Wood finishing refers to the process of refining or protecting a wooden surface, especially in the production of furniture where typically it represents between 5 and 30% of manufacturing costs.
93-476: Flax , also known as common flax or linseed , is a flowering plant , Linum usitatissimum , in the family Linaceae . It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates . In 2022, France produced 75% of the world's supply of flax. Textiles made from flax are known in English as linen , and are traditionally used for bed sheets, underclothes, and table linen. Its oil
186-463: A gravelly or dry sandy nature. Farming flax requires few fertilizers or pesticides . Within eight weeks of sowing, the plant can reach 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) in height, reaching 70–80 cm (28–31 in) within 50 days. In 2022, world production of raw or retted flax was 875,995 tonnes , led by France with 75% of the total. One of the largest regions in France for flax production
279-1825: A molecular phylogeny of plants placed the flowering plants in their evolutionary context: Bryophytes [REDACTED] Lycophytes [REDACTED] Ferns [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The main groups of living angiosperms are: Amborellales [REDACTED] 1 sp. New Caledonia shrub Nymphaeales [REDACTED] c. 80 spp. water lilies & allies Austrobaileyales [REDACTED] c. 100 spp. woody plants Magnoliids [REDACTED] c. 10,000 spp. 3-part flowers, 1-pore pollen, usu. branch-veined leaves Chloranthales [REDACTED] 77 spp. Woody, apetalous Monocots [REDACTED] c. 70,000 spp. 3-part flowers, 1 cotyledon , 1-pore pollen, usu. parallel-veined leaves Ceratophyllales [REDACTED] c. 6 spp. aquatic plants Eudicots [REDACTED] c. 175,000 spp. 4- or 5-part flowers, 3-pore pollen, usu. branch-veined leaves Amborellales Melikyan, Bobrov & Zaytzeva 1999 Nymphaeales Salisbury ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Austrobaileyales Takhtajan ex Reveal 1992 Chloranthales Mart. 1835 Canellales Cronquist 1957 Piperales von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Magnoliales de Jussieu ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Laurales de Jussieu ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Acorales Link 1835 Alismatales Brown ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Petrosaviales Takhtajan 1997 Dioscoreales Brown 1835 Pandanales Brown ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Liliales Perleb 1826 Asparagales Link 1829 Arecales Bromhead 1840 Poales Small 1903 Zingiberales Grisebach 1854 Commelinales de Mirbel ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Wood finishing Finishing
372-446: A pigment binder in oil paints , as a plasticizer and hardener in putty , and in the manufacture of linoleum . Linseed oil use has declined over the past several decades with increased availability of synthetic alkyd resins—which function similarly but resist yellowing. Flax seed and its oil are generally recognized as safe for human consumption. Like many common foods, flax contains small amounts of cyanogenic glycoside , which
465-861: A vegetable oil known as flax seed oil or linseed oil , which is one of the oldest commercial oils. It is an edible oil obtained by expeller pressing and sometimes followed by solvent extraction . Solvent-processed flax seed oil has been used for many centuries as a drying oil in painting and varnishing. Although brown flax seed varieties may be consumed as readily as the yellow ones, and have been for thousands of years, these varieties are more commonly used in paints, for fiber, and for cattle feed. A 100-gram portion of ground flax seed supplies about 2,234 kilojoules (534 kilocalories) of food energy , 41 g of fat, 28 g of fiber, and 20 g of protein. Whole flax seeds are chemically stable, but ground flax seed meal, because of oxidation , may go rancid when left exposed to air at room temperature in as little as
558-482: A BMI greater than 27. Another meta-analysis showed that consumption of flax seeds for more than 12 weeks produced small reductions in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure . A third showed that consuming flax seed or its derivatives may reduce total and LDL-cholesterol in the blood, with greater benefits in women and people with high cholesterol . A fourth showed a small reduction in c-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation) only in persons with
651-509: A body mass index greater than 30. Linseed oil , also known as flaxseed oil or flax oil (in its edible form), is a colourless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant ( Linum usitatissimum ). The oil is obtained by pressing , sometimes followed by solvent extraction . Owing to its polymer-forming properties, linseed oil is often blended with combinations of other oils, resins or solvents as an impregnator, drying oil finish or varnish in wood finishing , as
744-405: A combine then harvests the seeds similar to wheat or oat harvesting. The plant is pulled up with the roots (not cut), so as to increase the fiber length. After this, the flax is allowed to dry, the seeds are removed, and it is then retted . Dependent upon climatic conditions, characteristics of the sown flax and fields, the flax remains on the ground between two weeks and two months for retting. As
837-494: A continuous loop. The hangline approach to automated wood finishing also allows the option of moving items up to warmer air at the ceiling level to speed up drying process. The towline approach to automating wood finishing uses mobile carts that are propelled by conveyors mounted in or on the floor. This approach is useful for moving large, awkward shaped wood products that are difficult or impossible to lift or hang overhead, such as four-legged wood furniture. The mobile carts used in
