Bamboo industry in Indonesia

Cebongan, the traditional bamboo industry center in Indonesia. 

Indonesia country is one of the bamboo-producing places in the world. The utilization of bamboo in Indonesia has done a lot since long time ago in traditional and heredity. Bamboo trees are available in large amount make this substrate is widely used as materials to make various purposes. Bamboo has lot of uses to make framework and the wall of the house, cutlery, utensils household and furniture since many years ago. Now with the development in the woodworking technology, the uses of bamboo have been replaced with many other materials. Building materials like cement and bricks have replaced the bamboo for the house frame and wall, aluminum has replaced bamboo for cooking utensils and cutlery, while the uses bamboo for furniture has been replaced with wood that has more variation and flexibility than bamboo.

However, there still some peoples like bamboo product since it has unique characters and appearance that cannot be made by other material. His natural and traditional looked make bamboo products are still loved by some peoples. 
 
In Indonesia there are many bamboo industry centers that are still developing and survive by specialized in making products from bamboo. One of them is the bamboo furniture industry center in Sleman, Yogyakarta. There are a lot of bamboo manufacturers who has been  making many goods from bamboo since many decades ago. Many types of bamboo products are made here, such as: bamboo furniture, household, handicraft and home appliances or even gazebo or bamboo house can be made and ordered in here. The manufacturers here are mostly the people who continue the tradition of making bamboo products hereditary. They started their business and production of bamboo goods with simple tools and production systems that were inherited from his predecessors. But then, with stronger demand for bamboo products with better quality, then they started to improve their production and management system to meet the industry wishes. The bamboo industry here has combined their traditions in the mastery of bamboo with modern production technology and management so they are available to produce bamboo products with high quality.

 

Here are some sample images of bamboo product. 

lamp cover

furniture

 wall

miscellaneous

 basket

  If you interested you can go and visit them in Cebongan and Sendari, Tirtoadi, Mlati, Sleman, Yogyakarta. It just takes about 15 minutes by car from center of Yogyakarta to get there. There area many kind product are interesting, natural and unique available.  They are also available to make the special product design if necessary.  

If you need more information you may send email to contact us.

Bamboo

 Bamboo trees

Bamboo for furniture

Bamboo is one of plant species that is also exploited by human as a material for making furniture. Bamboo is one of the species that can live easily and commonly found in all regions in the world. China may be the place that has the most species of bamboo in the world. Bamboo plant is known to have many benefits for human life since long time ago to use. Bamboo stem is flexible, strong and durable making it has many advantages for human life. The bamboo tree is also is a renewable sources and can be easy planted with the relative short time of planting shorter than wood trees, so technically easier cultivated than wood trees.
Bamboo has been widely used for human life since long time ago as house frame, furniture and other home appliance. Now with the discovery of other materials, the use of bamboo for house frame and house hold use has been decrease. The use of bamboo for manufacture of house and the furniture is still done in the villages where bamboo is still widely available in abundant quantities.

At this time the bamboo is more used for the manufacture of handicraft products and furniture to take explore its beauty and uniqueness that make it different with other substrates. The other advantages of bamboo are: it is a natural product that is environmentally friendly, relatively inexpensive, easily cultivated and has unique and interesting shapes. Although less popular than the wood, the uses of bamboo for furniture products are being conducted. His unique appearance and shape can be maximizes to produce a unique and interesting furniture.

 Bamboo furniture

Bamboo tree has a shape like a tube that is empty inside, so it does not  have wide and large surfaces. This makes it somewhat difficult to use bamboo to create a form with a surface area and large. Most of the bamboo furniture is design to emphasize his unique shape and form. But now with the wood processing technology the large surfaces can be made with bamboo slice or bamboo laid or woven sheet. Slice bamboo is also widely used as an accent to make products with a combination of wood furniture.
At the present time with the development of woodworking technology, the bamboo can also be arranged and the laminating surface to form a wide and spacious. Currently bamboo can also be sliced to create a bamboo veneer, but the use of bamboo is still far less than woods. Bamboo does not have a unique grain like woods, so it is not really has interesting looked and variation match such as wood. The variation of bamboo mostly made made from the variation of the wicker and webbing arrangement. Now with the arrangement  of slice and  veneer match there are more variation can be made with bamboos to create an accent for furniture products. Bamboo  does not have a wide range of unique grain and pores pattern like wood, the bamboo variation is more on the skin that different according with its species. 

