Land Ark Earth Floor Finish meets Claylin!

Our long-time customer and friend Sukita Crimmel of From These Hands, LLC, has just launched her new earth product, Claylin. A pre-mixed, bagged and palletized, ready-to-go earthen floor. All you add is the tamping labor and finish with Land Ark Earth Floor Finish! As far as we know, this is the only product of it's kind on the market and we thought worth mentioning. Our finish goes hand in hand with a beautiful and resilient earthen floor. Simply apply 3-6 coats of Land Ark Natural Earth Finish (or Concentrated Finishing Oil) and top coat with a thin layer of our Liquid Wax End Sealer. Visit our webpage for more information about ratios and how to calculate how much oil to use for your floor.

Home Grown Frame Raising

This is down-home creativity at its best, folks. The timber framer who submitted this is Aaron Larson, from LeFarge, Wisconsin, an ambitious owner-builder I met when I worked for Goshen Timber Frames many years ago. (Plug: He's also a happy Land Ark user!) He rolled in to learn how to timber frame at Goshen's week-long beginning framing workshop that I was helping at. Many years and endless trials later, with no more formal training than a week, he milled his own timber off his property in Wisconsin, cut his own frame, then he and his friends and family (with little to no timber framing experience) erected this wall section, with the rest of the house following soon.

We see raisings and photos of all types of projects, from multi-million dollar timber lodges, to the humblest home-owner backyard woodworking forays. All beautiful, wonderful and inspiring. We love it! This is one of those inspirational projects that really captures the original spirit of timber framing. Enjoy Aaron's 6 minute wall raising video and may it inspire you. Thank you for watching and Aaron and Lisa, thanks for sharing. Keep up the good work and happy hammering!

-Autumn

Finishing a Timber Frame

by R. Michael Baugh, of Land Ark, Inc.

Although a timber framed structure is often compared to a fine piece of furniture, the finishing requirements and objectives for heavy timbers and quality furniture are quite different. The finish itself should be different as well.

Varnishes, lacquers, and urethanes work well on kiln-dried, dimensionally stable furniture-grade lumber, but these same finishes would be impractical on timbers, whose fibers and cells must "breathe" and move, due to varying moisture content and stresses within the wood. Green timbers seek moisture equilibrium, and the escape of moisture along with the chemistry of green wood will break down or oxidize a finish that seals the wood completely. With re-sawn material the same factors occur in reverse: the dry fibers need moisture and suppleness from the finishing oils to reduce further checking and brittleness, as new stresses and movement from re-sawing and re-joining come into play.

For either green or re-cycled material, there are three goals in the finishing process. The first is to reduce the checking, drying, and shrinking process in both the timbers and joinery. The second is to enhance the beauty of the particular species of wood that is used. At the same time, the finish must be easy to apply, and simple to maintain and re-finish over the years. Last, but certainly not least, the finish should be relatively safe to both the users and the environment.

Most commercially available finishes cannot adequately accomplish all of these objectives for several reasons. Nearly all of these finishes contain metallic driers which speed up the drying time of the finish, necessitating the application of many thin coats that only serve to seal the surface of the timber. The wood simply cannot stay wet long enough to allow the oils to be absorbed into the cells, fibers, and checks of the timber. These driers, although used in small quantities, are quite toxic. Also, most available finishes are 70-80% solvent, leaving very little protective material on or in the timber. Re-application only serves to seal the timber further because of the rapid polymerization due to the driers. And the higher the solvent ratio, the higher the VOC (volatile organic content) level in the shop. Some (but not all) finishes out-gas aldehydes as they dry, although water-based finishes are much safer in this respect. Typically, touch-up work, reapplication, and periodic maintenance is a time-consuming process.

A good finish for timbers must be drier-free in order to allow time for penetration and absorption, and to prevent rapid breakdown of a finish that merely seals the surface. (On timbers, finishes that seal the surface only are more prone to UV degradation, as well to oxidation for the previously mentioned reasons.) Without driers in the finish, if properly applied, the finish will definitely reduce checking and shrinking, even in green oak.