930-420: A defect free surface is to develop a sanding schedule that will quickly eliminate defects and leave the surface smooth enough so that tiny scratches produced by sanding cannot be seen when the wood is finished. A sanding schedule usually begins with sandpaper that is coarse enough to remove larger defects (typically 80 or 100 grit, but sometimes higher if the surface is already quite smooth), and progresses through
1023-456: A lot of tannins . Staining of wood is difficult to control because some parts of the wood absorb more stain than others, which leads to problems such as blotchiness and streaking. For this reason, as pointed out by Flexner, many people prefer to omit the staining step when finishing wood. Wood finishing starts with sanding either by hand, typically using a sanding block or power sander , scraping , or planing . Imperfections or nail holes on
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#17328013011351116-548: A percentage of total fat , flax seeds contain 54% omega-3 fatty acids (mostly ALA ), 18% omega-9 fatty acids ( oleic acid ), and 6% omega-6 fatty acids ( linoleic acid ); the seeds contain 9% saturated fat , including 5% as palmitic acid . Flax seed oil contains 53% 18:3 omega-3 fatty acids (mostly ALA) and 13% 18:2 omega-6 fatty acids. A meta-analysis showed that consumption of more than 30 g of flax-seed daily for more than 12 weeks reduced body weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference for persons with
1209-401: A result of alternating rain and the sun, an enzymatic action degrades the pectins which bind fibers to the straw. The farmers turn over the straw during retting to evenly rett the stalks. When the straw is retted and sufficiently dry, it is rolled up. It is then stored by farmers before extracting the fibers. Threshing is the process of removing the seeds from the rest of the plant. Separating
1302-407: A series of processing stations that may include sanding, dust removal, staining, sealer and topcoat applications. As the name suggests, the primary part shapes are flat. Liquid wood finishes are applied via automated spray guns in an enclosed environment or spray cabin. The material then can enter an oven or be sanded again depending on the manufacturer’s setup. The material can also be recycled through
1395-426: A series of sandpaper grades that gradually remove the sanding scratches created by the previous sanding steps. A typical sanding schedule prior to wood finishing might involve sanding wood along the grain with the following grades of sandpaper, 80, 100, 120, 150 and finishing with 180 and sometimes 220 grit. The precise sanding schedule is a matter of trial and error because the appearance of a sanded surface depends on
1488-565: A substitute for tallow in increasing marbling . In the US, flax-based feed for ruminants is often somewhat more expensive than other feeds on a nutrient basis. Sheep feeding on low quality forage are able to eat a large amount of linseed meal, up to 40% in one test, with positive consequences. It has been fed as supplement to water buffaloes in India, and provided a better diet than forage alone, but not as good as when substituted with soy meal. It
1581-610: A total of 64 angiosperm orders and 416 families. The diversity of flowering plants is not evenly distributed. Nearly all species belong to the eudicot (75%), monocot (23%), and magnoliid (2%) clades. The remaining five clades contain a little over 250 species in total; i.e. less than 0.1% of flowering plant diversity, divided among nine families. The 25 most species-rich of 443 families, containing over 166,000 species between them in their APG circumscriptions, are: The botanical term "angiosperm", from Greek words angeíon ( ἀγγεῖον 'bottle, vessel') and spérma ( σπέρμα 'seed'),
1674-516: A way of giving low-value woods the appearance of ones that are expensive and difficult to obtain. Finishing of wood requires careful planning to ensure that the finished piece looks attractive, performs well in service and meets safety and environmental requirements. Planning for finishing begins with the design of furniture. Care should be taken to ensure that edges of furniture are rounded so they can be adequately coated and are able to resist wear and cracking. Careful attention should also be given to
1767-477: A week. Refrigeration and storage in sealed containers will keep ground flax seed meal for a longer period before it turns rancid. Under conditions similar to those found in commercial bakeries, trained sensory panelists could not detect differences between bread made with freshly ground flax seed and bread made with flax seed that had been milled four months earlier and stored at room temperature. If packed immediately without exposure to air and light, milled flax seed
1860-417: Is Normandy with nearly one-third of the world's production. Flax is harvested for fiber production after about 100 days, or a month after the plants flower and two weeks after the seed capsules form. The bases of the plants begin to turn yellow. If the plants are still green, the seed will not be useful, and the fiber will be underdeveloped. The fiber degrades once the plants turn brown. Flax grown for seed
1953-858: Is starting to impact plants and is likely to cause many species to become extinct by 2100. Angiosperms are terrestrial vascular plants; like the gymnosperms, they have roots , stems , leaves , and seeds . They differ from other seed plants in several ways. The largest angiosperms are Eucalyptus gum trees of Australia, and Shorea faguetiana , dipterocarp rainforest trees of Southeast Asia, both of which can reach almost 100 metres (330 ft) in height. The smallest are Wolffia duckweeds which float on freshwater, each plant less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) across. Considering their method of obtaining energy, some 99% of flowering plants are photosynthetic autotrophs , deriving their energy from sunlight and using it to create molecules such as sugars . The remainder are parasitic , whether on fungi like
