Our Finishes
We offer two finishes on the furniture we make, one is an oiled and waxed finish which we normally do on dining tables and the other is a two pack hard wearing lacquered finish which we normally do on other items.
Below is a detailed explanation of both.
Oiled and waxed finish:
We specialise in making dining tables for every day use and we make them to
be tough and durable.
They are made to be used and enjoyed by a family without the fear of very
obvious little marks and scratches getting on it from just normal use.
The practical aspect of our dining tables stems largely from our unique
100% natural oil and wax finish in combination with the dense Australian
hardwood timbers we use. It's a finish without any coating over the
surface, absolutely nothing. When you sit at one of our dining tables and
sweep your hand over the surface you'll be in contact with timber, just
timber, pure natural timber.
Lets face it a dining table is the focal point of any home, it's where
people gather to have meals, cups of tea or coffee when guests arrive, kids
sometimes do their homework on it, it has a multitude of uses.
With most tables available in furniture shops today it's a case of trying
your hardest to avoid the inevitable, a little scratch here, a small dent
there and before you know it it's starting to look pretty sad, and some of
these tables certainly aren't cheap.
There are different types of lacquers put on mass produced furniture, some
wear very poorly but no matter how good the coating is supposed to be, in
time it's just not going to compare with our "Family
Friendly" oiled and waxed finish.
Our tables actually look better with age and use, they develop a beautiful
patina and this can only be achieved by having a "no coating" finish on
your table.
We have been using this method of finishing on our everyday use tables now
for over fourteen years and there are literally hundreds of our customers
out there who absolutely love it and will back up what I am saying. Your
table will develop little signs of wear but this will not detract from the
appearance of the table, it will add to it, it just keeps on developing a
patina which is a visual history of your family. In time it will accumulate
generations of history, and a beautifal aged look that will be considered
priceless.
There is some important information that we pass onto our customers when
they take delivery of one of our tables and a natural finish will require
some ongoing maintenance in the form of waxing two to three times a year
after an initial post delivery, higher frequency waxing.
This is to maintain it's impervious condition to moisture. If this doesn't
get done it's not the end of the world, it is redeemable with some
instructions from us, that's the beauty of it, whatever happens you can
easily deal with it yourself.
Also, for your peace of mind, the oil and wax we use is 100% natural and non-toxic. We supply all our customers with an after-care kit with their dining table, including a nourishment product, steel wool for polishing and detailed instructions on what to do.
The oil and wax finish on our dining tables is designed to be "Family Friendly."
Our Lacquered Finish:
Although the oil and wax is our preferred finish for a table that will be subjected to everyday use, we admit that it might not suit everyone. If you'd like a beautiful table for a more formal setting that will require no maintenance, then by all means, we can provide a high quality, durable lacquered finish.
There are a number of different lacquers being used in the market, put simply, they fall into two categories; single pack lacquers and two pack lacquers. To the untrained eye, they look incredibly similar when the product is new, but they will wear much differently over time, especially with everyday use.
We use the higher quality two pack lacquers, which have a hardener added to them before they're applied. Our low sheen lacquered finish is hard-wearing, scratch resistant and will last for many years depending on the type of use. While it requires less maintenance in earlier life than oil and wax, any lacquered surface is likely to need refinishing at some point, again, depending on the type of use.
Below is an interesting letter relating to finishes from one of our happy customers.
Dear Ross,
I am pleased to confirm our order today for a D249 Mondo Desk in Blackbutt and ancient red gum trim. It is just what we have been looking for to fill a need in our home. Before I discovered your company, I had one quote for a plain desk of similar dimensions, in Blackbutt veneer, for $2,850!! I thought this was excessive and kept looking. I am so glad I found Eclipse, and can say that if we had known of your product range 7 years ago, we would have commissioned all of our timber furniture from you.
When we moved to a larger home in French's Forest 8 years ago, we purchased 8 items made from recycled Australian Blackbutt, including a 7 x 3ft dining table, two large entertainment units, a tray mobile, several side tables and a large coffee table. We were ultimately slightly disappointed that the table tops of a beautiful dining table made from 200 year old recycled timber [salvaged from the Elizabeth Bay Wharf when it was demolished 10 years ago], as well as the smaller tables, were finished with a hard lacquer, which I identified as having a high "scratch potential".
Thus it was that apart from the obviously excellent cabinet making skills your people possess, what made me take notice of the information on your excellent web site was your commitment to and recommendation of finishing tables in oil and wax. I was always sceptical of the idea of finishing a living area table in a two pack finish because it would fairly quickly become scratched. After we took delivery of our family room table, I had to tell people not to throw keys and mobile phones onto the table which ultimately have left scratches all over the surface. It was heartbreaking to see otherwise intelligent people throwing all manner of metal items onto our beautiful table without a thought of the impact of their thoughtless behaviour.
I have been making plans to renovate the table top, and having spoken to you, I will now proceed to undertake this task in an oil/wax finish.
Many thanks for your assistance. We look forward to the arrival of the Mondo Desk.
With kind regards,
Ivan Watt
Principal Consultant
Certified Management Consultant
The Business Planning Group
18 Dakara Drive
Frenchs Forest NSW 2086