It starts with the selection of an already dried lime wood, a wood that has always been used and marketed since ancient times, in fact, it was one of the most used woods for the creation of religious icons, ecclesiastical furnishings and carving works.
By virtue of this, in medieval times it was also known as "lignum sacrum" (sacred wood).
The lime wood is much loved by carpenters because it can be worked very well and does not present problems with any type of stress.

 SECTIONING.

The board is trimmed (the external bevels are removed) to the maximum available width and, subsequently, cut to the required height measurement. At this stage we try to be very careful by cutting the pieces of the board with any cracks or knots. For larger boards, starting from a width of about 35-40 cm, the boards are selected and subsequently glued to form boards with larger dimensions.

 PLANING AND FINGERJOINT SEAM

The boards cut in various sizes need to be planed to have a straight surface in front and back.
For the larger boards the boards are not only planed, but a finger joint is made with a cutter and then glued using a hot press, the boards are arranged with the pith grain on the same side.

CALIBRATE AND SANDING

The calibration phase allows to reduce the thickness of the boards by removing a layer and making it perfectly straight; sanding instead makes the surface completely smooth. Both phases are carried out by passing the boards under abrasive belts of coarser or finer grain, with the result of making them smooth and ready for any finishing.

PANTOGRAPHING

With the aid of numerically controlled machinery, the tables are processed with cutters on a pantograph. In front they are hollowed with a 45 ° cutter to create the cradle, on the back with a dovetail cutter (milled to accommodate the wedges) and contoured with a helical cutter on all 4 sides. We can make any board shape with arches of all types and multiple levels of excavation. The excavation is done on a very specific part of the table, the one in which the grain turns upwards.

MANUAL SANDING AND WEDGES ACCOMODATION

The cleaning of the marks left by the pantographing is done manually. The corners are rounded off, the marks of the cutters in the excavation and any residual hairs of the wood are removed.
The wedges are mainly in beech wood, they are cut according to the size of the board in a conical shape, both in width and in length. They are elegant in their rounded T shape and guarantee, once housed in the milling previously performed with a pantograph, a double seal of the table so that over time it does not "embark" on either side.

COATING

If the boards are rough, then the work is finished, if instead they are to be prepared with plaster (Gesso) then on the back and sides they are varnished. The coat includes the application of the water-based walnut-colored woodworm and anti-mold impregnating agent and then a final coat of walnut-colored water-based paint that isolates from the external environment. In that way, the board is protected. We use high quality paints, but at the same time very ecological. On request, we can varnish with other shades (darker or transparent) or leave the natural board without any paint.

 PLASTERING WITH GESSO 

The plastering phase ("gessatura") of the table consists of several steps performed manually with care. First of all the board is protected on the back and sides with paper tape and paper so that it does not get dirty during the following stages. The gluing of the canvas on the table with rabbit glue is the beginning of this process, then you begin to apply about 10 coats of Gesso with the brush and finally with the spatula. The Gesso is a mixture of rabbit glue and Bologna Gesso and a little bit of white Meudon, or on request only Bologna Gesso (or, to paint "a laghetto", all Meudon Gesso). At the end of the drafting phase, we move on to the finishing of the Gesso, that is manual sanding with 400 grit sandpaper.

QUALITY CONTROL

At the end of everything, the paper scotch that wraps the table is removed and, after much work, finally the icon board appears, ready for painting and gilding. Some minor imperfections are due to manual work, so we recommend further sanding with 800-1000 fine sandpaper only the parts where the gold leaf will be placed.