Special Pre-colouring: what’s on the market?

PRE-COLOURING DOES NOT PROTECT

CHEMICAL PROCESSES AND PAINT PRODUCTS

Photo – Pallmann

The term ‘pre-colouring’ clearly explains itself. It means applying a colour prior to the actual treatment of the wood. That treatment comes in the shape of oil, lacquer, or a wax finish which should protect the wood from wear and tear and external influences. In the previous edition we made it clear that colour oil is the major exception. Colour oil colours and protects. And so, in this article we consider stains and some chemical operations which change the colour of the wood. What is noticeable is that, apart from traditional wood shades, a whole range of contemporary and often youthful colours are ‘seeing the light of day’.

Wood sorts and colour You certainly need a good dose of expertise to recognise wood sorts. In the days when only pine, beech, and oak were available, the job was fairly easy, but that’s not so today. Worldwide there are associations whose core business is to identify wood sorts. Colour obviously plays a part in that.

Organisations The International Association of Wood Anatomists (IAWA) was set up soon after 1930. This is an association of people working on wood anatomy (in the broadest sense of the term) to foster wood knowledge at micro level. Four times a year, this scientific association issues its IAWA Journal with articles of discussions on wood anatomy themes. A database called Inside Wood has also been set up under the auspices of this association. This database can be used to determine the identity of a wood by means of micro-features. This does require a lot of preliminary knowledge. There is also the Dutch Association of Wood Collectors (NEHOSOC, formed in 1947). This association promotes the collection of wood samples and organises study days with talks and practical exercises on wood anatomy. The Association journal is

called The Wood Collector (‘De Houtverzamelaar’). In Flanders there is the Wood Study Centre for Technical Education (HCTO, formed in 1958). This association is geared more towards wood professionals. Its members are involved in identifying wood and they have issued several technical announcements (Technische mededelingen). In the USA there is the International Wood Collectors Society (IWCS, formed in 1947). The IWCS publishes the journal World of Wood.

The colour says a lot The colour of wood is often largely related to colouring agents in particular cells. Moreover, those colouring agents are not there for show; they are usually moderately to highly poisonous and serve to limit bites from ‘beasts’. The density is linked to the thickness of the cell walls; the thicker the cell walls, the heavier the wood. A darker colour can be linked to a high density such as with pock wood (guai acum sanctum, etc), ebony (diospyros sorts), basralocus (dicorynia guianensis), angelim vermelho (dinizia excelsa), grenadilla (dalbergia melanoxylon), and many sorts of acacia and eucalyptus. However, lightly coloured wood can also be heavy and hard, such as palm wood (buxus sempervirens), the many diospyros sorts which do not form a black heartwood, and satin wood (chloroxylon swietenia). Darker sorts possess more or different colouring agents than lightly colou red sorts. In practice, a lot of mistakes are made in identifying wood sorts, sometimes deliberately. Due to the sometimes great business interests, it can be lucrative to give a type of wood the wrong name.

Chemical and thermal colouring Smoking and thermal treatment are both designed to make the wood ‘darker’. That ‘darkening process’ was a technique to make cheaper wood look like an antique floor or a rare exotic wood sort. Smoking wooden planks highlights the specific grain of the wood. It brings out the structure of each separate plank. Each plank is in fact different and has its own look. Sun, wind, rain, and soil have brought about this natural distinction and smoking makes these influences clearly visible. Smoking a plank makes it somewhat darker. Thermal treatments colour the wood to make it darker. They give the wood a dark brown shade which equates to the effect of a smoked floor. The major benefit is that floorboards treated in this way are coloured all over, so that they can still be sandpapered many times without losing their colour. The treatment also lends itself ideally to distressing floorboards.

Colouring with stain Staining parquet can turn the wood any colour as required; from black or blue-grey to white, anything is possible. The stain penetrates deeply into the wood, creates a nice contrast, and thereby highlights the specific wood structure. This can be combined afterwards with oil, beeswax, or varnish. Stain is often a traditional wood ennobling product based on natural line oil. This wood stain is ideal for colouring wood, parquet, and wooden floors and for both ordinary and noble wood sorts. Stains are available in a huge range of colours. In the past, most stains were available in wood colours. And so, it was possible, for instance, to make a cheap pine floor look like oak using a dark oak colour. Nowadays, colouring agents are available in a range of trendy colours. Each wood sort can be given a completely different look by applying certain colours. You already have to be a connoisseur to tell the difference, for instance, between oak which is coloured (almost) black and wenge, or to distinguish extremely dark coloured oak from panga-panga. In that respect coloured (cheaper) wood sorts can act as a substitute for often countless tropical hardwood sorts.

