Posted by Chris under Furniture Resources on June 03, 2011
Many people ask us for advice on which wood types to choose for their furniture. Basically, which wood you choose depends on the context: mahogany, walnut, yew, and elm, for example, are generally considered more "formal" wood types. Cherry, oak, and especially pine are usually used in country style furniture. However, these are only trends and guidelines—not rules. You can definitely mix different wood types as long as the style of the furniture and the color match (color is determined by the stain, not the wood). Of course, being able to identify wood types certainly helps.
Similar Wood Types
The first of the two following tables is mahogany, and the second is cherry. As you can see, they are both beautiful, formal tables and the wood looks relatively similar (the difference is in the grain). Thus, depending on the style of the pieces that you're dealing with, you can substitute cherry for mahogany and vice versa.
Similar Styles
In contrast, consider the following two tables, which are identical models but have different wood types; the oak table is also hand-planed and distressed, giving it a more country style appearance. Oak is also generally considered to be a "less formal" wood, although whether you'd use an oak table or a walnut table depends entirely on the style of your home and the furniture within it.
A Little Banding Goes a Long Way
Adding banding to the edge of a piece can make it look slightly more formal without overdoing it. So, as an example, consider the following two pictures. One shows plain cherry, and the other shows cherry with yew banding. A nice touch, isn't it?
More Common English Woods
Beyond these three basic wood types (cherry, mahogany, and oak), the other two most common woods used in English furniture are elm and yew, which are represented in the following bookcase and cabinet, respectively. Note how they don't really look all that different from the other wood types, at least insofar as color and style are concerned.
In Summary...
The most common English woods are mahogany, cherry, walnut, oak, yew, and elm. Occasionally maple, rosewood, pine, and ash are used; satinwood and rosewood are relatively common inlays. Knowing this can sometimes help identify "fakes" that are represented as genuine English furniture; for example, teak is highly unlikely to be used in English furniture, as it is principally an Asian wood. We hope that we've answered some of your wood type questions. As always, feel free to leave any additional questions and concerns in the comments section below!
Tags: wood, tips
1 comment.
Posted by Chris under Furniture Commentary on February 26, 2011
This is an old topic of debate and I wager that the discussion will never end. However, if you're in the market for quality furniture, you definitely want to know where you stand before settling on a purchase. As with most topics, misinformation is all too common, so I want to clarify a few things. First:
"Veneer" does not necessarily mean "bad."
We cannot emphasize this strongly enough! While I can understand concerns about veneer and preferences for solid wood, it is important to keep in mind the difference between quality veneers and cheap cabinetry. Veneers aren't something that Asian furniture manufacturers invented when they flooded the world with crappy furniture; to the contrary, veneers derive from an old and venerable furniture-making tradition. Back in the Georgian period and beyond, for instance, veneered furniture was considered higher quality, since it took more skill to carefully arrange the expensive veneers over solid wood than it did to slap a few boards together and call it furniture (which still holds true). Cabinetmakers began to use veneers as a way to develop their craft, allowing them to employ a greater variety of techniques using a wider selection of rare wood types, which were so expensive and uncommon—even for the finest furniture—that they were only available in veneers. Even today, the most exquisite wood can only be found in veneers, including burl walnut and flame mahogany. Finally, "inlays" are actually a type of veneer, so if you're looking at anything with wood inlays, you're looking at veneers.
Here are just two examples of high quality veneers over solid wood:
As you can see, the above flame mahogany and satinwood credenza is
not some cheap, Indonesian-made throwaway. Likewise, the obscene variety of exquisite inlays in the above marquetry chest indicate only the finest quality. I may be tooting my own horn at this point, but I want to illustrate not only that 1) veneers can be high-quality, especially in English-made furniture, but also that 2)
some techniques and wood types can only be employed by using veneers. If a veneer splits or cracks, don't blame veneers as such: blame the manufacturer! Veneers as a technique and a material are no more culpable for bad industry practices than solid wood is when wood splits or cracks. Which brings me to my next point:
All solid wood eventually warps, splits, and cracks!
There is even a name for this phenomenon: "age splits" (the idea being that the wood in quality furniture won't split until it has aged). This is why many cabinetmakers, including our own, offer the option of medium-density fiberboard (MDF), which is stronger, denser, and heavier than solid wood—and which also never warps, splits, or cracks. Solid wood, however, has the advantage of being a little easier to repair in the event that a piece sustains damage. Even so, solid wood and veneers are not mutually exclusive categories, so you will often see, as in our own furniture, that solid wood pieces are overlaid with fine veneers. This gives the cabinetmaker much more flexibility with the design and construction, opening up new possibilities for inlays, banding, and other techniques. In all likelihood, furniture that is purely solid wood with no veneers or inlays whatsoever will be rustic or country style, since formal furniture long ago adapted motifs of inlay and banding that are now irreducibly part of the formal furniture tradition.
So, if you're in the market for reproduction or antique furniture, we hope that you can now go forth into the world with good information. Just remember that if you ever touch on a controversy like the one that has erupted on the topic of solid wood and veneered furniture, you probably want to do some research before buying. After all, if you wind up moving or re-arranging your furniture collection, you may want to sell a few of your own pieces. We hope that we've at least cleared up this little impasse for you, but if you have any other questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below!
Tags: veneer, solid wood, tips
0 comments.
Posted by under Furniture Commentary on July 15, 2009
A friend of mine asked me the other day about how I distinguish different wood types. Now, I only regularly deal with a limited selection of wood types, but there are two basic facts that you need to know.
1. The first, most important thing I could say on the subject is this: there is no such thing as a "cherry finish" (to name the most popular example). This is a misnomer invented for the convenience of cheap synthetic veneers made to look like cherry (or any other wood type), and the term has simply become so popular that it has come to incorrectly apply to real and imitation cherry alike. Finishing is the process of staining and coating applied to a wood.
2. The way to identify wood is by its grain—not by its color. There is, again, no such thing as a "cherry color." Before staining, nearly all wood simply looks, in color at least, like the normal timber you'll find at any hardware store. This is why you will find, for example, oak furniture that is very light, or orange, or even black (as when it is ebonized). Some woods, however, tend to be a certain color, like yew, which tends to be orange-ish, and all woods take differently to different stains. However, the rule still stands: you identify wood by its grain.
It is difficult to explain what each grain looks like, but it is easy to show with pictures. Just see the following. (Click on the pictures for larger sizes.)
Continue reading...
Tags: furniture, tips, wood
6 comments.
