fagusnoir

Too many tree species, rare in our country, are used in large quantities for interior design and furniture. For aesthetic reasons, furniture design and interior architecture often rely on dark wood species that are expressive due to their grain, such as oak, walnut and cherry. The mentioned wood species make up only a very small proportion in the European forests. This leads to the fact that the population of these species decreases more and more due to the great demand so that the need must be covered with wood from abroad. Contrary to this, beech is becoming a problem due to lack of demand. In Switzerland, every fifth tree is a beech. Since it has too little sales at home, it is exported at rock-bottom prices to other countries. In the domestic market, the biggest sales are in the field of firewood. For these reasons, we consider it necessary to create new perspectives for the use of Swiss beech. Our concern is to give beech wood a higher significance with the value-adding process. We are developing a process in the wood technology laboratory of the BFH AHB that changes the wood’s own color. The aim is to color solid beech wood through the entire cross-section. The process is based on a natural phenomenon of the two substances tannin and iron. When these two substances react with each other in the wood, a dark, grayish tone is produced. The chemical reaction gives the beech the unique impression of having grown in this color. fagusnoir is completely colored wood.