Antique furniture

antique furniture

Antique furniture is the furniture which is relic from the past. The antique furniture is old, ancient and already used for hundreds years. The real antique furniture are not widely available in the furniture market. The real antiques furniture may be only available in the museums or kept by the collector of antique and marketed as antique collection.
The antique furniture in the market there is the antique style furniture or antique reproduction furniture. They are actually the new furniture products but is made to mimic the appearance and model of the antique furniture. The antique style furniture is made with special technique to make the appearance as the old ancient furniture. The furniture is made as if it an old product that has been used for long time. The antique style furniture is still widely available in the furniture market together with other furniture such as: the contemporary and  futuristic style. 
 

To make the antique furniture we need to consider the antique aspect in the furniture product. Here some point need to be considered when we are making the antique furniture.

distressed furniture

• The design and model.

The design is the first step to make antique furniture. We will never make an antique furniture without proper design. The model of antique furniture always refer to the model of furniture in the past. There are many models of furniture are popular in history of furniture in the past that we can use as a reference for the design of antique furniture. We can explore the classic model and other model from the past and do some modification to design the antique reproduction furniture.  

• Finishing process

The finishing process is done to make the color and appearance of the furniture. There are many techniques in the finishing can be used to make the antique looked furniture. The old looked, dirty, dusty can be produced with antique finishing techniques. There are also many special finishing material are available to make many antique effect.

antique white furniture

• Physical distress

Physical distress is  finishing technique physically to create antique effect. Physical distress is the physically destruction to the furniture products to mimic the damage to furniture due to the long time age and usage. Many physical damage can be mimics by physical distress such as:  wormhole, ware mark, gouge, dent, crack, rasp, etc. There are some tool can be used to do the physical distress such as:  nail, chain, knife, chisels, etc. The physical distress help to produce more natural and dramatic antique effect in the product.

• Stain distress

Stain distress is the application of stain to produce the impression of dirty, and antiques looked.  The spatter, cow tail marks, rope marks, watermarks are the distressed stain. The stain marks together with the physical distressed are the main technique to make antique and old looked furniture.  

There are also available some finishing materials that are  specially designed to produce the antique effect. We can use the materials to make the antique looked furniture.

• Glaze

Glaze is the wiping stain that is applied between the clear coat. Glaze is very flexible to color and fill the wood pores and grain. In the antique finishing, glaze is the material to fill and coloring the cracks, holes, dents and carvings to mimics the patina. Patina is the antique appearance formed by the dust mixed with wax that fills in pores, cracks and wood grain. The wax is usually used to clean and polish the furniture will mixed with the dust to fill inside part of the furniture to make specially looked, antique old and natural.
In modern finishing, the effect of patina can be created by glaze application. Glaze can be brushed and wiped  to fill and coloring in the  pores, grain, dents, hole, inside of carving to form “patina appearance”. Glaze is also the flexible stain to make the distressed stain. Many dirty looked and stain looked can be made by glaze such as: rope mark, cow tail mark, spatter, etc.

Some special glaze can also produce a more dramatic antique effect such as: dirty looked and dusty looked. 

 antique crackle furniture

• Crackle paint.

Crackle paint or crackle lacquer is the finishing material to form crackle effect in the finish. There are some  crackle paint available, the oil base crackle, thinner base or water base crackle paint which can be used to produce the crackle effect with many different crackle effect. The crackle paint is used together with glaze to make antique crack paint finish.

 antique chair

• Veiling lacquer

Veiling lacquer is finishing materials that can be used to create effects like the spider web. It is used together with the glaze and stain to form the antique old and dirty looked.

Lacquer thinner

Lacquer thinner is the thinner that is special designed to thin the lacquer. Lacquer is finishing a material that is dry and forming hard film layer by evaporation his thinner. According to this definition the lacquer are: nitrocellulose coating, acrylic clear coat, butyrate clear coat, vinyl material and the other 1 component coating materials. While the other coating that is dry film by chemical reactions such as: Polyurethane, Acid curing, Precatalyzed and Polyester are not included in the lacquer category.

The main function of the lacquer thinner is to reduce the viscosity of the lacquer so that it can be applied easier. The original lacquer is a viscous material that can not be applied by spray gun. Spray gun as the main equipment for lacquer application only works well to the materials with low viscosity (about 14 second with Nk # 2 viscosity cup). The application by brush also can not give good layer when the viscosity of the material is too thick.

