appear frost, mesh, silk and other phenomena. Tung oil is extremely versatile, it is the main raw material for the manufacture of paints and inks, and can be used to make oilcloth, oil paper, soap, pesticides and medicines such as vomiting agents and insecticides. Historically, the most common use of tung oil is the ancient wooden building preservation, not only low-cost, and the effect is quite good.

Ancient Chinese Wooden Buildings Preserved with Tung Oil

The tung acid contained in tung oil is irritating to the mucous membranes and can damage the liver and kidneys when absorbed. The odour of tung acid volatilised by raw tung oil is much greater than that of cooked tung oil. Special attention should be paid to the fact that the appearance of tung oil is similar to cooking oil, but it should not be eaten, and if accidentally ingested will lead to violent vomiting. If cooking oil mixed with a small amount of tung oil, it is more dangerous, long-term consumption may cause subacute poisoning.

The traditional paper umbrellas are coated with tung oil.

IV: Beeswax

China's traditional furniture coating has a "southern paint northern wax". That is, the south of the weather is humid, in order to protect the wood, the popular use of lacquer for painting, while the northern climate is dry, furniture with beeswax (beeswax) treatment. But the "south paint north wax" is not absolute, lacquer and wax practice can be seen in both the north and south, the purpose is to prevent changes in atmospheric humidity and temperature on the impact of wood.

The source of beeswax is the hive

Beeswax, also known as yellow wax, anciently known as "yellow chamois" and "beeswax", is secreted by worker bees responsible for nursing young bees, and is the raw material for the construction of beehives. The main component of beeswax is ester, and the freshly secreted beeswax is white and transparent, i.e. wax scale, which becomes opaque after being chewed by worker bees, and after being built into the hive, it is mixed with propolis and pollen oil for a long time before it turns into the familiar yellow colour. Worker bees need to consume 8 portions of honey to be able to secrete 1 portion of beeswax from the wax glands in their abdomen. Statistically, a bee needs to fly 530,000 kilometres to produce 1kg of beeswax. Globally, only 10,000 tonnes of beeswax are produced each year.

Beeswax products in different forms

Pure beeswax is relatively expensive (about four times the price of honey), so most of the waxes used for furniture painting are mixed waxes, to which paraffin wax and rosin have been added. Paraffin wax is a versatile (e.g. wax paper, crayons, candles, copy paper) and highly controversial substance. Paraffin wax is generally extracted directly from petroleum and is normally considered non-toxic, but the industrial extraction process is often adulterated with some heavy metal residues.

Petroleum Extracts - Paraffin Products

Because beeswax is an inert substance, and the wood itself is insoluble resin and moisture, can form a protective layer on the surface of the wood, insulating water and enhance the surface of the glossy texture, prolonging the use of life; at the same time, the wax will not completely seal the wood's original air holes, and will not affect the natural aroma of the distribution of the thermal expansion and contraction of respiratory effect. Waxing is usually done using the hot waxing process, which allows the liquid wax to soak into the wood fibres.

Paraffin is also the main raw material for candles

After waxing the furniture over time, the surface will produce "pulp", which can better protect and moisturise the wood. Although beeswax cannot disguise the colour difference of the wood itself, and the protection is not as effective as the complete isolation of lacquer, it is a better way to maintain the beauty of the wood itself. The two limiting factors of beeswax are: one, it is expensive. Two. The waxing process is complicated and not suitable for modern production operations.

Floor hot wax

V: Walnut oil

Walnut oil (walnut oil) rubbed furniture is very shiny, this use is also popular in folklore, but it is fundamentally unsuitable as a coating material for wood.

Walnuts, rich in nutrients.

Although walnut oil and tung oil are vegetable oil, but the difference is that walnut oil is an active oil, unsaturated fatty acid content of more than 80%, penetrated into the wood will decompose wood fibres, reduce the strength of wood, thus affecting the service life of furniture. Walnut oil used as cooking oil is the right way, because of the high content of unsaturated fatty acids, it has a positive effect on softening blood vessels, reducing the body's cholesterol content, preventing atherosclerosis and thrombosis. In addition, compared with beeswax, walnut oil wiped furniture is more likely to absorb dust, due to the richness of nutrients, but also easy to become a breeding ground for mites and bacteria.