Finishing for bamboo. 

The outer skin of bamboo has a color and patterns that vary depending on the species of bamboo. Therefore, it is to a wide surface area, the bamboo stems is sliced and cut to show the unique appearance of its outer skin. Bamboo slices are then arranged and composed in certain patterns to produce interesting looked. The inside part of the bamboo relatively has uniform shape, since that the arrangement of bamboo is one of the important elements to form an interesting appearance for bamboo product. The finishing for bamboo also has limited choice not as much as wood. Bamboo is mostly finished in natural color. The clear coating application or light stain is widely used for bamboo product. Additional colors with stain and glaze application to create the antic looked is also preferred by some peoples. 

 Bamboo wall

Turn mite or bugs 

Bamboo is a plants favored by insects, it is very ease to get problem with a turn mite or other insect. Actually with the proper way of cutting, by selection the cutting based on age and the right timing it can be obtained durable and strong bamboo products naturally. But nowadays, the modern industry can not do that, the preservation of bamboo is mostly done chemically. The newly harvested bamboo is dipped in chemicals and then continued with the drying process to produce bamboo substrate which is durable and long lasting.

 
 How to Build with Bamboo: 19 Projects You Can do at Home 

The fire risk of the glaze

The glaze rag that is burnt itself.

Have you seen or heard about the fire incident in the furniture factories or finishing room?. Here is a story that show how dangerous is finishing material. The finishing material is need to be handling carefully since it a highly flammable material and could be very dangerous..

One day we were invited by a furniture factory for finishing work on his sample. At that time I was new in the world of furniture finishing, I just two years working in the furniture finishing industry. I went to the factory along with my senior to do the finishing job. There were two bedroom sets we need to finish; one set was made of pine wood that need to be finish in light brown transparent color, while another one was a bed set made of mahogany wood with a dark brown transparent color. Totally there were 12 items that we need to be finished. 

At the time we got there the first time we did was checking the unfinished product. And we found that the products were still not ready, there were still some job need to be corrected,. The sanding was not perfect and some touch up was need to make a good preparation. Therefore, we did the touch up and sanded the sample product until they were ready to the finishing process. This situation actually is quite common for us. The samples usually is done in the rush time. The samples are always new product so the people still learn to get the best system to make it. Moreover, this factory was still new to the finishing process; previously he had been making more on unfinished product.

The color, panel, finishing materials and finishing systems was ready since we had prepared in our lab a few days before. The finishing system for both colors was the same but with different color of the body stain, pad stain and glaze.

The finishing process was:

1. Sap stain and stain equalizer

2. Body stain

3. Wash coat

4. Glaze

5. Sealer

6. Dry brush glaze

7. Sealer

8. Pad stain

9. Top coat

It took quite long time to do the preparation on the unfinished product. Finally we started the finishing process at 02.00 PM.  There were some peoples from the factory which helps us to do the finishing process. But the people who worked with us were still new and have never known the finishing process. So most of the finishing work such as staining, sealer application, was done by us ( I and my senior).

We plan to do the finishing process until the glaze application in the first day. Thus we could give long time the let the glaze to dry thoroughly before continuing with the next process. And we did. We finished the glaze application about 07.00 PM when it was getting dark and we're all tired. We washed and cleaned our spray gun, hand, body and other equipment. While the trash such as sandpaper, rag and dirty cloths that used  were collected.  Then we went home to continue the work for next day.
The next day we came to into the factory to continue to the next finishing job. I arrived at the factory at 08:00 AM. I am surprised because in the room there was a fire or burning trash. Who burn trash in this room?
We did the investigation to find why there was a fire  in the night before.  Finally it found that no one has lit a fire in the room. The fire was from the stack of dirty rag and clothes that burnt itself.  Fortunately, there were no other flammable items close to the fire, so the fire was not spread and cause bigger disaster.

The incident is still stay in my mind until now.  It reminds me to always be careful in handling the finishing materials include the waste from the finishing process. I always remember  that the rag with glaze can burnt itself. Since that I always make sure to bring out the trash from the finishing room and placed in a safe place. To prevent the fire I usually put the rag waste from the finishing process in a pail or drum and put water in there. 