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#17328013011352046-499: Is a protein -rich feed for ruminants , rabbits , and fish. It is also often used as feed for swine and poultry , and has also been used in horse concentrate and dog food . The high omega-3 fatty acid ( ALA ) content of linseed meal "softens" milk, eggs, and meat, which means it causes a higher unsaturated fat content and thus lowers its storage time. The high omega-3 content also has a further disadvantage, because this fatty acid oxidises and goes rancid quickly, which shortens
2139-538: Is added to cattle feed as a protein supplement . It can only be added at low percentages due to the high fat content, which is unhealthy for ruminants. Compared to oilseed meal from crucifers it measures as having lower nutrient values, however, good results are obtained in cattle, perhaps due to the mucilage, which may aid in slowing digestion and thus allowing more time to absorb nutrients. One study found that feeding flax seeds may increase omega-3 content in beef , while another found no differences. It might also act as
2232-416: Is allowed to mature until the seed capsules are yellow and just starting to split; it is then harvested in various ways. A combine harvester may either cut only the heads of the plants, or the whole plant. These are then dried to extract the seed. The amount of weeds in the straw affects its marketability, and this, coupled with market prices, determines whether the farmer chooses to harvest the flax straw. If
2325-474: Is considered an inferior protein supplement for swine because of its fibre, the vitamin antagonist, the high omega-3 content and its low lysine content, and can only be used in small amounts in the feed. Although it may increase the omega-3 content in eggs and meat, it is also an inferior and potentially toxic feed for poultry, although it can be used in small amounts. The meal is an adequate and traditional source of protein for rabbits at 8–10%. Its use in fish feeds
2418-408: Is difficult to eliminate large defects from wood surfaces. Removing dents from wood surfaces is quite straightforward as pointed out by Flexner. Add a few droplets of demineralized water to the dent and let it soak in. Then put a clean cloth over the dent and place the tip of a hot iron on the cloth that lies immediately above the dent, taking great care not to burn the wood. The transfer of heat from
2511-477: Is easily over-retted, damaging the fiber. This form of retting also produces quite an odor. Stream retting is similar to pool retting, but the flax is submerged in bundles in a stream or river. This generally takes two or three weeks longer than pond retting, but the end product is less likely to be dirty, does not smell as bad, and because the water is cooler, is less likely to be over-retted. Both pond and stream retting were traditionally used less because they pollute
2604-548: Is extracted from the bast beneath the surface of the stem of the flax plant. Flax fiber is soft, lustrous, and flexible; bundles of fiber have the appearance of blonde hair, hence the description "flaxen" hair. It is stronger than cotton fiber, but less elastic. The use of flax fibers dates back tens of millennia; linen , a refined textile made from flax fibers, was worn widely by Sumerian priests more than 4,000 years ago. Industrial-scale flax fiber processing existed in antiquity. A Bronze Age factory dedicated to flax processing
2697-561: Is gripped by rubber belts roughly 20–25 cm (8–10 inches) above ground, to avoid getting grasses and weeds in the flax. The rubber belts then pull the whole plant out of the ground with the roots so the whole length of the plant fiber can be used. The plants then pass over the machine and is placed on the field crosswise to the harvester's direction of travel. The plants are left in the field for field retting . The mature plant can also be cut with mowing equipment, similar to hay harvesting, and raked into windrows. When dried sufficiently,
2790-474: Is known as linseed oil . In addition to referring to the plant, the word "flax" may refer to the unspun fibers of the flax plant. The plant species is known only as a cultivated plant and appears to have been domesticated just once from the wild species Linum bienne , called pale flax. The plants called "flax" in New Zealand are, by contrast, members of the genus Phormium . Several other species in
2883-423: Is known as grain raising. It can be eliminated by wetting the surface with water, leaving the wood to dry and then lightly sanding the wood to remove the ‘raised grain’. Larger defects that interfere with wood finishing include dent, gouges, splits and glue spots and smears. These defects should also be removed before finishing, otherwise they will affect the quality of the finished furniture or object. However, it
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2976-508: Is limited. Raw, immature linseeds contain an amount of cyanogenic compounds and can be dangerous for monogastric animals, like horses and rabbits. Boiling removes the danger. This is not an issue in meal cake due to the processing temperature during oil extraction. Flax straw left over from the harvesting of oilseed is not very nutritious; it is tough and indigestible, and is not recommended to use as ruminant fodder, although it may be used as bedding or baled as windbreaks . Flax fiber
3069-430: Is nontoxic when consumed in typical amounts. Typical concentrations (for example, 0.48% in a sample of defatted dehusked flax seed meal) can be removed by special processing. The soils most suitable for flax, besides the alluvial kind, are deep loams containing a large proportion of organic matter . Flax is often found growing just above the waterline in cranberry bogs. Heavy clays are unsuitable, as are soils of
