Choosing a finish: oak, walnut or blackbutt
Three timbers, three quite different rooms. The choice is less about durability — all three are hardwoods and all three will outlive the room they are in — than about what the light does to them. Natural
Three timbers, three quite different rooms. The choice is less about durability — all three are hardwoods and all three will outlive the room they are in — than about what the light does to them.
Natural oak
Pale, straight-grained, and the most forgiving in a dark room. It reflects what light there is and takes on a honey tone over about five years.
American walnut
Darker and more figured, with a purple cast when it is new that settles to warm brown. It reads as the heaviest of the three even when the piece is the same size.
Blackbutt
An Australian hardwood, pale gold with the occasional darker streak. Harder than either of the others, and the closest to a neutral in a room with a lot of colour in it.
If you are unsure, order the sample set. Photographs of timber are a poor guide, and every screen renders them differently.
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