 

Problems of the Finishing Room: A Reference and Formula Manual for Furniture Finishers, Woodworkers, Builders, Interior Decorators, Manual Training Departments, Etc

The safety in the finishing room

Finishing room is one place that is very risk to get fire. In the finishing room there are finishing material, such as stain, solvent and lacquer that are flammable  Just a little spark of fire on the finishing materials is enough to generate a very big fire. The risk of fire becomes bigger with the existence of furniture products in the finishing room. Furniture products mostly made from dry wood that  is also a highly flammable material. Once a fire occurs in the finishing room the fire will be big and very difficult to be stopped There are many stories about furniture factories which are burnt with the fire is started from that finishing room. You can view a story about it, in our article fire in a finishing shop. Therefore, the finishing room must be managed properly to prevent fires. Fire extinguishers are standard equipment which should be available in a finishing room. Everyone who works in the finishing room must be given an understanding of the high risk of fire hazard in the finishing room.  

Here are some tips to avoid and anticipate the fire danger in a finishing room.

• Every people in the finishing room have to have understanding and awareness about the risk of fire hazard in the finishing room. 

Prevention is the best option in preventing the occurrence of danger. If there is a fire in the finishing room, it will be very difficult situation to be handled and overcome. It would be better if we can do preventive of the fires. Safety rules must be strictly and discipline implemented. For example there should be no smoking or fire lighting in the finishing room. And this would be more easily implemented if each person who working in it have a strong awareness about the dangers of fires in there.

• Take care the finishing room, keep it clean and neat. 

Often time the fire is out from unknown places or the causes is not known, it often occurs in a dark place, a dirty or untidy room. Goods which pile up and the pails or drum that is not correctly cover could lead to a dangerous problem if it is invisible. The rat or other small animal could cause big problem if we cannot detect them. Therefore it is important to keep the finishing room to be neat and clean. In the clean and tidy place if there is something wrong can be directly seen and known. Trash such as the used sandpapers or rags and dirty thinner should always be cleaned and removed from the room every time after work. The finishing materials such as stain, lacquer, sealer, glaze, etc. should be taken out from the finishing room and keep in the storage room every time after finish work.

•  Fire extinguishers are standard equipment which should be available in a finishing room. 

Since the high risk of fire hazard then finishing room must be equipped with fire extinguisher in there. The fire extinguishers have to be in the placed that is easily accessible and viewed. Put a big and clear sign in that show where the fire extinguisher is. These equipments are needed to be accessible easily when they needed. Make sure also that these devices could function well if needed. Do a routine checks to the safety equipment such as extinguishers, hydrant, sprinkle and other tools to ensure that these devices can function properly when needed.

 The fire extinguisher in the finishing room

•  Do the electrical circuit correctly. 

Electrical sparks is the one of the fire causes that often occurs. Therefore it should be carefully handled and installed. The electricity circuit should in the close line. It also needs to maintain regularly to keep clean. Electrical panels, sockets, switches and electrical appliances such as lights should always be cleaned to reduce the risk of occurrence of sparks due to electricity. Each barrel or pail finishing materials must be grounding to prevent electrical sparks from the static electric force. Grounding is the method of connect the materials with the earth, about the grounding you can view it more in : grounding in the finishing room.

•     Do training program for all finishing peoples to anticipate emergencies. 

The disaster and emergency situation could happen anytime causes by many reasons. At the time when the disaster come the peoples usually get panic and can not do the right steps to anticipate the danger. To keep the peoples in there be able to handle the danger situation, they need a training program. There should be a firefighters group in the finishing room. There should be a regular training and exercise vigilance on the team so that firefighters are always ready to respond to the possibility of fire. While for other peoples in the room are need to be trained about the evacuation in the danger situation. 
 
A Guide to Safe Material and Chemical Handling (Wiley-Scrivener) 

Rubbing and polishing 4

Full step rubbing 
 

The rubbing with full step will give an attractive appearance; nice, elegance, clean finishing looked with very high gloss. To perform the complete process of rubbing the preparation should be started from the unfinished product and the finishing process. The thick film layer and a flat surface is a necessary condition to produce surfaces with an attractive appearance in the rubbing process. Although there is some method of rubbing but in principle rubbing consists of two things: the process of sanding to get a flat surface (leveling) and the buffing process to produce the gloss and looked.

