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How Do I Care For and Finish Rustic Log Furniture?

Furnish your home with rustic log furniture for years of family friendly use!

Log furniture is becoming more and more popular, not just in cabins , rustic lodges and resorts but in homes and apartments as well. The natural rustic look is very popular from coast to coast. The natural look is soft and relaxing and brings a warm and soothing atmosphere into any room or home.

If you have a home that features large logs, spacious ceilings or you have a fireplace made from monster rocks from Montana, you’ll need a massive log look for your furniture as well. Otherwise, your furniture will seem dwarfed and insignificant.

Even if the home for your log furniture is a cabin with 8-inch logs, a few large pieces of furniture will look better than many small ones. Larger furniture makes a room feel full without being cluttered.

What is ‘Checking’?

“Checking” is a natural process that occurs in all pine logs as they dry. As the wood releases moisture, small surface cracks can result. This “checking” in no way affects the integrity or durability of the wood, and only serves to add a unique quality to each piece of rustic pine furniture. It also serves to preserve the wood longer, as moisture retention promotes rotting and decay (a common characteristic of pine). Although most call this process “checking”, I call it “character”.

Mortise and Tenon

Most rustic log furniture is made using mortise and tenon construction, which simply means that all of the joints are attached by inserting a 2″ – 3″ tenon into the upright. This is a very trusted and traditional method that has been utilized across the world for centuries. In addition, top-of-the-line sliders are used in all of their drawer assemblies. Consequently, the drawers have a 75 pound test capacity and the result is an extremely smooth drawer pull.

Hand-Peeled or Skip-Peeled Log Furniture

Draw knives are used to hand peel the bark from the logs. The ’skip-peel’ procedure leaves just enough color from the inner bark to give the appearance of natural texture and color contrast. A beautiful piece of art!

In most cases hand peeled log furniture may not be quite as smooth as the factory peeled pieces but the character and beauty is outstanding on these pieces. In some cases all the bark gets peeled off or clean peeled as some craftsmen call it leaving a smooth even color.

Should I Finish my Rustic Log Pine Furniture?

The lodgepole pine is a soft porous wood, easily absorbing the oil and dirt from our hands, leaving stains on your furniture…The oils in our hands are easily absorbed by unfinished wood. Of course our hands are never perfectly clean and the dirt is also absorbed right into the wood with the oil leaving soiled areas where your hands frequently touch the furniture. On a bed this is usually either the headboard or the footboard. One will reach out and grasp the bed to steady themselves while taking off shoes or socks. Right there on that post will be a big dark stain. The headboard sure makes a good handle for getting out of bed in the morning too! Another stain.

On dressers, of course the drawer pulls and the edge around the top gets the most handling. If an item is finished, washing is easy. It’s another story on bare wood. Finished log furniture will pass the test of time in keeping your furniture looking good for many years.

Finishing rustic log tables or dressers with a clear lacquer finish will give it a smooth clear surface that is very easy to keep clean.

You want your rustic log furniture to look as rustic and natural as possible. although it is okay to leave indoor log furniture unfinished, we recommend finishing your furniture with a clear finish to keep the natural look but if you want to have a deeper, older looking tone, you may want to put a light honey finish on it or like a linseed oil. Finishing it will change the look slightly but you will still have the same beautiful rustic look and it will benefit you in the long run.

If you happen to have unfinished furniture that is stained, especially around door handles, footboards, etc. The stains can be sanded out and your furniture restained or varnished.

If you do decide to leave it unfinished, clean your furniture often with a mild wood soap, like Murphy’s oil soap.

On your outdoor rustic log patio furniture or lawn furniture it will weather rather quickly so if you want to keep the fresh pine look, you may want to put a clear lacquer finish on it. The lacquer is a harder finish and will also help keep the pieces from becoming scarred or chipped.