VI: Coatings and paints

The word "paint" comes from the golden combination of tung oil and lacquer, but now the word "coatings" is more widely used, and it is one of the achievements of polymer theory in the 20th century. In the 1930s, the chemical industry invented alkyd, which is a synthetic resin, but finally has not left the raw materials of vegetable oil, called synthetic resin paint can still feel at ease, and then later, there is a large number of pure synthetic things such as epoxy resins, and then call it paint, always feel not quite right. So we started using the word paint.

Modern chemical coating products are very versatile

The modern coatings industry has developed too rapidly, which has directly led to confusion in the usage of the names coatings and paints. According to the current standard definition, paint is a general term for a class of liquid or solid materials that are coated on the surface of an object to form a solid film with protective, decorative, or special properties (e.g., insulating, anticorrosive, etc.). With a wide range of paint products, how to categorise them has become a new challenge.

Typical chemical plant, source of raw materials for paint products.

The name paint clearly no longer covers the various types of products available in the industry, such as powder coatings. Even within the category of liquid paints, water-based and oil-based paints should be categorised separately, as their chemical properties are very different. The standard meaning of paint requires the formation of a coating film to provide protection, whereas wood wax oil is a fully open coating without a film, and its principle of action is fundamentally different from that of the other products, so it seems necessary to revise the definition of paint if it is to be classified as a category of paint.

VII: Water-based and oil-based paints

Detailed description of modernisationLearning about paints can be a thankless task, as the chemistry involved can make for a boring article. However, for the sake of environmental protection and health, it is still necessary to expend some energy to understand the difference between water-based paint and oil-based paint.

Latex paint is one of the most commonly used varieties of water-based paint

A more scientific term for water-based and oil-based paints would be water-based and solvent-based paints. Paint is generally composed of four parts: film-forming substances, pigments, dispersing medium (solvent) and additives. The dispersing medium, also called solvent, serves to dissolve or disperse the film-forming substances in the paint into a homogeneous liquid state, so as to facilitate the construction of the film, and the dispersing medium will be volatilised into the air after construction.

Jotun Coatings plant in Sifjord, Norway

The difference between waterborne and solventborne coatings lies in the different dispersion media. Coatings that use water as the dispersing medium are called water-based coatings. Water-based coatings use water-soluble resins as film-forming materials, represented by polyvinyl alcohol and its various modifiers, in addition to water-soluble alkyd resins, water-soluble epoxy resins and inorganic polymer water-based resins. Organic solvents as a dispersing medium for the coating is called solvent-based coatings (oil-based paints / lacquers). The main organic solvents are hydrocarbons, and the rest are ketones, alcohols, glycols, ethers, esters, nitro-branched alkanes, etc. This type of highly volatile organic compounds is the main reason why paints are harmful to the environment and health. The full name of the VOC data we commonly use is Volatile Organic Compounds, which refers to the content of volatile organic compounds.VOCs are harmful to the human body to varying degrees, minor symptoms may include: respiratory irritation, eye irritation, headache, dizziness, skin allergies, fatigue and so on, and serious cases may lead to liver and kidney damage or carcinogenic. In addition, VOCs are a major cause of photochemical smog.

At the beginning of the development of the modern chemical industry, almost all coatings were solvent-based, and it was only later that water-based coatings, powder coatings, light-curing coatings, etc. appeared, and the main driving force was to reduce VOC emissions. The United States first developed the famous 66 regulations to limit the use of solvents (which stipulates that the solvent content of coatings does not exceed 17 per cent) and CAA (Clean Air Act air cleanliness law) regulations, requiring coatings to transition to water-based systems. China in 2008 introduced a "paint industry science and technology in the medium and long term development plan", plans in the next 10 years, will significantly reduce the proportion of traditional solvent coatings, so that its share of the current 50% sharply reduced to 5%. It will take 10 to 15 years to implement new technological transformation of the traditional coatings industry and eventually reduce the market share of traditional solvent coatings to less than 1 per cent.

Oil-based paints are very harmful to the environment and health

Wishful thinking is good, the reality is cruel, to achieve the goals of planning is not easy. Water-based coatings use water as the dispersing medium, and solvent-based coatings compared to be able to save a lot of resources, eliminating the construction of fire hazards, greatly reducing the degree of pollution, at the same time, water-based coatings contain only a small amount of low-toxicity alcohol ether organic solvents, improving the operating environment of the construction staff, conducive to health. Water-based coatings have many benefits, but solvent-based coatings are still dominant in some aspects. From the performance of the film, water-based coatings, corrosion resistance, weatherability and fullness than solvent-based coatings, water-based coatings on the construction environment of the temperature, humidity requirements are more demanding, the application occasions are therefore limited.