• Leveling (cutting, sanding).

It is a process of sanding on the finishing surface to cut the surface finishing to obtain a flat and level surface finish. To obtain a flat surface, the preparation on the unfinished product is very important. Finishing layer usually ranges about 4-5 mill thick, can not be used to flatten an uneven surface. Of course we still need a thick enough finish layer to provide enough film surface for the rubbing process, but finish layer should not be too thick. Too thick finish layer is high risk to get cracking problem especially with NC coating. Therefore, the preparation of unfinished wood is very important. Make sure that the panel was already flat and even from unfinished conditions; thereby the finishing process can be done quickly, easily and safely.

Sanding the finish layer is done to cut the film surface and remove all the orange peel on the surface finish. Wet sanding is the most widely used technique for this purpose. It is a sanding process which is using a liquid to absorb heat arising from the friction between the sandpaper and the surface finish. The fluid is usually used is the rubbing oil or rubbing lubricant, a kind of mineral spirit with small amount of wax in it, but if it is not available a soapy water is can be used with a good result.

The sanding on the finish film can be done manually with a hand block, but for big and wide surfaces it is better done by a rubbing machine. The rubbing machines will help speed up the process of sanding since it will do the sanding consistently but it must be handled carefully. Too much sanding will risk of an over sanding and then we need to re coat the finishing layer. and start the rubbing process from the beginning. Start sanding with a # 800 grade sandpaper, until the entire surface is cut and all the orange peel is clean up. For a low gloss (satin finish) then sanding with 800 grade sandpaper is enough, but for a full rubbing process with high gloss result, then the next sanding using finer sandpaper is needed.. To obtain high gloss finish, we need to continue the process by sanding using # 1200 or # 1500 grade sandpaper.

•  Rubbing.

It is a process carried out after a flat surface was obtained. This process will determine the gloss and looked of the finish result. A low gloss finish can be obtained by buffing with scotch brite or steel wool. The steel wool used is the fine steel wool  (# 0000 grade). Rubbing machine can be used to rub the wide surfaces to make the process can be done consistently. This process will create satin finish, with gloss is about 50  sheen with a soft and elegance looked, but it still leaves scratches mark on the surface.
To obtain the surface with a higher gloss, we need to continue this process by rub the surface with rubbing compound or stone powder. The rubbing compound or stone powder is usually rubbed on the surface by rubbing machine in wet condition. Water is used to solve the rubbing compound and to absorb the friction heat such as in the wet sanding. The rubbing machine with scotch brite and the rubbing compound or stone powder is using to rub the surface until get the desired looked. This method will reduce the scratches on the surface and create a higher gloss finish. The final gloss is about 90 sheen. 

•  Buffing

Rubbing process using scotch brite or steel wool always result the scratches from the steel wool or scotch brite. The use of compound or stone powder will raise the gloss and reduce scratches but can not eliminate all existing scratches. To remove all scratches the rubbing process need to be continued with the buffing process. Buffing is the process to increase  the gloss and eliminate the scratches mark The finer compound is used to buff onto the surface using a cloth or wool pad to raise the gloss arise (buff up). A buffing machine is a tool designed to make do buffing with faster and easier.

The buffing process can eliminate or even removes the scratches and result a very high gloss finish. By using the buffing machine a very high gloss finish can be obtained. The final gloss could be more then 90 sheen, higher then the gloss that is obtained by a top coat application. Rubbing and buffing will also produce an elegance and luxury appearance that can not be obtained only from top coat application.
The buffing can also be done manually with a cloth but it still leaves scratches and the gloss obtained will be lower.

 

Rubbing and polishing 3

Rubbing Process

Rubbing needs to be done correctly to get the desired results. We need to have sufficient skill and knowledge to perform a good result in the rubbing process. Exercise and experience is really needed to master the rubbing process. 

Here are some things that must be considered in the rubbing process. 

• The finish layer must be completely dry.

