Stretcher bars are an essential component of canvas prints. They literally hold everything together!
So when you print your photos on canvas then it’s important to have high quality bars. It is essential that your printer use kiln-dried bars. These may be almost any type of wood, the most common is pine. If wood isn’t kiln-dried then it still contains moisture. This moisture will eventually leave the wood, the result is warping and shrinking. This can leave your canvas slack and misshapen.
Kiln-drying wood gets rid of all the shrinking and warping during the drying process. This means that your kiln-dried stretcher bars won’t shrink or warp when assembled. It also crystalizes any sap (tannin) pockets, eliminating the possibility of tannin leeching.
The other question to ask is whether to use soft or hardwood. Typically people use pine (a softwood), and there is nothing wrong with pine, it’s cheap and easily sourced. Alternatively hardwood can be used. There is a bit of a stigma about using hardwood because of the association with old growth logging. However not all hardwood is old growth wood. Genius Printing uses Eco-Select hardwood, this hardwood is forested using methods approved by the Green Building Council of Australia. So yes, our wood is ‘green’.
The other myth out there is that all hardwood leeches tannins. This isn’t the case. ALL woods contain tannins, some more than others. Many hardwoods do have large amounts of tannins as do many softwoods. When talking about tannins you must be specific to the particular timber you’re using and the the grade of timber you’re using. Genius Printing uses Eucalyptus regnans, commonly known as Tasmanian Oak or Victorian Ash. It has a low amounts of tannin present, it is easy to work and the grain is straight with long and clear sections without knots. This wood is highly regarded by builders, furniture makers and architects. The wood Genius uses is furniture grade meaning it has no sap pockets present in it.
Hardwood stretcher bars have much greater tensile strength than pine stretcher bars. This means you can have much longer stretcher bars without having to increase the profile or size of the bar. Another advantage is that hardwood grows slower than pine which means the grain grows closer together, as well as greater strength. This also gives hardwood greater moisture resistance. All wood will re-absorb moisture eventually but hardwoods will take significantly longer to re-absorb than pine.
So the main thing to worry about with your canvas prints is whether the bars are kiln-dried. But if you have the option between hardwood and pine, hardwood is the better choice. Why would you buy a Holden when you could get a Mercedes for the same price?
Tags: Canvas Printing, canvas prints, hardwood, photo canvas, photos on canvas, picture canvas, pine, Stretcher Bars, tannins