Eco-labelling in China

Environmental labelling in other countries

China's paint market is very unregulated, consumers who want to choose paint products, can not be superstitious environmental protection logo, because the survey shows that most of the environmental protection logo are imitation or homemade. In this case, the easiest way is to choose high-quality brand of water-based paint products, which is relatively more secure choice.

The world's first two-component waterborne paint launched by Asahi in Japan

Water-based paint technology is relatively new, until 2008, Japan's Asahi Coatings launched the world's first real two-component water-based paint, its film performance, whether in hardness or weatherability can catch up with the level of oil-based paint. The launch of this product is significant, changing the usual water-based paint performance is not enough to the impression. But so far, two-component waterborne paint technology is only a very small number of paint manufacturers to master, and because the price is expensive, restricting its popularity.

Petroleum resin products are the basic raw materials for modern coating products.

Having mentioned the composition of coatings, it is necessary to add an introduction to film-forming substances. Film-forming substance is the basis of the coating, it has the function of bonding other components in the coating to form the coating film. Film-forming substances are mainly various types of resins, in the past, paints use natural resins as film-forming substances, such as lacquer in the lacquer phenol, tung oil, etc.; now widely used synthetic resins, such as: alkyd resins, acrylic resins, chlorinated rubber resins, epoxy resins and so on. According to national standards, paint should be classified and named according to the film-forming substances, so we often hear the name of nitro lacquer, polyester lacquer, acrylic lacquer, etc., which lacks professional knowledge of the average consumer is obviously too abstract.

VIII: Wood lacquers

Wood finishes are all coatings used on wood products and we suggest that they are divided into three main categories: water-based, oil-based and wood wax oil. The principle of action of wood wax oil is very different from the first two categories and will therefore be covered separately later.

I: Water-based wood finishes

Part of S03 shelf painted with water-based paint

A, the primary products of waterborne wood finishes are based on acrylic acid as the film-forming substance, with poor abrasion resistance and chemical resistance, and average gloss, but with low cost and low technical content.

B, intermediate products are based on a synthetic substance of acrylic acid and polyurethane as the main ingredient, which strengthens the abrasion resistance and chemical resistance, has moderate cost and higher acceptance.

C, polyurethane waterborne wood finishes, abrasion resistance may exceed that of ordinary oil-based finishes, but they are more expensive and are high-end products.

Water-based wood paints have a much lower VOC content than oil-based paints, which not only has a low impact on the environment, but also benefits the health of both the builder and the user. However, the wood coating market is still dominated by oil-based paints. Some analyses believe that three factors constrain the development of waterborne paints: first, performance, second, construction conditions, and third, price. Contemporary development of the coatings industry follow the "4E" principle, that is, economic (Economy), ecological (Ecology), efficient (Eenergy), excellent performance (Efficiency), but in the field of wood coatings, the share of water-based paints is still very limited.

Coatings top the list of reasons for EU recalls of Chinese toys in 2009

It is a well-known fact that our government has long had low standards in the area of product safety. Until after the accession to the WTO, because of the quality problems caused by a large number of foreign trade disputes to force the government to make some improvements, which is also one of the important reasons why water-based paint can not be widely used. 2007 the world's largest toy company Mattel announced a recall of 967,000 pieces of toys produced under the brand of the Foshan City, China, Leader company, the reason for the toy paint in the lead content of the ingredients is too high, the Leader company was instantly in a The Chinese toy safety issue has once again become the focus of global attention.

Relatively high proportion of water-based paints for children's toys

Toys are products that are in close contact with the human body, especially children, so the quality standard of toy paints should be the highest. However, China's first "Toy Paint Hazardous Substance Limits" was not formally implemented until the 10th of 2010, which stipulates that the lead content of toy paint ≤ 600mg/kg (the U.S. standard is 90mg/kg), volatile organic compounds (VOC) ≤ 720g/L, benzene content of ≤ 0.3%, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenol ≤ 0.3%, as well as eight soluble elements, six types of phthalate ester limit requirements, which has led to an increase in the proportion of water-based paint in toys. phthalate ester limit requirements, which has led to an increase in the proportion of water-based paint in toy products.