3162-426: Is produced when retting, and it would corrode the metal. If the water temperature is kept at 27 °C (80 °F), the retting process under these conditions takes 4 or 5 days. If the water is any colder, it takes longer. Scum collects at the top, and an odor is given off the same as in pond retting. 'Enzymatic' retting of flax has been researched as a technique to engineer fibers with specific properties. Dressing
3255-418: Is stable against excessive oxidation when stored for nine months at room temperature, and under warehouse conditions, for 20 months at ambient temperatures. Three phenolic glucosides — secoisolariciresinol diglucoside , p-coumaric acid glucoside, and ferulic acid glucoside—are present in commercial breads containing flax seed. After crushing the seeds to extract linseed oil, the resultant linseed meal
3348-486: Is the final step of the manufacturing process that gives wood surfaces desirable characteristics, including enhanced appearance and increased resistance to moisture and other environmental agents. Finishing can also make wood easier to clean and keep it sanitized, sealing pores that can be breeding grounds for bacteria. Finishing can also influence other wood properties, for example tonal qualities of musical instruments and hardness of flooring. In addition, finishing provides
3441-418: Is very good at removing defects at wood surfaces, but it creates a surface that contains minute scratches in the form of microscopic valleys and ridges, and also slivers of wood cell wall material that are attached to the underlying wood. These sanding ridges and slivers of wood swell and spring-up, respectively, when sanded wood is finished with water-based finishes, creating a rough fuzzy surface. This defect
3534-491: The Alismatales grow in marine environments, spreading with rhizomes that grow through the mud in sheltered coastal waters. Some specialised angiosperms are able to flourish in extremely acid or alkaline habitats. The sundews , many of which live in nutrient-poor acid bogs , are carnivorous plants , able to derive nutrients such as nitrate from the bodies of trapped insects. Other flowers such as Gentiana verna ,
3627-579: The Fertile Crescent region. Evidence exists of a domesticated oilseed flax with increased seed-size from Tell Ramad in Syria and flax fabric fragments from Çatalhöyük in Turkey by c. 9,000 years ago. Use of the crop steadily spread, reaching as far as Switzerland and Germany by 5,000 years ago. In China and India, domesticated flax was cultivated at least 5,000 years ago. Flax
3720-576: The hygiene of linen textiles and the health of linseed oil, Charlemagne revived the crop in the eighth century CE . Eventually, Flanders became the major center of the European linen industry in the Middle Ages . In North America, colonists introduced flax, and it flourished there, but by the early 20th century, cheap cotton and rising farm wages had caused production of flax to become concentrated in northern Russia, which came to provide 90% of
3813-460: The orchids for part or all of their life-cycle, or on other plants , either wholly like the broomrapes, Orobanche , or partially like the witchweeds, Striga . In terms of their environment, flowering plants are cosmopolitan, occupying a wide range of habitats on land, in fresh water and in the sea. On land, they are the dominant plant group in every habitat except for frigid moss-lichen tundra and coniferous forest . The seagrasses in
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3906-481: The seeds are enclosed within a fruit. The group was formerly called Magnoliophyta . Angiosperms are by far the most diverse group of land plants with 64 orders , 416 families , approximately 13,000 known genera and 300,000 known species . They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem ), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of broad-leaved trees , shrubs and vines , and most aquatic plants . Angiosperms are distinguished from
3999-491: The straw from the fiber. Heckling is pulling the fiber through various sizes of heckling combs or heckles. A heckle is a bed of "nails"—sharp, long-tapered, tempered, polished steel pins driven into wooden blocks at regular spacing. In September 2009, Canadian flax exports reportedly had been contaminated by a deregistered genetically modified cultivar called 'Triffid' that had food and feed safety approval in Canada and
4092-892: The "Big Five" extinction events in Earth's history, only the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event had occurred while angiosperms dominated plant life on the planet. Today, the Holocene extinction affects all kingdoms of complex life on Earth, and conservation measures are necessary to protect plants in their habitats in the wild ( in situ ), or failing that, ex situ in seed banks or artificial habitats like botanic gardens . Otherwise, around 40% of plant species may become extinct due to human actions such as habitat destruction , introduction of invasive species , unsustainable logging , land clearing and overharvesting of medicinal or ornamental plants . Further, climate change
4185-537: The 2014 crop. Laboratories are certified to test for the presence of Triffid at a level of one seed in 10,000. Flowering plant Basal angiosperms Core angiosperms Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits , and form the clade Angiospermae ( / ˌ æ n dʒ i ə ˈ s p ər m iː / ). The term 'angiosperm' is derived from the Greek words ἀγγεῖον / angeion ('container, vessel') and σπέρμα / sperma ('seed'), meaning that
