Solid wood in our workshop: stair treads, handrails and table tops

On the central stringer staircase, each tread is a single piece of solid wood 50 mm thick, in pine, beech, oak or walnut. A tread wears where feet land: oak and beech, both hard, mark less quickly than walnut, which is medium-hard, or pine, which is softer.

On the window railing, the handrail can be solid wood, in the same four timbers, finished with hardwax oil. It comes in two forms: a 40 × 40 mm square, grooved underneath to fit over the top rail; or a 60 × 45 mm piece laid on a 60 × 10 mm steel flat bar welded to the top rail, which stiffens it. This is the part your hand touches: wood feels softer there, and less cold than steel. It is also available in steel.

The Mikado, Croix and Brindille tables have a top in solid pine, beech, oak or walnut; first-grade oak, with no knots and no sapwood, is the workshop's reference. The longer the table, the thicker the top must be so it does not sag: the product page checks that the thickness you choose — 28, 36 or 45 mm — suits the length. The Mikado Outdoor table has a top of spaced oak slats, and the river table a pour of epoxy resin through the oak.

Treads, wooden handrails and the tops of the Mikado, Croix and Brindille tables are finished with hardwax oil rather than varnish. The oil soaks into the wood and the wax protects the surface, without forming a film that can flake. The wood keeps its touch and gains a patina over the years. Above all, a mark can be put right without stripping the whole surface: you sand and oil the damaged spot, nothing more. Scratched varnish, by contrast, is hard to touch up in patches. The Mikado Outdoor table gets an outdoor oil instead.

Solid wood follows the humidity of the air: it swells slightly when the air is damp and shrinks back when it is dry. Avoid placing a table against a radiator, or in full sun behind a large window.