Instead of reducing the viscosity the lacquer thinner also work to give some specific characters at the mixture. The lacquer thinner is also used to make better flow and adjust the drying time of the lacquer.

Lacquer thinner does not leave at the film resulted; it will evaporate in the drying process. Lacquer thinner is just a “vehicle” that deliver the lacquer to his destination without form the film layer. Although it just a vehicle, but the lacquer thinner play important role in the finishing process. Many finishing problems occur because are caused by inappropriate thinner, on the other hand, there are many adjustment can be made in the lacquer application by select and modify the lacquer thinner.

How lacquer thinner is made.

Lacquer thinner is made by a mixture of several solvents. The composition of the lacquer thinner could be varied from one supplier to another.  The composition of lacquer thinner is highly dependent to the type and ingredient of lacquer that will reduced. Since the composition of the lacquer is different from one manufacturer the other, then the composition of the lacquer thinner is also varied form one manufacturer to the others.

Basically the lacquer thinner is made of three kind of material, the solvent, latent solvent and diluent.

• Solvent

Solvent is a main material in the thinner. Solvent solve the lacquer and reduce the viscosity. The material for solvent depends on the material in the lacquer mix. The examples of solvent for the nitrocellulose lacquer are: buthyl acetate, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl amyl ketone.

• Latent solvent

Latent solvent is a solvent work to increase the solubility when it is mixed with a solvent. Examples of latent solvent for the lacquer thinner are: isopropyl alcohol and isobuthyl butanol.

• Diluent.

The diluent is the filler for the thinner. It can not dissolve the lacquer but he solves and mixes each other with the solvent. This material is added to the lacquer thinner to reduce the price of lacquer thinner.

• Additive materials

Into the lacquer thinner is often added some additive materials to build some specific properties of the lacquer thinner. The additive is added to adjust the properties to the lacquer mixed. For example:  to make better flow, to adjust the drying time and some other specific reason. A special additive is needed to improve the resistance of the mix at the electrostatic lacquer.

Tips on using lacquer thinner

• Use lacquer thinner according to the lacquer materials used.

The mixture of lacquer thinner is specific depending on ingredients in the lacquer mixture. Meanwhile the material inside the lacquer is different from one brand to the other. Every supplier has his thinner according to its lacquer.  It is recommended to use the lacquer thinner from the same supplier with the lacquer. The thinner should be the best suit since it is already made according the lacquer

• Do some test and experiment before use the thinner in the large scale.

Some time we have to modify the lacquer thinners or make our own composition of lacquer thinner for various reasons. The prices and quality are the reason why we need to adjust the lacquer thinner. The lacquer thinner from the same lacquer supplier should be the best suit material, but the environmental conditions and the application method force us to modify the lacquer thinner.
When we decide to change the lacquer thinner we must do some test first before use it in the large volume application. Mix some material with the thinner and see the results. View the physical properties and looked of mixtures such as: the clarity, solubility, and viscosity of the mixture. Then we still need to test it by applied the mixture on some piece of wood panel. See the result such as the drying time, the flow, the appearance, etc. After we are confident that the mix is ​​working well, then we can start to use the material on a larger scale.

How to spray stain to the wood furniture

spray stain

Stain is a finishing material that is used to make color of the finishing. Failure in the stain application will affect the resulting color of the finishing. The uneven stain will produce an uneven color, while the wrong stain will make the wrong color. In the modern finishing industry, most of stain is applied by spray. With the right technique, the application stain by spray will produce the best coloring results. The spray application will give an even color staining with high speed and high flexibility adjustment. By spray we can control the thickness of the stain layer.  Nevertheless, the proper technique and good preparation is needed to produce good results.

There are several things that must be considered in spraying stain.

• The sanding at the unfinished wood.

Sanding the wood is very important factor that will greatly affect the staining result. The purpose of sanding is to produce a clean, even and smooth wood surface. The sanding process should be started with the coarse grade followed by finer grade sandpaper until a smooth surface is obtained. The final sanding for the unfinished wood should be end up with a 180 or 240 sandpaper. The sanding with coarser grade sandpaper will leave scratch marks that will appear in the finishing looked. While the sanding with finer grade is also not recommended since it will tend to polish the wood surface and producing too smooth but uneven surface that would interfere the absorption of stain. Too smooth sandpaper sanding will make the wood is too slick, and make the stain is not well absorbed by the wood. Finally the uneven coloration or blotchy stain is resulted.
The stain absorption by the wood will be highly influenced by the porosity of the wood surface, since  that we need to make the wood surface has uniform porosity. The porosity problem is rarely happen at the hardwood such as: oak, mahogany, teak, etc.  With the proper sanding process a uniform, even, smooth wood surface will easily obtained. But for some soft wood such as: sengon, maple or pine, porosity could be problem and more intention should be done at the sanding process. We may need to do "glue sizing" to produce the even and smooth wood surface.
More about wood sanding can be viewed in our previous article: how to sand the wood  furniture