4278-780: The U.S. Canadian growers and the Flax Council of Canada raised concerns about the marketability of this cultivar in Europe where a zero tolerance policy exists regarding unapproved genetically modified organisms . Consequently, Triffid was deregistered in 2010 and never grown commercially in Canada or the U.S. Triffid stores were destroyed, but future exports and further tests at the University of Saskatchewan proved that Triffid persisted in at least two Canadian flax varieties, possibly affecting future crops. Canadian flax seed cultivars were reconstituted with Triffid-free seed used to plant
4371-485: The appearance of wood by reducing colour variation between and within sapwood and heartwood. It also provides a way of giving bland looking woods such as poplar, the appearance of prized furniture woods such as ebony, mahogany or walnut. Wood can be stained using dyes or pigmented finishes. These finishes are available in a wide variety of colours, many of which are not part of the natural colour palette of wood, for example, blues and greens. Pigmented stains tend to highlight
4464-441: The beef-steak fungus has a deep rich, attractive, brown colour and there is no reason to remove the stain from the wood prior to finishing. The same applies to spalted wood whose attractive appearance is again caused by fungi . On the other hand some fungal stains and those caused by the reaction of iron with wood can disfigure wood. These stains can be removed from wood using bleach . Bleaches are also occasionally used to reduce
4557-489: The by-product of producing linseed oil from flax seeds, is used as livestock fodder . Flax seeds occur in brown and yellow (golden) varieties. Most types of these basic varieties have similar nutritional characteristics and equal numbers of short-chain omega-3 fatty acids . Yellow flax seeds, called solin ( trade name " Linola "), have a similar oil profile to brown flax seeds and both are very high in omega-3s ( alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), specifically). Flax seeds produce
4650-716: The characteristics of different clear finishes. 'Rubbing qualities' indicates the ease with which a finish can be manipulated to deliver the finish desired. Shellac should be considered in two different ways. It is used thinned with denatured alcohol as a finish and as a way to manipulate the wood's ability to absorb other finishes. The alcohol evaporates almost immediately to yield a finish that will attach to virtually any surface, even glass, and virtually any other finish can be used over it. all sheens from 1% to 80% accentuates visual properties due to differences in wood grain. Manufacturers who mass-produce products implement automated flatline finish systems. These systems consist of
4743-579: The coating can bridge the pores and resist cracking. The pores in ring-porous woods more readily absorb pigmented stain, and advantage can be taken of this to highlight the wood's grain. Some tropical woods, such as rosewood ( Dalbergia nigra ), cocobolo ( Dalbergia retusa ) and African padauk ( Pterocarpus soyauxii ), contain extractives such as quinones, which retard the curing of unsaturated polyester and UV-cured acrylate coatings, and so other finishing systems should be used with these species. Planning for wood finishing also involves being aware of how
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#17328013011354836-453: The color of white oak . Ammonia fumes react with the natural tannins in the wood and cause it to change colours. The resulting product is known as "fumed oak". Clear finishes are intended to make wood look good and meet the demands to be placed on the finish. Choosing a clear finish for wood involves trade-offs between appearance, protection, durability, safety, requirements for cleaning, and ease of application. The following table compares
4929-439: The design and strength of wooden joints to ensure they do not open-up in service and crack the overlying finish. Care should also be taken to eliminate recesses in furniture, which are difficult to finish with some systems, especially UV-cured finishes. Planning for wood finishing also involves thinking about the properties of the wood being finished, as these can greatly affect the appearance and performance of finishes, and also
5022-449: The difference in colour between lighter sapwood and heartwood and also colour variation within heartwood. Such bleaching make it easier to achieve a uniformly coloured wood when the wood is subsequently coloured with pigmented stains and dyes (see below). Furthermore, the natural colours of wood fade when wood is exposed to sunlight, and more permanent colours can be created by bleaching wood to remove its natural colour and then re-colouring
5115-818: The dominant group of plants across the planet. Agriculture is almost entirely dependent on angiosperms, and a small number of flowering plant families supply nearly all plant-based food and livestock feed. Rice , maize and wheat provide half of the world's staple calorie intake, and all three plants are cereals from the Poaceae family (colloquially known as grasses). Other families provide important industrial plant products such as wood , paper and cotton , and supply numerous ingredients for beverages , sugar production , traditional medicine and modern pharmaceuticals . Flowering plants are also commonly grown for decorative purposes , with certain flowers playing significant cultural roles in many societies. Out of
5208-400: The fiber. The stems are then pulled through "hackles", which act like combs to remove the straw and some shorter fibers out of the long fiber. Several methods are used for retting flax. It can be retted in a pond, stream, field, or tank. When the retting is complete, the bundles of flax feel soft and slimy, and quite a few fibers are standing out from the stalks. When wrapped around a finger,
