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When it comes to home furnishings, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options! In today's world of diverse home furnishing materials, solid wood is an unavoidable choice. I'm sure every household has a few pieces of solid wood furniture. But are you really choosing the right ones?

Merchant's "solid wood" VS your "solid wood"

What we consumers think of as "solid wood furniture" is furniture made from a whole piece of log and then coated with a layer of varnish on the surface.

But when we walked into the store and listened to the sales pitch, we were completely confused! Because in the eyes of some merchants, anything that has something to do with wood seems to be called "solid wood furniture."

So, what exactly is considered real solid wood furniture? Let's explain it one by one.

「Material types of furniture」

Genuine solid wood category.

log

Log furniture is made from boards that are directly cut from trees. Its production and design emphasize simplicity and naturalness, and it is strong and durable.

▲The logs are made of pure natural materials.

Straight board

Straight-jointed boards are made of wood panels that are spliced together. Simply put, straight-jointed boards are the most authentic and genuine solid wood furniture.

▲The above picture clearly shows the natural color difference caused by the splicing of straight boards

Finger joint plate/tooth joint plate

Finger-jointed lumber is made by gluing two pieces of wood together with their ends serrated. It can also be thought of as two boards interlaced like fingers. High-quality finger-jointed lumber is just as strong as straight-jointed lumber and resists deformation and warping.

▲Left is tooth joint plate /right is finger joint plate

Regarding this type of material, I want to say one thing: expensive things are generally not bad, except for their price. (Of course, if you are really looking for them, there will still be disadvantages . Curious friends are welcome to leave a message to discuss~)

A worker who worked in a furniture factory once told me that their factory never used whole pieces of wood as raw materials. They were all made of synthetic boards and compressed boards, and the grain seen on the surface was just a layer of film.

So: Never pay for solid wood and get furniture made of composite panels.

Veneer wood

This is a classic case of selling fake goods under false pretenses. This is a common tactic used by many businesses to deceive consumers. They take cheap furniture made of composite panels, apply a layer of real wood veneer, and then paint it, disguising it as solid wood furniture.

▲This is how many “solid wood panels” that can be bought on Taobao for just a few hundred dollars come from.

Multi-layer solid wood board

Multi-layer solid wood boards are made by pressing multiple layers of veneer or thin boards. They are easy to identify. This type of board is also called plywood. The more glue is used, the more attention should be paid to the formaldehyde problem.

This is the first artificial wood board that meets the national standard, so it certainly cannot be counted as solid wood.

▲Multi-layer solid wood board

Composite panels

Composite board, also known as man-made board, is the most common wooden board in furniture such as wardrobes, tables and chairs.

Particleboard, MDF, fiberboard, solid wood particleboard, medium-density fiberboard, core board... These are all made of crushed wood, sawdust, wood fiber and various adhesives. They have high formaldehyde content and are definitely not solid wood.

1. Introduction to the classification of solid wood furniture wood

Solid wood furniture can be roughly divided into two categories, one is pure solid wood furniture, that is, all materials used in the furniture are solid wood, the other is imitation solid wood furniture, mainly refers to furniture made of a mixture of solid wood and artificial boards.

Of course, the first type is real solid wood furniture, that is, furniture made of materials that have not been reprocessed and do not use any artificial boards. The following editor will give a detailed introduction to various common types of solid wood furniture wood, answer the owner's question of which type of wood is good for solid wood furniture, and help the owner know how to distinguish when purchasing :

1. Manchurian ash: Its wood is slightly hard, with straight texture, coarse structure, beautiful patterns, good corrosion resistance and water resistance. It is easy to process but not easy to dry. It has high toughness, good gluing, painting and coloring properties, and good decorative properties. It is currently the most commonly used wood for furniture and interior decoration.

2. Beech: Also known as "椐木" or "椇木." Produced in southern China, while not considered a luxury wood, it is widely used by the general public. While strong and heavy, beech is highly impact-resistant, yet easily bends under steam, allowing for shaping. Its grain is distinct, its texture uniform, and its color is soft and smooth. It is a suitable material for mid- to high-end furniture.

3. Oak: The advantages of oak are its distinctive mountain-shaped grain, pleasant touch, solid texture, strong structure of the finished product, and long service life. However, its disadvantages are that high-quality tree species are relatively rare, leading to the widespread substitution of rubber wood for oak in the market. In addition, poor workmanship may lead to deformation, shrinkage, and cracking.