• The basic color of the wood

In wood finish, the final color is always determined by two things: the color of stain and the color of the wood base. The final finishing color is the combination of the wood base color and the color of the stain layered on. The color of wood is already exists and cannot be changed. The stain color is the adjustable factor to produce the desired color finishing. To get the required color then we have to find the right stain color to obtain the final color. The proper stain color is the key to get the right finishing color. To find the right stain color we can use the "color wheel diagram"
But usually we meet the furniture product that has uneven base color. Wood is a natural substrate from the live creature, its character is highly depend on how the condition when he was alive. The most common problem is the color variation. Its color may vary from the sap wood to the heartwood, or there may be some red part or blue stain partly at the wood surface. The uneven wood base color will result to the uneven color of the finishing. To overcome this problem we need to do some treatment to the wood.  If the variation that is not too contrast, we can adjust the wood base color with sap stains and equalizer stains. The wood with light color is darken with sap stain, whereas some small disturbing such as: light red color or blue stain colors are covered with equalizer stain. The adjustment wood base color with sap stain equalizer stain work when the color variation is not too contrast.  If the difference is too contrast then we may need to bleach the wood to get the even color.
See our previous article:  how to match color in the wood finishing

• Preparation of stain.

The right stain color is essential. Make sure that we use the correct stain color to match the final finishing color. We can use the triangular color diagram theory to find the right stain color. Check the physical properties of the wood stain and make sure it is in the good condition.
If there is any slurry then we need to stir the stain to let all pigments in it perfectly mixed. View and check the appearance of stain, make sure that the stain in the uniform liquid mixture. If there is dirt or sediment then it should be filtered.

• The spray equipment

The proper spray equipment is needed to get the optimum result. There are many type of spray gun and not every type is suitable to spray the stain. The air spray gun is the most appropriate equipment to the stain application. The air spray gun can produce stain layering with the perfect atomization and has the most flexibility at the adjustment. The HVLP spray gun can also be used, it can produce good atomization stain with higher efficiency, but it  has a lower flexibility. The airless is not recommended to spray stain, the L.V.L.P spray gun could be okay but the best choice is the air spray gun.
Make sure that the equipment function properly. Choose the nozzle size that suits your needs. Nozzle size varies from each brand, but essentially we need to choose the nozzle size that is big enough to produce a sufficient spray width according to the product.

• Spray techniques

The stain should coat the wood evenly.  To do that we need a proper spray technique. A skillful operator is needed to do the proper spraying technique. Set the spray gun correctly, the volume of material, the air pressure and width spray should be adjusted according to the wood surface. Make sure that a perfect material atomization is obtained.  
Then the correct movement of the spray gun is needed to get the even and wet spray coat of the stain. The spray technique should also be conducted with due regard to the form of the furniture product. The complicated form product such as: chair, leg and carved form product is quite difficult to be sprayed but the form will hide some imperfectness staining. While the flat panels let the spray gun can be moved more freely, but if there some unevenness at the stain layering, then it will obviously appeared. 
To see more about spraying technique you can go to this link: How to use spray gun correctly 1 and : how to use spray gun 2

• Layering with clear coating 

The wood stain layer is always followed by clear coating application. Some layer of sealer and top coat is needed to protect the stain and produce the smooth finish. Before it is coated with clear coating the stain is still very easily to be wiped off. The removal stain that has been coated with clear coating will be more difficult. Since that we better check the stain before it is layered with clear coating.  Check the staining result, make sure the stain is even with the right color before apply clear coat on it.
For small color problem we can remove the stain with steel wool or sandpaper. If the problem is too big then we may need to wash the stain layer with  thinner .
If the staining is properly done; the even stain layer with the right color is obtained then we can continue the process with the clear coating application.  
Make sure that the stain is dry before layered with a clear coating. Usually the wood stain is a  thin material that will be dry within a few minutes. But there could be some special stains that require longer drying time. Read the specification of the stain and make sure that follow the stain specification. 

Sheraton furniture.