5301-406: The field in the spring. Two ways are used to harvest flax fiber, one involving mechanized equipment (combines), and a second method, more manual and targeting maximum fiber length. Flax for fiber production is usually harvested by a specialized flax harvester. Usually built on the same machine base as a combine, but instead of the cutting head it has a flax puller. The flax plant is turned over and
5394-405: The filler to precisely match the colour and grain pattern of the wood around the void, which is difficult to achieve in practice. Furthermore, filled voids do not behave like wood during subsequent finishing steps, and they age differently to wood. Hence, repairs to wood using fillers may noticeable. Therefore filling is best used with opaque finishes rather than semitransparent finishes, which allow
5487-428: The final sanding stage. The sandpaper selected for the final sanding stage affects the colour of stained wood, and therefore when staining is part of finishing avoid sanding the wood to a very smooth finish. On the other hand, according to Nagyszalanczy if you are using an oil-based finish, it is desirable to sand the wood using higher grit sandpaper (400 grit) because oil tends to highlight sanding scratches. Sanding
5580-713: The finished wood will come into contact with food, in which case a food-safe finish should be used, local environmental regulations governing the use of finishes, and recycling of finished wood at the end of its life. Sanding is carried out before finishing to remove defects from the wood surface that will affect the appearance and performance of finishes that are subsequently applied to the wood. These defects include cutter marks and burns, scratches and indentations, small glue spots and raised grain. Sanding should not be used to eliminate larger defects such as gouges, and various forms of discolouration. Other techniques are used to remove these defects (see below). The key to preparing
5673-481: The finishing process influences the result. Careful handling of the wood is needed to avoid dents, scratches and soiling with dirt. Wood should be marked for cutting using pencil rather than ink; however, avoid hard or soft pencil. HB is recommend for face work and 2H for joint work. Care should be taken to avoid squeeze-out of glue from joints because the glue will reduce absorption of stain and finish. Any excess glue should be carefully removed to avoid further damage to
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#17328013011355766-402: The flax is the process of removing the straw from the fibers. Dressing consists of three steps: breaking, scutching, and heckling. The breaking breaks up the straw. Some of the straw is scraped from the fibers in the scutching process, and finally, the fiber is pulled through heckles to remove the last bits of straw. Breaking breaks up the straw into short segments. Scutching removes some of
5859-399: The flax straw is not harvested, typically, it is burned, since the stalks are quite tough and decompose slowly ( i.e. , not in a single season). Formed into windrows from the harvesting process, the straw often clogs up tillage and planting equipment. Flax straw that is not of sufficient quality for fiber uses can be baled to build shelters for farm animals, or sold as biofuel, or removed from
5952-659: The flowering plants as an unranked clade without a formal Latin name (angiosperms). A formal classification was published alongside the 2009 revision in which the flowering plants rank as the subclass Magnoliidae. From 1998, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) has reclassified the angiosperms, with updates in the APG II system in 2003, the APG III system in 2009, and the APG IV system in 2016. In 2019,
6045-588: The genus Linum are similar in appearance to L. usitatissimum , cultivated flax, including some that have similar blue flowers, and others with white, yellow, or red flowers. Some of these are perennial plants, unlike L. usitatissimum , which is an annual plant . Cultivated flax plants grow to 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) tall, with slender stems. The leaves are glaucous green, slender lanceolate , 20–40 mm long, and 3 mm broad. The flowers are 15–25 mm in diameter with five petals, which can be colored white, blue, yellow, and red depending on
6138-452: The grain (and also sanding scratches), whereas dyes do not have this effect and are more transparent. Wood can also be coloured by exposing it to chemicals that react with the wood to form coloured compounds. Chemical staining of wood is rarely carried out because it is easier to colour wood using dye or pigmented stain, however, ammonia fuming is a chemical staining method that is still occasionally used to darken woods such as oak that contain
6231-422: The grain of the wood to be seen. Glue smears and droplets are sometimes present around the joints of furniture. They can be removed using a combination of scraping, scrubbing and sanding. These approaches remove surface glue, but not the glue beneath the wood surface. Sub-surface glue will reduce the absorption of stain by wood, and may alter the scratch pattern created by sanding. Both these effects will influence
6324-410: The inner woody part springs away from the fibers. Pond retting is the fastest. It consists of placing the flax in a pool of water which will not evaporate. It generally takes place in a shallow pool which will warm up dramatically in the sun; the process may take from a few days to a few weeks. Pond-retted flax is traditionally considered of lower quality, possibly because the product can become dirty, and
6417-481: The iron to the wood will cause compressed fibres in the dent to recover their original dimensions. As a result the dent will diminish in size or even disappear completely, although removal of large dents may require a number of wetting and heating cycles. The wood in the recovered dent should then be dried and sanded smooth to match the surrounding wood. Gouges and holes in wood are more difficult to repair than dents because wood fibres have been cut, torn and removed from