Rubbing is the process of cutting and rubbing the finish layer, the cutting and rubbing can be done with perfect results when the coating film finish is completely dry already. Only the dry finishing layer will reach his maximum hardness that ready to be rubbed. It can be sanded much easier and faster with less risk. The finish layer that is not dry will stick to the sandpaper, with the risk to make deep scratches on the surface. The finishing layer that has not fully cured also continues his drying process until he reaches his maximum dryness. While the finishing layer is shrink along with the drying process. The shrinkage is still occur until it is stopped when he achieve his fully dry condition. When the rubbing is done and finished during the drying process is still running, then rubbing results will change since it still continue to shrink. The surface that is already flat and smooth with the rubbing process turns to down and shrink again and make a different looked. To get the looked we need to wait until the film finish is really dry and redo the rubbing process.
How long does it take for the finish layer to dry completely? It really depends on the type of clear coating used and the environmental factors in the drying room. Nitrocellulose clear coating  as the most quick-drying materials requires about 24 hours from the last coat application before  ready to the rubbing process. The other type of clear coating such as PU, AC or Water based of course need longer drying time.

• The flatness on the surface of the unfinished product

The rubbing with a high gloss, need good preparation in the unfinished wood surface. The higher gloss on the surface will make the imperfectness on the surface shows more clearly. The unfinished problems problems such as: scratches, sanding marks, cutter marks, uneven surface will be more clearly seen in a high gloss finish. Therefore, to get good results  the proper preparation should be started in the unfinished work. The flat surfaces such as top table or panel should be ascertained already flat before the finishing process is started.

Rubbing with a high gloss will also be disturbed by the existence of the pores and grains that are still open, therefore it is better to make close pores finish for  the high gloss rubbing process.

• Film thickness

Rubbing is process cutting the finish layer until get the flat, even and smooth surface, so it need thick enough finish layer. The finish with thin layer  has a high risk to get  over sand on the finish layer. That way we need to prepare thick enough film thickness to get rubbed with good result. Usually we need to apply clear coat 6 or 5 times to get enough film thickness, 3 layer of sealer and 3 layer of top coat is mostly used to prepare the finishing layer to be rubbed.

Simple rubbing.  

It is a very simple process of rubbing. Rubbing is done by rub the surface using steel wool evenly. The steel wool used is the finer steel wool (# 0000 grade). This process can be performed on a thin  finish and uneven surfaces. It is also the solution to rub the uneven parts like the legs, carvings and even the side wall, while the top with a flat surface is rub with complete process. The rubbing must be done consistently since it would determine the appearance results produced. This process will always leave scratches mark (wool mark). The rubbing process that is done consistently will result in the regular and tidy marks on the surface and it make the appearance obtained will be more even and uniform. For a flat surface like top table then we better use the rubbing machine to obtain more consistent and uniform looked.
If the finish is too rough, it can be started by sand using sandpaper to get a flat surface. Sanding with # 360 or # 400 grade sandpaper until get the even surfaces, then rub with steel wool to get the looked. This process can also be followed  with the application of wax with rag to make a soft and smooth, and wet looked finish.
This process will give a soft and nice finish, but will always leave scratches mark. The sheen is depend on how strong and consistent we push and rub. But mostly the final sheen result is about 45 - 60 sheen.

steel wool rub using machine

steel wool rub using hand block

Rubbing and polishing 2

Equipments and materials are used for rubbing and polishing.

The rubbing process also develops according with developments technology in the furniture finishing process. There are various rubbing processes now available with different looked results. There are also available various kind materials to rubbing and polishing such as compound, wax, steel wool, scotch brite that each has his specific purpose. Now there are also available some special equipments and tools that are design to do the better rubbing process.

Here are some the materials and tools that mostly used in the rubbing process

•  Sandpaper

Sanding is the first process in the rubbing process to cut the orange peel in the surface to produce flat and even surface. The flat and even surface is very important especially in the finishing with high gloss result. The # 800 until # 2000 sandpaper are available to cutting the finishing film. The sanding for the top coat is also need to be done gradually by using the coarse sandpaper to the finer. To get the high gloss finish the # 1500 or  # 2000 sandpaper are mostly used as final sanding, but for the low gloss the # 800 grade sandpaper is enough. Many peoples prefer to do wet sanding in the rubbing process, even the dry sanding with a good quality sandpaper also can be used for rubbing. In the wet sanding, a liquid is used to reduce the heat arising from the friction between the sandpaper and the finishing film. The material that is designed to help the wet sanding is called rubbing oil, cutting oil or rubbing lubricant. It is a kind of mineral spirit that contain a very little amount of wax.  A soapy water is also good liquid to do wet sanding with good result.