Secondly, a good finish for timbers must be able to be easily and rapidly applied due to the large surface area of the frame. The excess should be easy to wipe off without leaving lap marks and a gummy build-up on the surface. The optimum solvent-to-solids (oils, waxes, resins) ratio is about 50/50. The ingredients should be the purest grades in order to discolor as little as possible over time. Such a finish is flexible, "living" in and not on the timber, and is easily replenished through the years as needed without a lot of surface preparation. I recommend application of one good heavy coat, filling all surface checks and coating all joinery, prior to raising; and touch-up and cleaning after drying in the frame, using more finish and a rough pad where necessary to remove scuffs and abrasions, dirt, dust, and paint, and of course, the inevitable footprints. Over the years, as the timbers appear dry and "thirsty," more finish can be applied as needed to keep the timbers in the best possible condition for generations to come.

Reprinted from Mike Baugh's website: www.landarkwoodfinish.com

Photo by Pat Woodland of Woodland Boatworks, Cobble Hill, BC. 250-743-1810. woodlandboatworks@gmail.com. Used with permission.

Oiling a Floor: An Example

Hello everyone. I know it's been a while for another blog. I just wanted to share a link with you from another blog by New Energy Timberworks (click to be directed). The owner of the company is doing a 'Green' model home in Portland and here's his latest entry working on oiling his floor with Land Ark. The picture is courtesy of New Energy Works as well. Thanks guys!!

Have a happy and merry holiday season!
-Autumn

TFGuild and Folk School Blacksmith Shop Slideshow

We have a nice little slide show for you if you are interested at all in cool timber framing. We spent two weeks at the John C. Campbell Folk School cutting and raising this timber frame with 40 other timber framers, put on by the Timber Framer's Guild for the new blacksmith shop addition at the folk school. It was an amazing time and even though we donated the Land Ark wood finish, we wanted to do more! If you want to view the slideshow at your own pace, here's the link to the web album. If you want to see even better coverage, view Keather's (the marketing director for the folk school) work on her slide show here or visit the folk school blog here. We'll post the final photos of the finished project this winter when the building is complete. I can't wait.
Enjoy!

The beginnings of a cool Timber Framing Project in NC

Here's a little quickie video of the project we are helping with in North Carolina at the John C. Campbell Folk School with the Timber Framer's Guild . If you want to keep up with the latest on the project, click here. Plus see a picture of Aaron moving in the first timber to the new site! Of course, this new building will be dripping with Land Ark Wood Finish before the week is out!! (Which is why our shop will be closed this week - 6/9 through the12th)

Floor Finishing with Land Ark

Floor Finishing Tips using Land Ark Natural Wood Finishes

We have had countless conversations with folks using Land Ark Natural Wood Finishes on their floors. I'd like to give a little more information about that to help you finish your floor successfully. Firstly, Land Ark wasn't designed specifically for floor finishing, however, woodworkers being the adventurers they are, use it and for many with great success. Here's how:

1. For less dense wood species such as pine use the Concentrated Finishing Oil, 2 coats using a cotton rag, brush or lambswool pad (you can get them for floor finishing specifically). Put on the first coat (not too thick) leave overnight or until the wood has taken the oil in and buff off any excess. Repeat the second coat and let sit for a 1 day up to 1 week and buff out. For denser species, the Concentrated works fine as well, but may be slower in absorption time. Consider using the Interior Finish (Original Finish) in that case, it has more solvent and should penetrate quicker.
   
2. If desired, top coat with a very thin coat of Non-Staining End Sealer/Liquid Wax.
   
3. Let wax sit for 1 day up to 1 week and buff out. Multiple buffings lend greater results. The oils in the floor won't cure for 3-4 weeks, so be patient. It will be hard after the cure time.
   
4. For any smudging during cure period, just rub out with a cotton rag or buff.
5. For long term cleaning, use any oil-soaps like Murphy's, Ecover floor cleaner, etc. For abrasions or deep scuffing you can use a green Scotch-Brite scrub pad with the oil soap or even more Land Ark and buff dry.
6. For fixing the dry areas over the years, just buff in more Land Ark as needed, there is no need to sand off the old finish. It will blend.

Troubleshooting: Some folks have had problems, mainly with not allowing it time to cure and putting on too much oil. Also, people often think they want natural oils because that sounds cool, but they really want polyurethane in overall look and performance. The two do behave quite differently so please do test areas to make sure you or your customers LOVE it! For UV protection consider using our 'Exterior Finish' which now is made with a nano Zinc Oxide and won't leave any sticky residue or add color.
Clean Up: Use the Pure Citrus Solvent to take off oil you may have gotten on your equipment, glass windows, or tile.

Call us with questions at 541-84... or 888-Land Ark.

The photo above is by Alex Greene, from Red Beard Lumber Co. who mills, lays and finishes beautiful hardwood floors and loves Land Ark!