Choosing furniture

Styles

What do you want to buy

Off the shelf

Means you buy the furniture as you see it if the case you may have some options regarding color.

Custom

Means you buy a given basic structural model of the furniture and you can choose some given features as well as few established colors or type of finishing.

Bespoke

Means you buy a piece of furniture which is designed for a given space and to your specifications in terms of Style, Size, Finish, others.

Unique

Means you buy a one of a kind piece of functional art

Wood

Wood for furniture is split in two main categories: hard wood and soft wood.

Hard wood comes from trees that shed their leaves in winter while soft wood comes from trees that stay green all year round. Somewhat! Let say that is very old way of looking at wood, and it is a good rule of thumb.

When people say hard wood they mostly think of Oak, Walnut, Ash, Maple, Beech and when they are saying softwood they think of Pine, Poplar, Linden.

Technically the hardness of wood is measured on Janka scale, name after it’s inventor. Janka measures the force needed to insert a 11.28mm steel ball halfway into a wood board.

By comparison an average punch in amateur boxing is around 2500N which translates to 255kg. I would say this would be the maximum force you will exert on the furniture through the normal use (even under abnormal behavior). So just to be safe say that if you use wood over 300kg on Janka you should have it for a lifetime.

We would not advise to buy any furniture which is made of wood under this threshold as it scratches and dents easy even if you try to be very careful when using it.

Most woods under this threshold can be used for the infrastructure of furniture, say the reinforcing of a cabinet carcass.

Wood guide

North America

Oak
Black Walnut
Maple
Cherry

Europe

Oak
European Walnut
Maple
Cherry

Asia

Elm
Teak
Rosewood
Exotic

South America

Cumaru
Massaranduba
Genuine Mahogany
Exotic wood

Africa

Iroko
Padauk
Wenge
Exotic wood

Australia

Jarrah
Red Gum
Ash
Accacia

Finishing guide

Natural oils finishes take about two weeks to cure and are good for most furniture inside the house as long as they are not in contact with alcohol they should be fine. It taints the wood a bit but keeps the natural look and feel of the wood as it absorbs completely into the wood grain. We use only 100% natural high grade Linseed and Tung oil, or a combination of both.

It seals the wood well and hardens the surface somewhat. We would not advise using this type of finish for intensively used surfaces or exterior furniture. It applies easy, with a cloth. Leave for 10 min to be absorbed by the wood and than swipe clean with a dry cloth. Do that every 5 to 7 years. To give you a personal example we used Tung oil for our doors (Oak & Acacia) and the staircase (Oak).

Bees Wax is also a natural finish, which is very sensitive to most interaction with the object. Usually we would advise using wax as an additional finish after Natural Oils to give the surface an extra beautiful shine. Used by itself it applies with a dry cloth used to rub in between the fibers. It remains mostly to the surface of the wood and does not penetrate the fibers, thus it would not protect the wood that much. The main reason it is used is that it bring out the smell of wood from the furniture. You would need to wax once a year. We would advise using it only on wooden jewelry boxes, wooden jewelry or as finishing touch on a surface which has been previously oiled.

Danish oil is not necessarily an oil but rather a varnish. It is highly used in the high end furniture making as it brings out the wood fibers while protecting the surface well and it is easy to apply. We use the high grade version of Danish Oil it on most of the furniture we are making. What we vary is the number of coats we apply. It is applied with a cloth and after about 5 minutes you need to swipe the surface clean. 3 to 5 coats should be enough to protect the wood and yet retain it’s natural feel and look. The more coats applied the more shine the surface retains up to a glass surface. You can reapply additional coats every 10 years or so if surface is used frequently.

Lacquer is mostly used for surfaces that see a lot of use or are destined to be used in exterior settings. It is resistant to most substances and a good resistance to mechanical wear and tear normal to intensive use (meaning if you start banging on it, with who knows what tool, the surface will be damaged). Lacquer also comes in different colors, most of which are natural wood colors, and you will also see Lacquer in black or white. We use it frequently on exterior furniture or Pergolas. We have not used it that much for inferior furniture as it covers up the natural feel and look of the wood. It seals and protect the wood very well so even for exterior furniture there is no need to recoat more than one every 5 to 6 years. Most brand come with UV protection as well.

Paints are available in a huge variety of colors and types. Paints seal the wood and protect the wood very well. Can be used for exterior as well as for interior furniture. We recommend repainting the exterior pieces every 8 years or so and the interior pieces whenever you get bored of the color. We use natural clay based paints which. They do cover the wood looks but they keep how the wood feels to the touch, while they bring out vast possibilities for designing a space. You can find the available colors we use here, https://earthbornpaints.co.uk/colours/. One of the reasons we have chosen this supplier is the eco-friendly production process and ingredients. However, the main reason remains the high quality of the products they are selling. (We have no ties to this supplier juts found them to be in line with our values and needs).

