08 Apr
Care and Maintenance

Caring for Your Highbeach or Nested Tables

At Grain, we put a lot of research and care into our manufacturing process. We gather the most appropriate materials available to us and work hard to form them into considerate solutions for people’s needs – without excess damage to our natural world.

That means all of our timbers come from the closest and most responsibly accredited FSC mills in Europe that we can reach, and that the finishes we use are good for us and the planet. The water-based finish we choose to use (made by Sayerlack) has had much consideration. Being water-based means, it is safe and healthier for workers, customers and the environment – something not very common in mass furniture production!

It ensures an excellent natural finish and only needs minimal cleaning to be enjoyed and passed down/resold for years and years to come. It also, very importantly, doesn’t release dangerous VOC’s into the atmosphere. Moreover, this finish allows products to be easily spot repaired, a crucial part of designing a circular economy.

However, these factors do mean that your lovely Grain natural oak product needs a little more care and consideration whilst cleaning and caring for it. So, to make things simple, we’ve compiled a handy little guide on how to keep your oak piece looking its best.

Clean:

  1. Fill a bowl with hand warm water. Please note,  standard soaps or cleaning products will degrade the finish with extended use.
  2. Dip a soft towel or cloth in the warm water and ring it out. Spread around to evenly dampen the surface.
  3. Using a clean cloth, dry off the surface fully. We recommend using long soft continuous swipes, following the grain of the wood. Be sure to leave the surface bone dry.

Maintain:

  • Immediately wipe up spills with a clean dry cloth.
  • Use coasters and placemats.
  • Avoid exposing the table to low humidity or long exposure to room temperature over 30 degrees celsius.
  • Keep the surface cleaned and free of dirt, dust, moisture and grease.
  • Do not apply any strong cleaning products (i.e Dettol), wood oils/wax, solvent or aerosol-based substances to the surface. Warm water and a low PH soap are all you’ll ever need.

Remove stains:

  1. Fill a bowl with hand warm water OR dilute a low PH cleaner with warm water (1 part cleaner to 20 parts warm/hot water, mix well) Soap brands we recommend, diluted with water are Method or Ecover. Please note, any standard soap or cleaning product with degrade the finish with extended use.
  2. Dip a soft towel or cloth in the warm water and ring it out.
  3. Apply the clean damp cloth using circular motions to the stained area until vanished.
  4. Using a clean cloth, dry off the surface fully. We recommend using long soft continuous swipes, following the grain of the wood. Be sure to leave the surface bone dry.

If it’s a more stubborn stain, like a marker pen or paint, please get in touch. We will recommend the best solution tailored for the specific stain in question. We have helped our customers remove all kinds of stains, be it biro, sharpie, coffee, turmeric or even food colouring.