Initial Cleaning: The Third Step in the Journey of Oud
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When a piece of oud comes out of the tree, it is laden with dust, remnants of bark, and impurities clinging to it from the forest. And from here comes the third step in the journey of oud: the initial cleaning, which is the first processing that removes what has clung to the piece from outside before any finer trimming. In this article we address this step as the practical beginning of turning the raw piece into an oud that can be evaluated.
What is meant by the initial cleaning?
The initial cleaning is the removal of what has clung to the piece from outside: the dust, the mud, the remnants of bark, and the impurities that stuck to it during extraction and transport. It is a surface cleaning that tends to the exterior of the piece before its essence is looked at, its aim being to make the piece clean enough to handle and evaluate in the following steps.
And it is important to distinguish: the initial cleaning is not the removal of the white wood, nor the final refining. It is the first step in the chain of cleaning, removing only the foreign matter clinging to the piece, and leaving the scraping of the resin-free white wood to the following step.
Why is oud cleaned early?
The early initial cleaning has three benefits: the first is lightening the piece of an excess weight that has no worth, the second is uncovering the true condition of the piece after removing what conceals it of dust and impurities, and the third is protecting the piece from the factors that may spoil it if the impurities were left clinging to it for a long time. For the clean piece is easier to evaluate and better preserved.
The aim of the initial cleaning is not to beautify the piece, but to uncover its true condition. For what looks like a dull piece under the dust may, after cleaning, reveal promising veins, and the reverse is true. Cleaning shows the truth, it does not make it.
The difference between it and the other cleaning steps
A quick field cleaning of the piece may take place in the forest itself, which we spoke of in how is oud cleaned in the forest?, its aim being to lighten the load before leaving the forest. As for the initial cleaning here, it is finer and more organized, taking place in a more settled location, and it prepares the piece for the full chain of processing.
And it also differs from the following step — the removal of the white wood — which scrapes the resin-free wood to reveal the dark veins. For the initial cleaning treats what clings to the piece from outside, and the removal of the white wood treats the structure of the piece itself. Each of them is an independent step with its own aim.
From the initial cleaning to the removal of the white wood
When the piece becomes clean of the external impurities, it is ready for the finer following step: the removal of the resin-free white wood. For the initial cleaning paved the way by uncovering the structure of the piece, and showed where the white wood ends and the dark veins begin.
And thus the initial cleaning has performed its role in the chain of processing: a clean starting point for all that follows it. And in the following axis of this journey we move to the fourth step: the removal of the white wood.
In good processing the steps are not mixed. For the initial cleaning stops at removing the external impurities, and does not go beyond it to scraping the wood. This separation between the steps protects the piece from mistakes and makes each stage well done.
Every piece passed through a cleaning that uncovers its essence. At Oud Treasure we bring oud directly from its sources in the islands of Indonesia. Begin with a sample by which you test the scent, the origin, and the grade.
Browse natural oudRequest a sampleThis article is the third axis of the journey of oud from the Indonesian forest to the Gulf customer's majlis, and it is preceded by extracting the wood.
And for the field cleaning in the forest review how is oud cleaned in the forest?