Steel wool

• Steel wool

Steel wool is a material that is already popular and widely used in the furniture finishing industry. Steel wool is widely used to highlight the glaze or stain or to clean up the excess of glaze, stain or filler in the finishing process. Steel wool sometimes is also used to sand the difficult parts. even it is not really proper material to do it. In the rubbing process steel wool is used to rub the finish in the simple rubbing process. The steel wool is also used to rub the no flat surfaces such as turning, carving, posh, or other difficult part. Steel wool is available in various fineness grades ranging from # 4 grade as the coarser to grade # 0000 as the finest. In the rubbing we use the # 0000 grade, the superfine steel wool.

Scotch brite

• Scotch brite

Scotch brite is an abrasive which is widely used in furniture finishing industry. The scotch brite is an abrasive that is designed to sand the no flat surfaces. There are many types of scotch brite  available now for many different purposes. In the rubbing process we use a special scotch brite that is designed for rubbing process. The scotch brite is used to rub the surfaces with  the compound material or stone powder to do rubbing for the high gloss finish.  

• Stone powder (rotten stone or pumice).

Is a powder made from pulverized rock in fine size. This material is used to polish and smooth the surface to make a high gloss finish. How the powder work  is similar with the other abrasives, but since it has fine size it will leave very fine scratch mark and create high gloss in the finish result. The powder is usually used to polish the surface that is already flat by the cutting process. The stone powder is applied using a scotch brite with rubbing machine to produce a high gloss surface..

• Rubbing compound

Rubbing compound is the development of stone powder. Rubbing compound is actually made of very fine abrasives particles such as the stone powder which are suspended in other additive materials to form liquid or paste form. Rubbing compound is available in various series which has different fineness of the grains of abrasives in it. The compound is used to buff up the surface to create high gloss surface. Like the stone the compound is applied by scotch brite or cloth to buff up the surface to get high gloss finish. The using machine in the compound application is recommended since it helps to get the even and consistent result. 

 30 lbs rubbing machine

15 lbs rubbing machine

• Rubbing machine.

Rubbing machine is a special machine tin the rubbing process hat is used to sand, rub and polish the surface. The machine will help to make better result since it will make the process  of rubbing, cutting and polishing can be done with more consistent.  Rubbing machine is a double pad sanding machine that each pad strokes back and forth. It is an excellent tool to do the sanding and rubbing on a flat surface. This machine is available in two sizes; the small machine has 15 lbs weight while the big one has 30 lbs weight. To master the sanding use this machine of course need a lot of practices, but soon after we master the machine we can do better sanding. The machine is mostly use for wet sanding or buffing the surface The liquid lubricant will help the sanding process to minimize the risk of clogging and deep scratches. While for polishing we use this machine with scotch brite or steel wool. The steel wool is use when we want the satin finish, but for the high gloss finish we need to do with scotch brite and compound or stone powder.   

 buffing machine

• Buffing machine 

Buffing machine is a machine that is used to buff or polishing surfaces to make a high gloss finish. The buffing is usually done after good sanding and the surface is already flat and even. The buffing machine is used to clear up the line mark obtained from the sanding process. There area many grade of wool pad that is available to erase the sanding mark and create a high gloss, even surface finish.  
 

Rubbing and polishing 1

Rubbing in the furniture finishing

Rubbing is process to finish the finishing layer. Most finishing process now are ended with an application of top coat. The top coat is the last finishing material that serves to coat the stain and glaze underneath to protect the color and also to form the finishing looked and feel. Usually when the top coat is applied and dry, the finishing process is finished. But some time there are some peoples who want to do rubbing process for his finish as the last process. Rubbing is a process to sand and or rub the finish to get the smooth, even and soft finishing surface. 
In few decade ago the rubbing process is undertaken to produce a better finish when the application of finishing materials could not make an even and smooth surface. In the past when the spray gun was still not popular in the finishing application, the finishing materials were applied by brush, rag or cloth. This method of course cannot produce a flat surface especially for the last coat. The application by brush or rag will always leave mark on the finish result. Then to produce a flat and smooth surface, a sanding and rubbing process is carried out at the finish layer, known as the rubbing and polishing.

