How to clean and maintain your table from Live Edge Design

How to care for your Live Edge Design art furniture

At Live Edge Design, we pride ourselves on the quality of our work. We want to teach you how to care for your table to keep it looking its best for generations. Read on to find out some of our tried and tested methods.

We strive to meet high-quality standards while having a low environmental impact. We have worked very hard over the past 16 years
to refine our skills in woodworking, finishing and customer service. To ensure your furniture stays in the best condition, we use a commercial grade conversion varnish with a dull sheen (12 degrees to be precise).

This commercial grade finish is strong enough to stand up to constant use and is for indoor use only. We love how it makes the grain show through on our tables, whether it be maple, walnut, elm or oak. With this
finish, the grain and colouring in the wood are brought to the forefront, while still maintaining the natural appearance and feel of the wood grain.

Our solid wood, slab furniture pieces are designed to be enjoyed naked...no linens or placemats required. Trivets are essential for high-temperature items and pizza boxes if serving directly on the table, but hot coffee and plated meals are safe to enjoy on our commercial-grade finish.

How to remove stains from your table

We find that a damp cloth (with only water) will clean your piece of furniture for most uses. If you have a more stubborn stain or spot you can use a mild detergent - such as dish soap.

During some tough testing, we discovered that varnish is stain resistant against hot coffee cups, red wine, 3 types of tea and duct tape. After a 24 hour period, we only noticed staining with mustard and red candle wax.

We also placed a hot pizza box on the tabletop and did note some clouding that dissipated with time but for this reason, we recommend using a trivet for anything that has a 'moist heat to it or a hot-from-the-oven temperature.

If you have a mustard, tumeric, permanent marker or red candle wax stain you can use a Magic Eraser (but take it slow as using this will affect the sheen on your table).

How to avoid and treat scratching

Finish is only ever as hard as the wood underneath - want more durability? We can help you select a wood based on the Janka Hardness rating for your needs. Although our clear coat system is tough it can scratch and dent if unfinished pottery, heavy tools or grit are scraped or dropped on the table. Life happens around the dining table so scratches occur, we find that the first scratch is always the hardest to bare.

There are videos and commercial products available to help reduce the visibility of scratches using things like walnuts or furniture touch up markers for deep dings and scratches. We each have our own tolerance for what measures are necessary, especially knowing that with a thick, solid wood table top you have the option of a complete 'face-lift' when the time is right.

Our typical rate of complete refinishing work is 4 - 6 years in a heavy-traffic commercial setting and 10-15 years for residential use (especially once kids or grandkids have grown up). With our solid wood, slab dining tables and furniture we can offer many, many, many years of re-sanding and refinishing before thickness or design is compromised.

UV Damage

Our clear coat finish is rated for a minimum of 10 years and have UV inhibiting properties. The wood underneath the finish may still respond to UV, the wood tones underneath the finish will change over time. They may enhance and deepen the colour in the grain detail or they may gently fade over a period of 10+ years. Again, one of the long-term benefits of an investment piece of solid wood slab furniture is that, if any of these changes no longer suite your home of lifestyle then a refinish 'facelift' is easily achieved.

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