What’s on the market ?

Blanchon

All woodworkers have looked for ways to alter the colour or shade of wood since time immemorial. Over the last thirty years, modern chemistry has developed some water-based colouring agents or pigments which are more resistant to the effects of light. Blanchon offers a full range for colouring, decorating, and distressing parquet and woodwork with two ranges of shades, with one range of distressing products and several reactive products. Aquateinte 2K is a water-based colouring agent specially for parquet. It has six wood colours and another six shades from pure white to deep black. For small surfaces there is Wood Stain (‘Teinte à Bois’), with 12 wood shades in black and white and five in grey. Wood Ageing (‘Veillisseur Bois’) has 10 nuances, including five shades of grey. Moreover, Blanchon also has various Reactives (‘Réactifs’) and Patinas (‘Patines’). Note: Only oil can offer both decoration and protection. And so, all colours still need a protective coat. A good example is the combination of Wood Ageing and Oil Wax Stain (‘Huile-Cire teintée’). The colours can be applied on site or in the factory. According to Blanchon, finishing colour oil with lacquer is a clear trend.

Ciranova

Ciranova is the reference when it comes to color your wooden floor with water-based color stains for on-site use or industrial application. Reactive Stains interact chemically with the natural tannins inside the wood and this interface creates very unique finishes. There are endless possibilities in combination with coloured oils. (reaction time +/- 6 hours). Aquapad is a water-based colour stain based on micro pigments for staining all types of wood for indoor use.

Aquapad provides a uniform coloring that accentuates the woodgrain. (drying times +/- 3 to 4 hours). Aquavintage 2C is a reactive water-based stain to easily and quickly give the wood a weathered look and to accentuate the wood grain. (Reaction time +/- 12 hours). After reaction time, the reactive stains should be finished with oil or waterborne finishes, such as our new PLUS RANGE products, with an invisible finish and ultra matt and natural appearance. It is also possible to finish the colour stains with our coloured Hardwaxoils, creating unique finishes and endless possibilities.

DevoNatural® For pre-colouring parquet and wooden floors, Devomat offers clients two lines of products: DevoNatural® Easy Colour (a vegetable colour stain) and DevoNatural® Reactive (a reactive distress product with smoked effect for ‘oak’ parquet and wooden floors). In addition, DevoNatural® Floor Paint is a covering universal water-dilutable adhesion primer based on vegetables. It can be applied to various substrates such as wood, stone, concrete, synthetics, etc. DevoNatural® Floor Paint serves as a covering primer and can be finished further with any DevoNatural® varnish. Since the launch of DevoNatural® Easy Colour, Devomat has noticed that, despite the convenience of the product, more floors are once again being coloured. There is a growing demand for unique colour combinations e.g. the floor is distressed with DevoNatural Reactive and then finished with a coloured DevoNatural® High Solid Oil. For DevoNatural® Easy Colour Devomat also offers the option of creating customised colours. Both product lines can be applied on site, in the workshop, or in the factory. DevoNatural® Easy Colour gives a deeper colour to the entire floor, whilst a colour oil will highlight mainly the grain and only to a lesser extent the surface. DevoNatural® Reactive is a reactive product and cannot be compared to a colour oil or another colouring product. The distressing effect depends on the tannic acid content and thereby differs from plank to plank. This gives a unique look to each parquet floor. Both products can be finished with any DevoNatural® finish product (lacquers, oils, or beeswax).

Floorservice FLOOR SERVICE PRIME SMOKE & FLOOR SERVICE PRIME OLD BROWN Two new products have been added to the Floorservice Prime Design Line range: Prime Smoke and Prime Old Brown. With these two new pre-treatment products, various new and very surprising finishing effects of the wooden floor are possible. Two new pre-treatment products have been developed within the Floorservice Prime Design Line; Prime Smoke and Prime Old Brown. These water based reactive stains are suitable for manual and industrial application by roller or spray-machine. By adding these two unique products to the range, an endless range of new finishing possibilities can be created. Prime Smoke Creates a smoked effect without the usage of ammonia. Prime Old Brown Provides the characteristic "old brown" color. The treated surface can be finished with one of our colors Hardwax-oil (2K) or with our solvent-free UV or LED Oil. The most beautiful effects are created with this series of finishes. The wood grain is accentuated in a special and natural way.

