The modified timber retains its natural colour, but then ages naturally. When timber ages it greys over time with a silver grey hue. Timber greyness arises due to a number of external factors. The sunlight breaks down the lignin and hemicellulose in the outer timber, which bleaches the timber. Other factors such as dirt particles, superficial growth and dead wood particles turn the timber grey. The combination of bleaching and greying create a silver grey hue.

Aging will occur at different rates depending on the environment where the timber is installed. The aging rate will be faster if the timber is placed in the weather and wind and faces south where it is more exposed to the sun. In pine, which consists of heartwood and sapwood, aging will be even faster in the sapwood due to the fact it absorbs water significantly easier than heartwood and thereby has a higher moisture ratio to accelerates the surface growth.

OrganoWood^® modified timber ages naturally which means greying does not always occur evenly over the timber. For example, in standard timber the sapwood will grey faster than the heartwood. At an early stage the greyness may be perceived as speckled, but it evens out relatively quickly. After 1-2 years, wood decking placed outdoors in sunlight has a beautiful even grey surface.

One effect that can occur on all timber placed outdoors and ages is a phenomenon called furring (“fibre fuzz”), where the fibre loosens from the surface of the timber. This occurs when the lignin that binds the fibres together is broken down by the sun’s UV radiation. The problem occurs primarily on timber located in environments where it is heavily exposed to sunlight, this can be reduced through surface treatment and correct maintenance.

In order to produce a more even greying process and reduce the risk of the phenomenon occurring, OrganoWood has developed a surface treatment product OrganoWood^® 02 Repellent, which is especially designed for OrganoWood^® timber. The product gives the surface extremely water repellent (superhydrophobic) characteristics that reduce the risk of the phenomenon and promotes a more even greying process. OrganoWood^® Select Plus is industrially treated with OrganoWood^® 02 Repellent and therefore has a very effective protection. The water repellent properties result in the timber cracking less and becoming more dimensionally stable.

To read more and follow how the greying process goes from the natural colour to grey on both OrganoWood^®, OrganoWood^® Select and OrganoWood^® Select Plus, see the following page. To read more about fibre fuzz refer to Swedish wood’s excellent Wood guide.