Sheraton furniture is straight, simple, strong, but well-proportioned geometric shapes and elegance looked.

sheraton side board 

Thomas Sheraton together with Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite were the  "great tree furniture maker" in history of England furniture. He lived in the 1751 to 1820, his furniture was highlighting the furniture industry in the end 18th until the early 19th century. As the last man he's lot learned from his predecessor, Chippendale and Hepplewhite. Sheraton furniture also much influenced and inspired by Louis XVI and Robert Adam.

Sheraton is known as the "master of the straight line". Most of his furniture are straight line, or slightly curved form. The straight square and flute tapered leg are used, impressing more to his simplicity.

He decorated his furniture with carving, inlay or hand painted although keep simple, straight  and light. His carving is simpler especially if compared with the Chippendale furniture. The common motif used are: lyres, ribbon, urns and flowers.
The Sheraton furniture most made of mahogany wood, although some other wood such as: beech and satin wood are also used. The contrast wood such as: tulip, birch, maple and rosewood  are used as marquetry and inlay decorative. While some other are decorated with dye or hand painted.

sheraton chair

Sheraton sofa

Sheraton bed

sheraton desk

The reproduction of the Sheraton furniture is still made and marketed until today. The Sheraton style furniture with some modifications are still available in some furniture store. His book "Cabinet Maker's & Upholsterer's Drawing Book" and " The Cabinet Dictionary" are still used as reference by many furniture designer.

Acacia wood for furniture.

 Acacia wood

Acacia tree is widely grown in the tropical regions. The tree can grow on barren soil with  little water. In Indonesia the acacia tree many are planted to “green”  the barren soil or roadside. The acacia tree can be used as initial tree to green the area. After the tree grow, then some other productive plant can be grown in the area. The acacia trees can became the protector for some other tree such as: vegetable or fruit plant.

The acacia wood actually can be used for many purposes. There are many species of acacia which each has varied properties and has many uses. In the woodworking industry, acacia wood is good choice for furniture, flooring and ornament product.
The acacia wood has a nice appearance, light brown base color, the color is vary from white with orange streaks at the sapwood to the reddish with black streaks at the heartwood. The wood is strong, hard and heavy. Its density is vary from about 700 kg/m3 to 1200 kg/m3 depend to the species and its origin. Generally it is heavy, strong and durable and high resistant to the insect attacked. It is strong enough to be used as outdoor furniture and hard enough to be used as flooring.

The good controlling is needed in the drying process of the acacia wood. It is hardwood , too fast drying is high risk of to the wood defect such as rupture or warping. The drying of wood takes a relatively long time about 30 days to 45 days depending on the thickness of the board.

acacia wood for bench

picture is taken from: furniture store

Finishing for acacia wood.
 
Overall acacia wood has light brown base color ranging from light brown at the sapwood to dark brown in the heartwood. This wood has a nice and strong character of grain with soft grain texture and small pores. The acacia wood can be finished in the transparent wood color with nice and interesting looked. The oil finish or natural wood finish is mostly used to the acacia outdoor furniture. The transparent finish is also most used to the acacia flooring.

The paint finish can also be accommodated well by this wood. This wood has soft texture, small and shallow pores. We can make close pores finish quite easy. Two or three times application of paint coat usually enough to make close pores finish for this wood.

The exercising to anticipate the emergency situation in the furniture factory.

hydrant should be available in the furniture factory

Furniture factory is the places with high risk of fire danger. Furniture products, dry wood and finishing materials are highly flammable material. The furniture factory should be built by considering the high risk of fires. A furniture factory should have a good layout. The equipment, substrate and room should be arranged neatly, so that if there problem occurs can quickly be recognized and anticipated before become big problem. The room and building should be equipped with tools to anticipate the fire danger such as: fire extinguishers and hydrant. Some critical room such as mixing room or finishing material warehouse even need the smoke detector and water sprinkle to anticipate the fire risk.  

Instead of the availability of firefighting equipment another thing that is no less important is the readiness of the people in the factory to anticipate the emergency situation. The people are need to be trained to act in the proper way when the emergency situation comes. The exercises peoples are tend to be panic and lead to the riot situation and make all the equipment could become useless. Therefore the furniture factory should give effort to conduct training for its employees to anticipate the danger and emergency situation.

