A few principles and basic concepts about wooden furniture
When you go to buy a wooden product, you might hear terms that don’t mean much to you... Additionally, since it’s a natural material, it can change over time, and there is also a way to alter its design according to your preferences. Therefore, you need to familiarize yourself with some basic processes and concepts about wooden furniture:
Softwood or solid wood
Wood types in the furniture industry are generally divided into two categories: softwoods and hardwoods, with the latter professionally known as "solid wood." Softwoods are typically evergreen conifers. Hardwoods are broad-leaved trees with flowers, which generally grow more slowly than softwoods, making them denser and therefore harder. Since hardwoods grow slower, they are more expensive. Bargain-priced furniture is often made of fast-growing softwoods, such as pine, and it’s important to be aware of this to correctly evaluate the quality of the product you’re buying.
Solid wood, plywood, or veneer
The way wood is used to make furniture is divided into three: using it as-is (solid wood), in boards (plywood), or in thin layers (veneer). When furniture is made of veneer, it is essentially based on a different wood (solid or plywood) but coated with thin layers of more luxurious wood. Veneer furniture generally looks very good, isn’t expensive, but at the same time has lower quality and tends to crack easily. Manufacturers often use veneer to save costs.
Although plywood is considered relatively strong due to its structure made of layers in an odd number, solid wood is always the preferred choice. When choosing solid wood furniture, you don’t have to worry about potential peeling or problems down the line, especially since any issue that arises with it can be easily fixed.
Color changes in wood
One of the natural characteristics of wood you should be aware of is its tendency to change color over time. Among the main reasons for this is sunlight. For example, you might notice that the area around a rug on a wooden floor becomes darker than the area underneath the rug. Another reason is oxidation—exposure to oxygen—that causes chemical changes in the wood. As a result, after months or years, depending on the product’s quality and other variables, the wood can become darker, lighter, or even completely change its color.
This isn’t always a bad thing, as sometimes the color change enhances the wood's appearance, as is the case with mahogany or cherry wood. Additionally, it should be noted that this doesn’t always happen, such as in cases of light woods like oak, ash, or pine, which are often treated with various chemical processes before being used for furniture to prevent color changes.
So why is it important to understand and know all this? Because you need to know how to treat your wooden furniture to prevent unwanted changes. For example, if you bought a cherry wood table, it’s highly recommended not to leave objects on it without moving them for an extended period, as they will leave marks you won’t be able to get rid of. Additionally, if you placed furniture in a room with sunlight coming from one side, it’s advisable to rotate it occasionally to ensure its color changes uniformly.
Wood staining
Most wooden furniture you buy has undergone staining processes that change the natural color of the wood. This can be a bit confusing, as the wood colors are sometimes named after other tree species. For example, you might see furniture made of maple wood, but its color is walnut.
The advantage of staining wood lies not only in altering its appearance but also in affecting how its color changes over time. For instance, cherry wood has fibers with a beautiful design, but if you prefer its pattern without the characteristic red color, you can buy it stained, which also reduces its color changes over time. Another advantage of staining wood is that it lowers the price of furniture that looks luxurious. For example, you can buy inexpensive wood furniture stained to look like expensive walnut wood.
10 Common Types of Wood in Furniture
Now that you understand some principles and basic concepts about wood, it’s time to learn about some of the common types used in furniture production, along with their main characteristics:
1. Ash Wood
A solid wood known for its heavy weight, strength, hardness, and shock-absorbing ability. It is often used to create furniture requiring wood bending, such as chairs with designed backrests. It has wavy fibers and ranges in color from creamy white to gray with brown to dark red streaks. Staining enhances its fibers, and it is usually found in veneer form on furniture.
2. Beech Wood
A strong and impact-resistant solid wood used for building furniture with curved elements, often in Scandinavian style. It is considered less attractive than ash wood and has fine grains. It is often combined with more luxurious woods for chair and table legs, drawer sides and bottoms, and the back parts of cabinets. In its natural state, beech wood is light in color, but it is usually stained to give it the appearance of mahogany, maple, or cherry wood.
3. Birch Wood
A solid wood used for making very specific parts of furniture, such as sofa frames, and sometimes for exposed, visible parts. It is heavy, strong, and shock-resistant. Its color ranges from yellowish-brown and resembles maple in shade and fibers. Paint adheres well to it, allowing it to mimic mahogany or walnut.
4. Cherry Wood
This is one of the most popular solid woods, often used for creating furniture and cabinets, usually in veneer form. It has medium hardness, but it is strong, durable, and absorbs shocks well. It is also wear-resistant. Its elegant and unique appearance features straight fibers less prominent than in other woods, like ash and oak. Cherry wood tends to change color over time; when freshly cut, it has a salmon-pink hue, but furniture made from it is usually slightly stained to reduce the pink shade.
Its color changes and reaches its final shade after six months of sun exposure, but even after several years, its color can continue to deepen into a reddish hue, typical of cherry wood. Ultimately, its color stabilizes, so it’s advisable not to leave items on a cherry wood table for long periods without moving them, as they can create color variations in the wood.
5. Mahogany Wood
A tropical solid wood used for creating high-quality furniture for many years. It has a consistent texture throughout, medium hardness, heavy weight, and high strength. The wood is highly resistant to moisture and weather changes compared to other woods, so it doesn’t tend to shrink or swell. It is widely used for veneer production due to its ease of carving. Its color naturally changes over time, starting as pinkish and gradually turning reddish-brown. The color continues to evolve, but don’t expect it to darken to the extent of antique mahogany furniture you may have seen in museums.
6. Maple Wood
This is a solid, durable, dense, and very attractive wood used for making, among other things, countertops (butcher block) and certain furniture. It is heavy, hard, and strong, with good resistance to shocks and moisture. It has a fine and uniform texture, with mostly straight fibers, but occasionally features patterns such as bird’s eye, flames, tiger stripes, and waves. However, it is mainly used for creating modern furniture where the fiber designs are not emphasized. The wood tends to change color over time, starting with a light brown and slightly reddish hue, eventually acquiring a deep honey tone.
7. Oak Wood
This is one of the most popular solid woods, highly valued for its strength and the unique appearance of its grains. It is heavy, hard, and durable, available in various shades—from reddish to gray-brown. Over time, its color tends to darken, but the change is very subtle and less dramatic than in other wood types, such as mahogany or cherry wood.
8. Pine Wood
This is a softwood used to make various furniture. It is lightweight and not as strong as solid woods. Although it tends to crack and scratch easily, it resists changes such as swelling or shrinking. Its fiber patterns are relatively simple and uniform, and it is often used for doors, frames, or garden furniture. Its color changes over time; when freshly cut, it has a pale straw color, sometimes with reddish tints. Upon exposure to air and light, it darkens and acquires a rich honey color, similar to maple wood. Over hundreds of years, its tone becomes darker.
9. Poplar Wood
This is a relatively soft, lightweight, strong, and stable wood, rarely used for making furniture, mainly as a frame or in addition to other woods, such as drawer bottoms or sides. Its natural color is yellow-brown with hints of green streaks, and when exposed to sunlight and air, its color changes to a soft brown.
10. Walnut Wood
Walnut trees grow very slowly, taking about 150 years to mature for furniture production, making this wood dense and very hard. This is a solid wood highly sought after in the furniture industry, used both as solid wood and veneer, as well as for countertops. It is known for its hardness, strength, and stability, along with its heavy weight and shock resistance. These characteristics make it one of the most expensive woods, with particularly impressive designs as its fibers take on various forms. Over time, the wood becomes lighter and acquires a honey-like color, with its fibers becoming more pronounced.