Now with the use of spray gun, the coating material can be applied on the surfaces with better results. The film surface produced is more even, smooth and can be adjusted to get the required thickness. With the development of the finishing material we can also easily define the gloss of the finish. Currently almost all of the finishing gloss can be produced with an appropriate application and proper selection of the finishing materials as well.

However this time there are still some peoples who want do rubbing on their finishing product. Rubbing process can indeed produce a distinctive looked that can not be imitated only with the top coat application. According with the development in finishing industry, the rubbing process in this time also can be done in better way with better result. There are many materials available to do the rubbing. There are also many equipments which are designed  to do the rubbing and polishing available now. Then the rubbing and polishing can be done with better results.

Here are the benefits of rubbing:

•  Rubbing produces a soft, elegant look that can not be obtained by the top coat application.

The application of top coat by spray gun that can produce a perfect material atomization  still  produces orange peels on the surface. Although in  the perfect coating application, the orange peel is very thin and only visible when viewed with a magnifying glass, but it is still there and  form the looked of the finishing. The rubbing process will cut the orange peel on the surface to produce more even and flat surface. Although there are scratches mark leaved., but with good rubbing technique the scratches mark are regular patterned to make a unique appearance that cannot be obtained with the top coat application. 

• Rubbing can overcome some problems resulting from the imperfect application of the top coat.

Top coat application in the finishing process should be done properly since it create the quality finishing instead of finishing color. The top coat top applications will determine the feel and look in finishing. But in a finishing process, sometimes we find difficulties  to get the perfect results for the top coat application There are some reasons such as: inadequate equipment, the finishing room which is dirty and dusty, the unskilled operator, etc. Some minor problems on the top coat can be fixed with a rubbing process. Problems such as  a rough surface, uneven gloss, orange peel, stripy layer or the top coat and blushing in some case can be healed by rubbing the finish.

• Rubbing can form gloss in the finishing.

Now the gloss of a finishing surface is mostly created by choose the top coat sheen. In  the top coat gloss is determined by the flatting agent in the top coat mixed (see my articles: gloss in the wood furniture finishing). But gloss is also can be created with rubbing and polishing on the finishing surface. Gloss of surfaces are largely determined by the evenness of the surface, more even surface make the higher gloss finish. Rubbing process is the process of sanding and cutting the surfaces that will produce more even and smooth surface. Thus, the rubbing process will form the gloss of finishing surface. Surface with high gloss is obtained by cutting using a finer abrasives until get the more even and smooth surface, with less and smaller sanding mark. leaved. Polishing materials such as compound or stone powder actually has a similar function with the sandpaper, but with a fineness sanding mark. The use of compound will result in an increasingly the evenness of the surface and will produce a surface with higher gloss. Conversely, if it is desired low gloss, then the rubbing and polishing methods should be done  to  leave more and deeper sanding mark.

Italian style furniture finishing

Italian table with transparent color

Italian style furniture finishing.

Like elsewhere, furniture models in Italy also develops in accordance with the cultural and economic developments in the region. The Italian furniture has unique style that is different with other furniture styles. The history of furniture in Italy with his models in the past is also widely known and used as a reference for the furniture model in the world furniture design. At this time Italy is known as a place of luxury goods with high quality, and it is also affect to his furniture products. The Italian furniture is always associated with luxurious, good quality and high price product.

The furniture finishing in Italy is also growing according with the demands of the furniture fashion in this place. The Italian finishing furniture also grows to impress luxurious, expensive and high class finishing looked. Different with the American finishing style which has lot and variety of antique effects that some time is make the furniture looked is very broken and dirty, the Italian style finishing is more clean and tidy looked. The antique Italian finishing that is refer to the Italian furniture looked in the past is always done neatly with relative clean looked.

The transparent color is mostly done by the stain application directly to the wood to enhance the beauty of grain pattern and base color of the wood, but it is always done with relative clean looked and even color. The finishing techniques such as highlights or sand trough, physical distress or stain distress are uncommon. The glaze application is more widely used to fill in the cracks and carvings to make hang up and to add the life impression on the shape and carving. The glaze application is applied evenly to keep the clean looked, elegance and even color.