II: Oil-based wood finishes

A, lacquer, see the second paragraph of this article.

B, varnish (varnish), also known as Van Leeuwen, varnish used to be the most common type of paint used in home decoration, the reason being that it is not very demanding and can be handled without the need for a professional. The levelling of varnish is very good, it does not matter if there are paint tears, brush again, the paint tears can be re-dissolved. Varnish has the characteristics of transparency, fast film formation, water resistance, etc. The disadvantage is that the film hardness is not high, poor heat resistance, easy to turn yellow under the action of ultraviolet light.

Panel Furniture Painted with Nitro Varnish

C, Nitrocellulose lacquer (NC lacquer) is a relatively common coating for wood and decoration. The main film-forming material of nitrocellulose lacquer is nitrocellulose-based, together with alkyd esters, modified rosin esters, acrylic esters, amino esters and other soft and hard esters. Generally also need to add dibutyl phthalate, dioctyl ester, oxidised castor oil and other plasticisers. Solvents are mainly esters, ketones, alcohols and ethers and other true solvents, alcohols and other co-solvents, and benzene and other diluents. Nitro paint is characterised by fast drying, bright and smooth film, good constructability and repairability. However, the heat resistance and chemical resistance of nitro paint film is not as good as polyurethane paint (PU paint), and it is easy to whiten when encountering high humidity.

PU paint is the most widely used type of paint, film performance is good, but not environmental protection

D, polyurethane paint (PU paint) that is polyurethane paint, is the most widely used in China's furniture industry, the comprehensive performance is relatively excellent, but because it is not too environmentally friendly, in Europe has basically been eliminated. It has a strong film, glossy and full, strong adhesion, water resistance, abrasion resistance, corrosion resistance. Widely used in high-grade wood furniture, can also be used for metal surfaces. Its shortcomings are mainly moisture blistering, film chalking and other issues, as with polyester paint, it also has the problem of yellowing.

E, polyester paint (PE paint) is made of polyester ester as the main film-forming material of a thick paint. Polyester paint film full, thick layer hard surface. Polyester paint construction process needs to be cured, these curing agents accounted for one-third of the total amount of paint. These curing agents, also known as hardeners, are mainly composed of TDI (toluene diisocyanate/toluene diisocyanate). These TDI in the free state will turn yellow, not only the furniture finish, but also the neighbouring walls, which is a major disadvantage of polyester paints.

F, ultraviolet light curing wood paint (UV, Ultraviolet Curing Paint), UV paint is named after the curing method of paint, it is through the machine and equipment automatic roller coating, coating to the furniture board, in the ultraviolet light (wavelength of 320-390nm) under the irradiation of the initiator to promote the decomposition of the free radicals, triggering the reaction of the tree ester, instantaneous curing of the film. One of the most environmentally friendly varieties of oil-based paint, in foreign countries, especially in Europe, almost every large-scale furniture production enterprises have at least one more than a complete furniture UV paint coating production line, at this time, the product from the sanding, filling, sealing, colouring to the finish coating drying, are a one-time, uninterrupted coating is completed.
 

IX: Latex paint

In the decoration, as long as the wall is involved, most of them can not be separated from the latex paint. Emulsion Paint (Emulsion Paint) is a water-based paint, it is mainly composed of five components: one is water; two is emulsion, which is a kind of white glue-like things, the role of adhesion, for the core components of the emulsion paint; three is the pigment; four is the filler; five is the additives, such as anti-foaming agent, antifreeze and so on.

Most of the wall paints used in rural areas are primary products with average weathering performance.

Emulsion paint was produced in the mid-to-late 1970s, before that, people generally use lime water and a kind of wall powder called "big white", the rise of the 1960s can be used in the silver, the 1970s and 1980s, the general use of the 107 glue, 106 glue, which are the early use of water-based coatings, the common shortcomings of these primary coatings is easy to peel, chalking, surface roughness, no luster, and does not have waterproofing, stain-resistant wall protection of these basic performance, let alone talk about colour, environmental protection and other requirements.

Latex paint products have become the mainstay of coatings for home walls

Latex paints offer many advantages that are different from those of traditional wall paints, such as easy to apply, quick drying, water-resistant film, and good scrub resistance. The main components of latex paint are non-toxic resin and water, and do not contain lead and mercury components. In the painting process will not produce irritating odour, will not cause harm to humans, organisms and the surrounding environment, transport and storage there is no danger of explosion and fire problems. The most important environmental index of latex paint is the content of volatile organic compounds (VOC). The national standard stipulates that the VOC content in each litre of latex paint should not exceed 200 grams, and most brands can meet this standard.

