Care instructions depend entirely on the finish on your furniture. Oiling a polyurethane-finished piece does nothing. Putting poly over an oil finish creates a mess. Step one: figure out what finish you have.
If you bought from a Canadian maker, ask them directly. If you're not sure, here's a quick test:
Oil finishes are the most forgiving to maintain and the most common on handcrafted Canadian log furniture. The oil penetrates the wood rather than sitting on top, which means it moves with the wood as humidity changes — critical in Canadian climates where heating season drops indoor humidity to desert levels.
Annual maintenance: Apply a fresh coat of the same oil type once a year. Spring is ideal — after heating season, the wood is at its driest.
Wipe on a thin coat, let it soak for 15–20 minutes, wipe off the excess. The whole process takes 20 minutes per piece and the furniture is usable in 24 hours.
Spot repairs: Oil finishes are infinitely repairable. Scratch? Sand lightly with 320-grit, re-oil.
Water ring? Sand gently, re-oil.
You can't see the repair because the oil blends seamlessly. This is oil's biggest advantage over film finishes.
What to use: Whatever oil was originally applied. If you don't know, pure tung oil is the safest default — it works over any previous oil finish.
Lee Valley sells pure tung oil. Watco Danish Oil is at every Home Hardware in Canada.
Poly creates a hard, protective shell over the wood. It handles spills, scratches, and daily abuse better than oil. The tradeoff: when it fails, it fails visibly — peeling, cracking, cloudiness — and repair requires sanding back to bare wood and re-coating.
Maintenance: Minimal. Dust with a damp cloth.
Clean spills promptly but don't panic about them — poly is waterproof when intact. Don't apply oil or wax over polyurethane — it just sits on top and attracts dust.
When it needs help: After 5–10 years (longer in low-traffic areas), poly can start to wear through on contact surfaces — table tops, chair arms, bed rails. At that point, you're looking at a full strip-and-refinish job. This is a weekend project with chemical stripper and sandpaper, or a professional job.
Most factory-finished and commercial log furniture ships with lacquer. It's a good finish — hard, clear, fast-drying — but it's not a DIY repair material. If your lacquer finish gets damaged, the repair involves spraying, which requires equipment most people don't have.
Maintenance: Same as poly — damp cloth, prompt spill cleanup. Avoid placing hot items directly on lacquer (it can cloud or "blush" from heat and moisture).
Some log furniture is sold unfinished, either by choice or because it's up to the buyer. Unfinished log furniture in a dry, heated Canadian home will dry out faster, check more, and stain from any contact with moisture.
Apply a finish. Use our finish selector to pick the right one.
This is when most damage happens. Furnaces drop indoor humidity to 20–30% — the same as a desert.
Wood at this humidity level wants to shrink, and in a 4-inch diameter log, that means real movement. Checking (surface cracks) is most common during heating season.
Mitigation: Run a humidifier targeting 40–45% relative humidity. This isn't just good for your furniture — it's good for your sinuses, your hardwood floors, and your piano too. A $50 hygrometer from Canadian Tire tells you where you stand.
Best time for annual oil re-application on oil-finished pieces. The wood is at its driest after heating season, so it absorbs oil well.
Inspect all pieces for new checks, loose joints, or finish damage. This is your annual 30-minute maintenance window.
Humidity rises naturally. Indoor log furniture is happiest in summer.
The main risk is UV from south-facing windows — direct sunlight accelerates colour change and can damage some finishes over time. If a log piece sits in direct sun, consider moving it or using curtains during peak hours.
For outdoor log furniture, fall is the time to bring it in or cover it. Even cedar lasts longer with seasonal protection. For porch furniture, a good cover is cheaper than refinishing.
This is the Canadian-specific issue nobody else talks about. Hundreds of thousands of cottages across Ontario, Quebec, and BC sit empty and unheated from October to May. Indoor humidity in an unheated cottage swings from 80%+ in summer to well below 20% in January.
That's a 60+ percentage point swing in relative humidity, twice a year. No film finish survives this long-term — polyurethane and lacquer crack, peel, and bubble because the wood moves dramatically underneath the rigid surface coating.
The solution: Oil finish only in unheated cottages. Oil penetrates the wood and flexes with it. Re-oil each spring when you open the cottage.
Accept that some checking is inevitable in this environment — it's cosmetic, not structural, and it gives the piece character. Read our dedicated unheated cottage guide for the full picture.