Gold finish combine with green solid color

 Gold finish combine with transparent color 

The Italian finishing style is also identical with thick, flat, smooth film layer with semi gloss to high gloss sheen. This make the polyurethane clear coating is very popular for Italian style finishing. The polyurethane coating that can produce a thick film layer with  his maximum strength is the best choice for the finish. The polyurethane coating is also give a nice looked that is very familiar with the peoples who like the Italian furniture finish. This condition has directly encouraged the Polyurethane coating technology in this country.  The polyurethane coating from Italy is considered as the best quality polyurethane, especially for wood furniture finishing.
The special finishing techniques that required high skilled workmanship as the marble looked finish is also used with emphasis in finishing with an elegant and luxurious impression. The special technique of gild application is also many uses in here. 

 Mirror with gold leaf finish

Silver finish combine with marble

 Italian furniture

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White wash finish

White wash finish is one finish style in the wood furniture finishing. The white wash finish refer to a finish with a white color which is wiped off or washed off from the surface (although actually the naming of the finishing can be different for everyone). White wash finish leave the white color inside the pores and grains, groove, crevice, etc. The finish is the white hang up in the inside part of the furniture. It is a transparent color with a different impression. Mostly in the white wash finish we still can see the base color, pores and grains pattern  of the wood. The color result is the combination from the wood base color underneath and the washed white color on the top. The white color can be very thick until almost cover the entire color, or can also be very thin that let the wood base color with its grains and pores character is still clearly visible but with a muddy white looked. Sometimes we need to stain the wood base to produce even color or to make more color contrast with the white effect. Actually instead of white color, there are many other wash finish such as black wash, blue wash, yellow wash, etc., but the white wash color wash is the most popular wash finish in the wood furniture finishing. 

The white color could be made with some different way, but the easiest is to use a white glaze, or white filler. Glaze to make the white is very flexible and ease to be applied evenly to fill in the grains, pores and cervices and can easily be reduced and highlighted in accordance with desired thickness. We can also use the white base coat or toner to make the white, but it is more difficult in application. We need to use thinner to wipe off the white stain or white base coat, and it rather difficult in controlling. The white base coat is usually used to produce a thicker white coloration that is rather difficult to got with the glaze application. It is possible also to do the combination with the white glaze with the toner or base coat application to meet the desired final color. 

heavy white wash finish
 

The things that must be considered in the white wash finish

• Yellowing in the white wash finish.

White represents the dominant color in the white wash finish, so this finish should be treated as other white finish. The use of non-yellowing clear coating is highly recommended to prevent the yellowing on the clear coating. The yellowing will change the white color to slightly yellow and can disturb the finishing appearance. Like the other white color, it is also sensitive with the oil problem from the wood. The white wash finish should not be applied to the oily wood such as teak wood or rosewood. The oil from inside the wood if it comes out in the finish will obviously seem and ruin the color looked.

• The wood grains and pores.

The wood pores and grains are the parts would that be filled by the white color, since that the grain and pores pattern will greatly determine the outcome of the final finish. The white wash finish on the wood with deep and vast pores and grain such as oak, mindi will produce more busy and contrast appearance, opposite with the plain looked washed color in the wood with with small grain and pore texture such as pine, cherry, etc. The looked of the finish will also be highly affected with the form, shape and design of the furniture. The carved and fully shaped furniture will make a finish with more lively appearance, while the simple flat furniture model will produce a more plain color looked. 

The white was finish with light white color

• The wood base color.

The white wash finish is a transparent finish; the final color is the mixed between the wood base colors with white color thereon. The wood base color is essential factor to produce an even finish and the color consistency. The uses of sap stain and equalizer stain is recommended to produce an even wood base color before the white coloration with a glaze or a stain on it. Some white-wash color is use stain to darken the wood color underneath to make more contrasting result.



The basic finishing steps to make white wash finish.

1. Sap stain and equalizer stain to even the wood base color (if necessary}
2. Stain to darken the wood base color (if necessary}
3. Sealer or wash coat
4. White glaze or white stain
5. Highlight or wipe off the white color
6. Sealer
7. Stain to add the color (if necessary)
8. Top coat