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Brown Oak

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David Gunton supplies Brown Oak in strips and boards but not generally in wide long boards. They will be very rare and valuable. Brown Oak is natural oak which, in life as a tree, has been lived upon by the Beefsteak fungus, fistulina hepatica. The fungus draws its nutrient from the sapwood of the living tree. It passes its waste product back into the sapwood. This reacts with the tannin in the oak. Tannin is remarkably reactive with alkalis and acids, many of which occur naturally. The waste product of the fungus changes the colour of the tannin in the oak from pale to dark brown. When the woodsman fells the tree he usually has no idea whether or not he will have natural oak or coloured oak. So it is serendipitous if the result is a rich brown oak. Depending upon how long the fungus has been active, the tree will be stripy brown (Tiger Oak), stainy brown (Stainy Oak), or all brown (Brown Oak). Brown Oak is much sought after by makers of high quality furniture. It also make gorgeous floors.

Brown Oak

This is a brown Oak floor with a cross banded Satinwood border with Wenge detail lines. The house, in the most fashionable district of London, is the 'pied a terre' of the Chairman of one of the UK's largest and most prestigious companies. He had intended to have a decorative panel floor. However, the space was awkward and did not happily accommodate such a design along with the curved staircase foot and an essential entrance mat. The boards were designed to be of the same length, brick laid, and subtly decorated with the apparently simple but gleaming golden satinwood border. It is simple and elegant, yet sophisticated and a perfect foil for the furniture, ornaments and pictures.

This is another view of the same floor. This picture helps to demonstrate why such a simple floor is essential. Too complex a design would conflict with the many other architectural elements flowing from the same space.

This is a gorgeous floor - but rather poorly photographed. It is made exactly as those above.

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