The wooden products you buy from Voyage are always handmade – fair trade artisan and wood carvers using hand tools only by skilled professionals. You may notice odd colour patterns in the wood; like the colour wood is one shade or tone and then all of a sudden the colour turns stronger or faded with hardly any colour at all! This is a totally natural occurrence in handmade products and to a certain degree confirms the product you have is a genuine handmade item as this shows the natural grain of the wood. Because of the way that wood grows, every piece of timber has a clear grain direction, which appears differently depending on how the board is cut. Technically ‘wood grain’ refers to the alignment, texture and appearance of wood fibres, whereas it’s ‘figure’ describes the pattern created by the grain orientation.
Heat
Natural wooden products do not like great amounts of heat, be it central heating or direct sunlight. Heat will dry the wood out and can cause cracking as the moisture seeks to escape from inside. Therefore we would advise that your item is not placed next to a radiator, in a fireplace when the fire is lit or in a sunny window.
Treatment for Wood
We recommend using teak oil to keep your product in top condition. If you treat it with this oil once a month it will put any needed moisture back into the wood and also keep it looking its best. Teak oil is available somewhere like B&Q and similar stores. Simply spray teak oil onto the product, leave for around a minute and brush in with a clean brush.
Caring for Wood Outside
If you would like to place your product outside that is fine, but you will first need to treat it with a polyurethane based product such as yacht varnish or something similar to protect it from the elements.
We hope you enjoy your product for years to come!