6510-589: The line to apply another coat of finish or continue in a system that adds successive coats depending on the layout of the production line. The systems typically used one of two approaches to production. In the hangline approach, wood items being finished are hung by carriers or hangers that are attached to a conveyor system that moves the items overhead or above the floor space. The conveyor itself can be ceiling mounted, wall mounted or supported by floor mounts. A simple overhead conveyor system can be designed to move wood products through several wood finishing processes in
6603-518: The manner of vines or lianas . The number of species of flowering plants is estimated to be in the range of 250,000 to 400,000. This compares to around 12,000 species of moss and 11,000 species of pteridophytes . The APG system seeks to determine the number of families , mostly by molecular phylogenetics . In the 2009 APG III there were 415 families. The 2016 APG IV added five new orders (Boraginales, Dilleniales, Icacinales, Metteniusales and Vahliales), along with some new families, for
6696-567: The other major seed plant clade, the gymnosperms , by having flowers , xylem consisting of vessel elements instead of tracheids , endosperm within their seeds, and fruits that completely envelop the seeds. The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from the common ancestor of all living gymnosperms before the end of the Carboniferous , over 300 million years ago. In the Cretaceous , angiosperms diversified explosively , becoming
6789-562: The species. The fruit is a round, dry capsule 5–9 mm in diameter, containing several glossy brown seeds shaped like apple pips, 4–7 mm long. The earliest evidence of humans using wild flax as a textile comes from the present-day Republic of Georgia , where spun, dyed, and knotted wild flax fibers found in Dzudzuana Cave date to the Upper Paleolithic , 30,000 years ago. Humans first domesticated flax in
6882-568: The spring gentian, are adapted to the alkaline conditions found on calcium -rich chalk and limestone , which give rise to often dry topographies such as limestone pavement . As for their growth habit , the flowering plants range from small, soft herbaceous plants , often living as annuals or biennials that set seed and die after one growing season, to large perennial woody trees that may live for many centuries and grow to many metres in height. Some species grow tall without being self-supporting like trees by climbing on other plants in
6975-399: The stalk. The first step in this process is retting , which is the process of rotting away the inner stalk, leaving the outer parts intact. At this point, straw, or coarse outer stem ( cortex and epidermis ), is still remaining. To remove this, the flax is "broken", the straw is broken up into small, short bits, while the actual fiber is left unharmed. Scutching scrapes the outer straw from
7068-547: The stem of the plant are two to three times as strong as cotton fibers. Additionally, flax fibers are naturally smooth and straight. Europe and North America both depended on flax for plant-based cloth until the 19th century, when cotton overtook flax as the most common plant for making rag-based paper . Flax is grown on the Canadian prairies for linseed oil, which is used as a drying oil in paints and varnishes and in products such as linoleum and printing inks . Linseed meal,
7161-659: The storage time. Linola was developed in Australia and introduced in the 1990s with less omega-3, specifically to serve as fodder . Another disadvantage of the meal and seed is that it contains a vitamin B6 ( pyridoxine ) antagonist, and may require this vitamin be supplemented, especially in chickens , and furthermore linseeds contain 2–7% of mucilage (fibre), which may be beneficial in humans and cattle, but cannot be digested by non-ruminants and can be detrimental to young animals, unless possibly treated with enzymes . Linseed meal
7254-401: The straw (stem) from the fiber, and one for further separating the broken straw and matter from the fiber. The second part of the process brings the flax into a state for the very finest purposes, such as lace , cambric , damask , and very fine linen . This second part is performed by a refining machine. Before the flax fibers can be spun into linen, they must be separated from the rest of
7347-432: The surface may be polished or buffed using steel wool , pumice , rotten stone or other materials, depending on the shine desired. Often, a final coat of wax is applied over the finish to add a degree of protection. French polishing is a finishing method of applying many thin coats of shellac using a rubbing pad, yielding a very fine glossy finish. Ammonia fuming is a traditional process for darkening and enriching
7440-428: The surface may be filled using wood putty or pores may be filled using wood filler . Often, the wood's color is changed by staining , bleaching , or any of a number of other techniques. Once the wood surface is prepared and stained, the finish is applied. It usually consists of several coats of wax , shellac , drying oil , lacquer , varnish , or paint , and each coat is typically followed by sanding. Finally,
7533-516: The type of finishing system that will give the wood the desired characteristics. For example, woods that show great variation in colour between sapwood and heartwood or within heartwood may require a preliminary staining step to reduce colour variation. Alternatively, the wood can be bleached to remove the natural colour of the wood and then stained to the desired colour. Woods that are coarse textured such as oaks and other ring-porous hardwoods may need to be filled before they are finished to ensure