Hesse

Colour highlights for the huge variety of wood sorts now come in a range of unlimited options. Colours create emotions and Hesse Lignal has never lost sight of that in its 110 years on the market. Recommended system developments provide ready-made solutions for all types of clients, both SMEs and bigger industrial companies. In the trend demands for creative and spacious feels, there is a choice of traditionally processed colour stains, mobile and polishable colour systems, and a carefully selected pallet of chemical reactive stains. These systems are versatile, modular, and can be finished with varnish and oil. These combinable finish options help to provide exclusive trendy looks. Whether you want vintage or modern interior designs, natural looking colours, or bright exclusive shades, Hesse Lignal offers a solution to meet all demands from professionals.

Loba

Infinite Color Options for Oils and Finishes: LOBASOL PreTone and LOBADUR HS 2K Intensive One of LOBA’s most popular coloring pre-treatments is LOBASOL PreTone. This water-based pigment stain is suitable for all types of wood. PreTone is available in five colors: black, brown, white, steel and mocha. The environmentally friendly and odor-neutral stain can be used in combination with LOBASOL HS 2K ImpactOil transparent or ImpactOil Color to intensify the color effect or to create a striking two-color design. To achieve a colored and finished surface, a layer of PreTone should be applied, followed by a layer of the oil-based primer LOBADUR HS 2K Intensive transparent or Color. The primer is finally top-coated with a LOBADUR finish. This system combines the beautiful look of an oiled floor with the easy maintenance of a coated surface. HS 2K Intensive is cobalt- and butanonoxime-free and prevents side-bonding. Both PreTone and HS 2K Intensive can be applied either on site or in the floor fitter’s workshop before installation.

Osmo

The final coat should always be carried out with a clear Polyx®-Oil. The products can also be used by professional craftsmen as well as by end consumers.

Pallmann

Osmo offers different products for applying a coloured base coat to wooden flooring: Oil Stain, Polyx®-Oil Tints, Polyx®-Oil Effect as well as Wood Wax Finish. With Oil Stain, Polyx®-Oil Tints and Wood Wax Finish, different colour intensities can be achieved from transparent to intensive and even opaque; depending on the product and the application, different results are created. Shimmering gloss effects are made with Polyx®-Oil Effect Gold/Silver. Wooden floors treated with Polyx®-Oil Effect Natural look if they are almost completely untreated. With the Pallmann Color Collection Pallmann provides a wide range of coloured Oil primers. A spectrum of 24 colours encourages every opportunity for creativity and individual interior design. Each option in the Pallmann Color Collection consists of 3 components: The clear 2K oil primer Pall-X 333 A / B is given a color C concentrate as a third and final component: This combination is suitable for the priming and simultaneous colouring of many commercial European wood types, especially oak, ash, pine. The demand for individually coloured wood floors has been increasing over the last years and there is a huge creative energy and an eagerness to experiment. The coloured oil primer can be applied on site as well as in the floor fitter’s workshop. The average drying time is 24 hours before coating with 2 component water-based wood floor coatings Pall-X 98 Gold, Pall-X Zero, Pall-X Pure as well as with the 2-component wood floor oil Magic Oil 2K Original.

RIGO Verffabriek The master oil makers of RIGO Verffabriek have been making ROYL floor oils from 100% vegetable oils for almost 40 years. ROYL oils are available in the 45 standard colours of our Greys and Woods ranges. These colours can also be mixed. By combining ROYL shades of grey and wood colours with a primer coat of ROYL REACTIVE STAIN, you can open up a world of limitless colours to create your very own, unique finish. ROYL Reactive Stain gives wood an aged look. Whereas colour oils will colour the wood grain more thoroughly than the rest of the wood, ROYL Reactive Stain will produce a beautiful, even finish. You can achieve stunning results by adding an enhancing or contrasting colour oil. Combining these oils with ROYL Reactive Stain will enable

you to create pitch black and snow-white oil-based finishes. ROYL Reactive Stain is easy to process and non-marking. Simply apply with long, straight strokes, using a roller, brush or sprayer. Next, moving from top to bottom and from left to right, buff the oil evenly with a buffer and white pad and remove any excess product with cotton cloths. The stain will colour your floor up to a certain point. After this point is reached, applying more stain to the floor will not change the colour. A single layer is plenty, and your floor will be ready for further finishing after drying overnight. The stain is available in four - mixable - colours: White #4011, Grey #4012, Burned #4013 and Smoked #4014. The stain must be finished with a ROYL oil product or SKYLT Overcoatable colour oil + SKYLT. Only the white stain can also be coated immediately with STEP or SKYLT.

Photo – Ciranova

The wood filler range for wood industry ■ Economical powder 1kg = 1.3kg of paste ■ Ready-to-use, fast drying ■ Depth of filling 20mm ■ Special formulas for planed and brushed wood ■ 8 standards colors or counter-typing on demand ■ Package from 5 to 310kg, in buckets or in barrels ■ Manual or automatic application

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