4. Birch: Its growth rings are slightly distinct, the grain is straight and distinct, the wood structure is fine, soft and smooth, and the texture is soft or medium. Birch is elastic, but it is prone to cracking and warping when dry and is not wear-resistant. Birch is a mid-range wood, and both solid wood and veneer are common.

5. Fir: It is light and soft, easy to dry, has little shrinkage, does not warp or crack, has good durability and is easy to process. It has a rough cut surface, medium strength, is easy to split, and has good gluing properties. It is the most commonly used mid-range wood for furniture and decoration in southern provinces.

6. Juglans mandshurica: Its wood is glossy, with straight or oblique grain and a slightly coarse structure. It dries slowly but is not prone to warping. It has good toughness and is easy to work with, resulting in a smooth cut surface. It bends well, paints well, and glues well, and has strong nailing strength.

7. Yellow pineapple: Its wood has the advantages of good gloss, straight texture, coarse structure, obvious and uniform annual rings, soft material, easy to dry, good processing performance, beautiful color and pattern, good paint and gluing performance, not easy to split; good corrosion resistance, etc. However, due to its poor nailing strength, furniture made of yellow pineapple often has disadvantages such as being unstable.

8. Elm: A hardwood similar to elm, it generally takes 40 to 60 years to mature, or even hundreds of years. Its rough texture is often used to make casual solid wood furniture, reflecting its grandeur and spirit of being in harmony with the sky.

9. Maple: Maple comes in two varieties: soft maple and hard maple. It is a temperate wood found south of the Yangtze River. Maple has a cross-grained, fine, uniform structure, is lightweight yet hard, and has excellent patterning. It's easy to work with, though the cut surface isn't smooth and it can warp easily when drying. It also has good paintability and strong gluing properties.

10. Rosewood: Rosewood furniture is characterized by its darker color, which often reflects an antique style. Generally, the wood itself has its own fragrance. In addition, it has the advantages of being harder, stronger and more durable.

The disadvantage is that due to the low output of the material, it is difficult to find high-quality tree species, resulting in uneven quality of mahogany furniture. At the same time, mahogany material is relatively greasy and easily loses oil under high temperatures. In addition, it is difficult to process and the price is extremely high, so it has a certain collection value.

2. How to judge the quality of solid wood furniture

In fact, what kind of wood is good for solid wood furniture is only one aspect, and the value of solid wood furniture does not only depend on the wood it uses, but also the following aspects should be noted:

1. The manufacturer's processing equipment and technological capabilities: Generally, large manufacturers are more thorough in the processing of wood, while small workshop-type factories have poorer quality assurance. Even if the wood used by small factories is all real materials, various problems may still occur in the future due to problems with the equipment and technology.

2. Workmanship: It is not enough to just make the outside look beautiful. The feel of the inside, the smoothness and neatness of the workmanship also reflect the quality of the furniture.

3. Auxiliary materials: The quality of adhesive (glue) and paint is also the key to environmental protection. The simpler and more environmentally friendly, the better.

Fourth, the quality of hardware: hinges, slides, handles, etc. also greatly affects the quality of furniture.

3. Tips for identifying solid wood furniture

The above introduction to common solid wood furniture wood types has answered in detail the owner's questions about which wood is better for solid wood furniture. So when buying solid wood furniture, how should you choose and how to prevent unscrupulous merchants from selling fake products?

When purchasing solid wood furniture, you should first pay attention to whether there are clear wood grains on the furniture panel. If so, look at the back of the furniture to see if there is the same pattern. If so, it can be roughly determined to be pure solid wood.

Another method is to look at the knots. If there are the same scars on both sides of the board, it can be confirmed to be pure solid wood furniture.

When purchasing solid wood furniture, you should also check whether the wood of the boards and drawers is dry and white, whether the texture is tight and fine, and whether there is any pungent smell;

Check whether the surface processing of the wood board is fine, whether the panel is smooth, whether there are burrs, and whether there are cracks or bubbles in the paint. The wood of poor quality solid wood furniture is mostly chestnut red, and the color and style will look a bit old-fashioned.

4. Maintenance of solid wood furniture

The only drawback of solid wood furniture is that changes in moisture content can easily cause it to deform. Therefore, it should be kept out of direct sunlight and the indoor temperature should not be too high or too low. Excessively dry or humid environments are not suitable for solid wood furniture. In addition, the components of solid wood furniture are usually connected by mortise and tenon structure and adhesives, and the finished products are generally not disassembled.

The End