7626-400: The usable flax fibers from other components requires pulling the stems through a hackle and/or beating the plants to break them. Flax processing is divided into two parts: the first part is generally done by the farmer, to bring the flax fiber into a fit state for general or common purposes. This can be performed by three machines: one for threshing out the seed, one for breaking and separating
7719-516: The use of flax as an industrial fiber. Flax seeds are 7% water, 18% protein , 29% carbohydrates , and 42% fat (table). In 100 grams (3.5 oz) as a reference amount, flax seeds provide 534 kilocalories and contain high levels (20% or more of the Daily Value , DV) of protein, dietary fiber , several B vitamins , and dietary minerals . Flax seeds are especially rich in thiamine , magnesium , and phosphorus (DVs above 90%) (table). As
7812-456: The waters used for the process. In field retting, the flax is laid out in a large field, and dew is allowed to collect on it. This process normally takes a month or more, but is generally considered to provide the highest quality flax fibers, and it produces the least pollution. Retting can also be done in a plastic trash can or any type of water-tight container of wood, concrete, earthenware, or plastic. Metal containers will not work, as an acid
7905-445: The way in which the wood colours when stains are used to finish the wood. To overcome this problem it may be necessary to locally stain and touch-up areas previously covered by glue to ensure that the finish on such areas matches that of the surrounding wood. Wood surfaces are occasionally affected by various organic and inorganic stains. Sometimes such stains enhance the colour and appearance of wood. For example, oak wood affected by
7998-539: The wood using artificial, light-fast, stains. The bleaches used to remove unwanted fungal stains from wood include two-part peroxide bleach and solutions of sodium hypochlorite . The former is particularly effective at removing the natural colour of wood before it is recoloured with pigmented stains or dyes. Oxalic acid is particularly effective at removing iron stains from wood. Wood can be stained to change its colour or left unstained before application of lacquer, or other types of top-coats. Staining should enhance
8091-508: The wood you are sanding and the finish that will subsequently be applied to the wood. According to Nagyszalanczy, coarse grained woods with large pores such as oak hide sanding scratches better than fine grained wood and hence with such species it may be possible to use 180 or even 150 grit sandpaper as the final step in the sanding schedule. Conversely, sanding scratches are more easily seen in finer grained, harder woods and also end-grain, and hence, they require finer sandpaper (220 grit) during
8184-444: The wood. Wood’s moisture content affects the staining of wood. Changes in wood moisture content can result in swelling and shrinkage of wood which can stress and crack coatings. Both problems can be avoided by storing wood indoors in an environment where it can equilibriate to a recommended moisture content (6 to 8%) that is similar to that of the intended end use of the furniture. Finally, consideration needs to be given to whether
8277-525: The wood. Larger gouges and splits are best repaired by patching the void with a piece of wood that matches the colour and grain orientation of the wood under repair. Patching wood requires skill, but when done properly it is possible to create a repair that is very difficult to see. An alternative to patching is filling (sometimes known as stopping). Numerous coloured fillers ( putties and waxes) are produced commercially and are coloured to match different wood species. Successful filling of voids in wood requires
8370-543: The world's output. Since then, flax has lost its importance as a commercial crop , due to the easy availability of more durable fibres. Flax is grown for its seeds, which can be ground into a meal or turned into linseed oil , a product used as a nutritional supplement and as an ingredient in many wood-finishing products. Flax is also grown as an ornamental plant in gardens. Moreover, flax fibers are used to make linen . The specific epithet in its binomial name, usitatissimum, means "most useful". Flax fibers taken from
8463-483: Was coined in the form "Angiospermae" by Paul Hermann in 1690, including only flowering plants whose seeds were enclosed in capsules. The term angiosperm fundamentally changed in meaning in 1827 with Robert Brown , when angiosperm came to mean a seed plant with enclosed ovules. In 1851, with Wilhelm Hofmeister 's work on embryo-sacs, Angiosperm came to have its modern meaning of all the flowering plants including Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. The APG system treats
8556-596: Was cultivated extensively in ancient Egypt , where the temple walls had paintings of flowering flax, and mummies were embalmed using linen. Egyptian priests wore only linen, as flax was considered a symbol of purity. Phoenicians traded Egyptian linen throughout the Mediterranean and the Romans used it for their sails . As the Roman Empire declined, so did flax production. But with laws designed to publicize
8649-698: Was discovered in Euonymeia , Greece. The best grades are used for fabrics such as damasks , lace , and sheeting . Coarser grades are used for the manufacturing of twine and rope , and historically, for canvas and webbing equipment . Flax fiber is a raw material used in the high-quality paper industry for the use of printed banknotes , laboratory paper ( blotting and filter ), rolling paper for cigarettes , and tea bags . Flax mills for spinning flaxen yarn were invented by John Kendrew and Thomas Porthouse of Darlington , England , in 1787. New methods of processing flax have led to renewed interest in
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