• Wood is a living material: a famous saying states that “if it doesn’t move it isn’t wood” (perhaps to justify any defects in the floors….!).
  • Wood is a living material: a famous saying states that “if it doesn’t move it isn’t wood” (perhaps to justify any defects in the floors….!). For antique wooden floors, the terms “first patina”, “second patina”, “solid” are used to indicate respectively the direction of the original wood, the original upside-down wood, the wooden board with a certain thickness (for which birch support is used).
  • The cherry, pear and walnut, used in the construction of floors, generally come from plants that do not bear fruit. In fact, it is said that fruit trees “either produce good fruit or excellent wood”.
  • The knots in the wood are caused by branches that, at the time of cutting, may be alive or already dry: in the first case the knot is the same color as the wood, in the second it is much darker and can also be removed, leaving however a hole in the wood.
  • The veins, typical signs of wood, are due to the passage of water and mineral salts from the leaves to the stem.
  • The fir is one of the longest-lived plants: it even lives 600 years!
  • The cypress is the most cited plant by Italian poets.
  • Many sculptors use antique wood to revive the history of the piece they are working on.
  • To wrap fish, the Japanese still use wooden leaves, as thin as a sheet of tissue paper.
  • Also in Japan, bark is often used to build the roofs of houses; secular roofs are obtained, because the bark resists even to prohibitive atmospheric conditions.
  • Also in the Belluno area, particularly in the Zoldano area, the “scandole” (oak wood tiles) are used to cover the roofs. In the past, in the mountains (in the Veneto and Bergamo areas), “sgalmare”, shoes with a wooden sole, were a very popular type of footwear. For the American Indians, wood was sacred; for this they obtained totems from the trees, built in honor of the divinities.