We never expect the disaster and never know when it comes, but with the good preparation then the loss and victim can be minimized.  

 the fire extinguisher

There are two groups of people that need to be trained to face the emergency situation, the fire fighter team or rescue team and the other people. Team fire extinguishers team is the group of peoples who have to extinguish the fire in case of fire danger. They are the volunteer who will work to stop the fire while the rest are go for saving. This team consists of employees who are well trained and to master the equipment and technique to stop the fire. The fire fighting brigade people should be taken from many every area. The fire may come form everywhere so we need to make sure there are people available in every area.

A briefly training should be conducted to the fire team. Make sure that they can do they job when needed.  They should go to the certified trainer to get trained and skilled to be the fire fighter and rescue team. A periodically training should be scheduled to keep their alertness an readiness.
Not only the the fire team need practicing, every person in the plant also requires proper training. The exercise is needed to make sure that every peoples know what the have to do in the emergency situation. The exercise will make every people can react in the proper way and preventing the panic and chaos situation. The exercising is intended to make sure they could save them self properly without interfere the fire team who will work to stop the fire. The exercises is focused to make every people can recognize the danger signs, the evacuation routes and the site point when the emergency situation comes. 

fire fighter team exercising

The  exercise is conducted in the following way.

Brief every people about the danger sign, the evacuation route and the site point when the emergency situation comes.
Sound the alarm alert for the emergency situation. The fire team peoples are instructed to take their position and ready with their equipment immediately. While other peoples should keep calm and go for the site point through the evacuation route.
Do evaluation for the exercise result. See how is the reaction of the peoples and the fire team. Make some briefing for improvement to make sure they can do the proper reaction.

The exercise does not need not be too often done because it will disrupt the production process, but it is need to be done sometime, may be 3 or 4 times every year. This small effort will be a very big help when the bad situation really comes.

Teak wood for outdoor furniture

 teak wood round table

Teak wood (Tectona grandis) is expensive wood but it has very good quality. It can be used for many purposes in the woodworking industry. In the furniture industry, teak wood is most used as substrate for the outdoor furniture. It is durable, strong and easy to be machined, drilled and handled in the woodworking. With proper treatment it can produce furniture with a very good performance. Various types of outdoor furniture such as chairs garden, garden table, bench, can be made with teak wood and marketed with high price. The teak wood furniture is well known as premium product with excellent quality. Teak wood has a beautiful grain pattern. It has light brown base color which is liked by many peoples. The teak wood also contains oils inside that preserve it from the insect attacked. The teak wood actually is available in some several quality grade. The A grade teak which is the most expensive is the wood with no knot, no defect, uniform color, and regular grain pattern. The cheaper grade is the wood with some knots, defect or uneven color.
In Indonesia, the teak wood with best quality is produced by PT Perhutani, the teak plantation company own by the Indonesia government. PT Perhutani which has been planting teak since hundreds years ago is a well organized teak plantation. It has knowledge, technology, and experienced to produce teak wood with the best quality. The teak wood can also be obtained from the resident plantation. There are many peoples in Java and Sumatra who planting the teak wood in their own land. The teak from resident plantation usually has cheaper price but the quality is not as good as the teak wood from PT Perhutani.

 teak wood square table

Finishing for teak outdoor furniture. 

Most of the teak outdoor furniture are marketed in the unfinished condition. This wood has a golden brown base color with a very nice looked grain pattern. Naturally the unfinished wood has already given nice, elegant looked furniture product. The improper finish even may ruin the beauty of the wood. The recommended finishing to the teak wood is the transparent color finish or wood color finish. Avoid too thick film layer since it may againts with its natural beauty. For the outdoor furniture, then we have to use the finishing materials that is designed for outdoor uses. Spar varnish, teak oil finish, PU outdoor or outdoor water based paint are the proper material to finish the teak wood furniture.

Paint finish or solid color should be avoided as well as the wash finish. The teak oil inside the wood will come out and interfere the color and appearance of the finish. The oil finish is also good for the teak wood. It is simple and be able to produce a beautiful and naturally wood looked. If we want more complicated finish, then we have to use the special pigment and clear coating for outdoor uses. Spar varnish, outdoor PU or outdoor water based coating are the proper material to finish the teak wood furniture.

teak wood sitting chair

The wood moisture content.

As the other wood product, the teak wood has to meet the moisture standard of wood product. The wet wood is high risk to many problem such as: fungi, crack or other construction problem. The wet wood is also make the oil problem become worst. 

The drying process to the teak wood is quite difficult. It needs quite time and good control. Too fast drying process could to change its base color of the wood and ruin the appearance of the wood.

 teak wood bar chair