Reactive stains work by reacting with the natural components WITHIN the wood.  Whereas, traditional stains add their color by painting the SURFACE of the wood.

Reactive stains create color from inside the wood by interacting with the woods natural ingredients to create unique, 2-toned colors in wide variations that cannot be duplicated with traditional staining methods.

Reactive stain's interaction with the natural tannins and sugars in the wood also creates an 'aged' look by replicating the oxidization and maturing process of naturally aged wood.  The natural maturing process will normally take decades to achieve, but with the reactive staining process it can create the same look immediately without harming the quality of the wood itself.

Fumed (AKA Smoked) wood has been exposed to ammonia which reacts with the natural tannins in the wood to bring out new colors and variations.

European oak is the preferred species for fuming/ smoking because of its high tannin content which brings out an intense darker color.

Because the intensity of the reaction depends on the tannin content of the wood, each board reacts a little differently from the next, creating color variation that is more pronounced than untreated wood.

It is a common mistake that fuming/ smoking involves application of the ammonia INTO the wood, but this is not the case.  The change in color comes from the wood's reaction to the presence of small amounts of ammonia in an enclosed environment.  The ammonia causes the tannins in the wood to be brought to the surface. The longer the wood is exposed to the ammonia, the darker it becomes, resulting in range of color from rich brown to almost black.

In European this fuming technique has been used for centuries, but in the US many people are unfamiliar with it and are unaccustomed to the wide color variation it achieves.  Remember – this variation is the floors ASSET and not a negative feature.