Stains are not finishing as they do not seal or protect the wood. They are just ways to color wood. The colors are, as you can imagine, numerous as are the producers. We rarely use stains as Lacquer or Paints these days are a better alternative. Most of our use of Stains are Custom or Bespoke furniture. There is however an exception which is Iron Oxide which we use intensively for Ebonized Oak. Tannins in Oak react strongly to Iron Oxides (obtained by steel left for a week in vinegar) and darkens, becoming almost black. We use it because it is natural and leaves the wood look and feel intact. Then we use a finishing to seal and protect the wood.

Finishes

Dusting

do it regularly with a dry soft cloth as part of your house maintenance. Refold the cloth often to avoid scratching the surface as the cloth gets dirty. Don’t use any chemicals..

Cleaning

do it only with a soft cloth dampened with warm soapy water is sufficient for any routine cleaning. Avoid silicone, polish or abrasive solution as they create a film that gathers dust and ruins the surface.

Waxing & Oiling

do it with a soft cloth only if necessary and only after you are sure the surface is clean. Otherwise, do it every 5 years or so to keep up the surface luster. Clean beforehand.

Repairs

unlike most material used to make furniture wood is easy to repair in most cases. Mineral spirits will clean the surface and than you can recoat with Danish Oil or natural oils. See Finishing guide for details.

Spills

rub some wax or Linseed/Tung oil. If it is an old ring you did not attend to immediately you may have to use mineral spirits and recoat the surface. Easy to repair.

White rings

Hot

hot objects affect waxed and natural oiled surfaces. The exceptionally affect finishes like Danish Oil, Paint or Lacquer.

Scratches

Scratches – can be repaired with stained wax which needs to be rubbed in the direction of the surface. Some specialized markers are available as well. If worse than that you need to clean the surface with mineral spirits, sand it softly and with 120, 150, 180, 220 grit sandpaper and than re-Finished. It will look as good as new.

Materials, Cost & Quality

The adequate materials for your furniture

Now a days, the contemporary art had shown us that when it comes to furniture it can be build out of many materials, but few things have defined it as constantly as wood.

There are two types of materials for furniture:

engineered wood (particle board, MDF and Plywood).
solid wood. Solid wood is usually lighter than engineered wood.

Find out more

Cost & quality

The Cost & Quality, can vary wildly and mI don’t see many ay not necessarily be related to the intrinsic value of the furniture you are buying.

Low quality furniture will last few years and you will notice pretty soon the signs of wear and tear. Although cheap, it is sold at high profit margins and usually poor quality of manufacturing. It is usually worthless investing a lot of time and effort in low quality materials that still have to deal with resistance to wear and tear. This is the case of anything made out of Particle boards.

Find out more

Wood Guide

Particle Board

Made of soft & hard leftover wood chips and bark mixed with resin and pressed into forms.
Prone to splits and cracks. Not resistant to water and structurally weak.
Can be laminated with printed plastic or carboard, painted or veneered.
Lowest cost of all furniture materials and it comes in various degrees of quality which makes it a very poor choice for furniture.

MDF

Made of soft & hard leftover wood mixed with resin and pressed into forms.
Prone to splits and cracks. Not resistant to water and structurally weak.
Can be laminated with printed plastic, painted or veneered.
Good to build sides of cabinets and often used, pained, for kitchen and bathroom fronts.
Lower cost than Plywood and wood but higher cost to finish product as it is mostly included in furniture as painted panels.
Good for veneering.

Plywood

Made of soft and hard wood veneer (thin sheets of wood glued one on top of the other in a crossed grain pattern).
Resistant to splits and cracks, water and structurally resistant.
Can be laminated with printed plastic, painted or veneered.
A substitute for wood as it is much easier to process and keeps some of the exciting patterns of wood face grains as well as some it’s structural resistance.
More expensive that MDF. It is more resistant to ware and tear, and can be refinished.
Good for veneering

Solid wood

Natural occurring material, 100% regenerable and recyclable.
Comes in two general forms known as hard-wood (Oak, Walnut, Cherry, Maple, Ash) and soft-wood (Pine, Poplar).
Hard-wood furniture resist over a lifetime and with minimum care they become heirlooms.
Wood is not perfect and no two trees are the same, they have different stories which is woven into the grain. So every piece is unique.
Can be refinished indefinitely.

Choosing furniture Wood Finishing Wood care Sustainable existence