 

X: Wood Wax Oil

The main ingredients of wood wax oils are natural plant materials.

The main components of wood wax oil are linseed oil, thistle oil, sunflower oil, soya bean oil and Brazilian carnauba wax, the principle of action is equivalent to the improvement of the traditional combination of tung oil + beeswax. The oil components can penetrate into the wood, moisturise and maintain the wood, reflecting the natural texture and grain of the wood; the wax components are firmly bonded to the wood fibres, preventing liquid water from penetrating into the wood and increasing the hardness and smoothness of the wood surface. The main composition of wood wax oil is vegetable oil, and the pigments such as iron oxide are used for colour mixing, which eliminates toxic and harmful volatiles such as benzene and formaldehyde from the raw materials, and its environmental protection performance therefore exceeds that of the water-based paint, and no matter whether it is from the point of view of manufacturing or use, wood wax oil consumes less environmental resources, which is more beneficial to the ecology and health.

 

The protective principle of wood wax oil is different from that of paint

The fact that wood products are no longer protected by a fully enclosed film of paint is one of the innovations that wood wax oil has come to give to the paint industry. Wood treated with wood wax oil not only has a unique natural grain, but also provides a skin-like touch, whereas the usual paint forms a plastic-like film on the surface of the wood, making it a cold polymer material to the touch, regardless of the type of wood.

The effect of treating a wooden floor with wood wax oil

Wood wax oil treated wood products are more intimate with people, the construction operation are very simple, just use a brush or a clean cotton cloth to wipe 1-2 times, dry it and then slightly sand and polish it with a cleaning cloth and it is done. There is no technical difficulty for anyone, very suitable for DIY, which will make the maintenance and care of furniture become a healthy and happy thing.

Advantages of wood wax oil

Judging the effect of paint will be more emphasis on the hardness of the film and abrasion resistance, but the principle of anti-wear wood wax oil is different, can be said to be a rigid and a soft. Although the film of polyurethane paint is hard and looks flat and bright, it is easy to leave scratches during use and is difficult to repair, and after ten years it may be unbearable to see, and then the only way is to ask professionals to grind off all the paint film and repaint it. And wood wax oil penetrate the surface of wood, the opposite way, the use of wood itself flexible to anti-wear, there will be no obvious scratches, very easy to repair, do it yourself, so that with a few decades no problem at all. It's a matter of opinion as to which is better or worse.

Brazilian carnauba wax is the most widely used natural plant wax extracted from the leaves of the palm tree that grows in northeastern Brazil.

The main purpose of using wood wax oil is for health and environmental protection and natural texture, but its application is still limited. The protective principle of wood wax oil determines that it is only suitable for solid wood. For the woodworking boards, density boards, plywoods and so on, which are widely used in the market, the effect of wood wax oil cannot be played. Even in the case of solid wood, the effect of wood wax oil on different types of wood is not the same.

Wood wax oil penetrates into the wood and deepens the colour of the wood itself.

It is especially important to note that wood wax oil is not able to hide the ugly and even deepens the colour difference of the wood itself. This is probably the main reason why most furniture brands are reluctant to use wood wax oil. But in our opinion, this disadvantage is also its advantage. Wood is a natural material, presenting to people's eyes, of course, not only the perfect grain, there will also be knots, tumours, and even traces of insect infestation, if we look at it with reverence, make good use of it, not only to beautify our lives, but also to help us reflect the path of understanding the form of life.

Treatment of S04 dining table (white oak) with wood wax oil (colourless matt hard wax oil)

White oak grain treated with wood wax oil

Conclusion:

The road of exploration for ideal paints is winding and long. Lacquer, which has been used for thousands of years, has always been regarded as a representative of ideal paints. However, the development and progress of the chemical industry in the past hundred years and the diversification of social needs have led to the gradual disappearance of lacquer from people's view. While modern paint products are widely used, human beings are paying more and more attention to environmental protection and health issues, driving the transition from solvent-based paints to water-based systems. In the 1980s, wood wax oil appeared in Europe and quickly became popular, which satisfied people's inherent need for naturalness and really returned to the tradition of early plant-based paints.