The Jepara furniture

Jepara is a small town located in the north of Central Java, Indonesia, about 100 km from Semarang. The city is well known as source for wood and furniture product in Indonesia. There are many furniture manufacturer and wood crafter are available in here.  The Jepara people are naturally born as carpenter or wood craftsmen. They are inherited the ability to carve and craft the wood from they ancestors, since many generation. Combine with the timber resources that is abundantly available has built the Jepara area to be the wooden furniture sources.

teak wood furniture 

The furniture products from Jepara are made from home industry that relies to the expertise and skill from the carpenter or craftsmen. The furniture has more value because it is crafted and hand made with touch of handwork. There is no furniture company in here which is based to the modern process with high woodworking technology. 
The Jepara wood carving art is considered as one the best in the world. But few decade ago, they have weakness in the wood processing. The problem of imperfect wood such as wet wood, the insect problems and the consistency was the common problem. But now the problems have been less found.  The perpetrators of furniture industry in Jepara have learned lot to improve the quality of their production processes. Many foreigner from various countries who doing business in here has also make the local people to do better management process in doing their business. Mostly the Jepara business players now are available to produce the good quality furniture products according to the demand of the furniture business.

bed with leather accent

The perpetrators of the furniture industry in Jepara also learned a lot about wood finishing. With their experience and association with the furniture business from various countries, they has enhanced their capabilities in the finishing process. Last time the Jepara wood may be identical with traditional finishing with shellac, varnish or melamine finish with thick layer film, but now they have ability to accept the orders in various style furniture finishing.  The nice classic finish with NC or water based system, hand painted or antique finishing can be made with perfect result.
The Jepara furniture player also improve  their ability to make furniture by using the engineered wood product such as: plywood, or veneer, m.d.f., although solid wood is still the mainstream. Some furniture factories also import some species of wood instead of using the native wood. The other substrates such rattan natural or synthetics and metal are also available in here. The furniture business in Jepara is now also available to do the special models, with small or big volume.

If you are business people who want to look for furniture products with special and unique, then you can come to Jepara. There are many furniture factories are ready to make the furniture products you need. There are wide range of furniture product are available in here: the wood high complicated carved furniture, the simple and minimalist furniture, the garden furniture with many models and item, and even rattan furniture can be sourced from here. 

antique latex paint finish

Nevertheless we must be careful in doing business with the Jepara industry. We should be able to understand the character of the furniture industry here. Here are some tips for doing business with the Jepara furniture industry.

rattan dinning set

1. Do a good communication

The Jepara furniture business have a high capability in making furniture. They are very expert to make furniture, but of course they do not know what kind of products we want. Therefore we should be able to explain clearly what kind of product we want to. Provide them with an explanation about the product we want, what materials to be used, size, price, number of orders and the other detail required. Some images will be helpful if any. The Jepara peoples are available to deal with either sketch drawing or picture image. The clarity of the information is very important to find the good product.

antique mahogany finish

2. Find a suitable partner.

There are many furniture manufacturers in Jepara. There are many “big factories” that are available to serve order with large quantity product orders. And more home industries could better partner to produce the products with small amount. There are also many furniture products with different items and models are available to be paid and carried at the same time.

Therefore, it is to get the maximum benefit, we need to find a suitable partner. If you want a product in large numbers and continuously then you should come to the big furniture factory that can serve you with furniture products with big amount. But if you want the products with specific model and small amount then you can come directly to the craftsmen to get better price. If you want the “cheap products” then you can come to the furniture market. There are lots of furniture products, with variety of shapes and models that can select and be purchased with “cheap price”.

Spatter effect in the wood furniture finishing.

spatter to make antique finishing

Spatter effect in the finishing is already very well known and widely used. The spatter finishing effect is used to make antique effect or to make special looked finish. The spatter effect in the antique finishing is used to mimic the dirt splattered from the insect, stain, or other small impurities. It is usually made with dark brown or black color stain to make more antique looked to the finishing. The spatter also can be used to produce a special effect finish. The spatter on the paint finish, with many different color stain can make a special finish looked that bring to the dynamic and life looked. 

How to make the spatter effect.

 
Spatter is made with stain application. The stain is applied in special way to make splash color on the surface. Spatter is usually applied on the sealer or top coat, when thick finish layer is already built. Spatter can be applied either at the transparent color or solid color finish. Spatter must be quite a contrast with the finishing color to get visible effects.
The spatter can be made with some different way, the principle is the stain must be splashed or sprinkle to the surface.  It can be made with the brush or spray gun. 

 brush to make spatter

1. Spatter with the brush.

Brush is simple tool and can be used to make spatter effect quite well. Dip the brush tip into a stain, and then move (shake) the brush to make the stain is splashed on the desired surface. It is very simple and easy to be done. But we cannot control the spatter effect resulted. The spatter effect obtained is usually random and not uniform in the form and size. However it is suitable to make antique effect in the antique finishing.

2. Spatter with gravity cup gun.

The gravity cup gun can produce spatter with better controlled. To make splash effect, we need to adjust the spray gun setting to splash the stain. The air pressure valve and volume of material release valve should be set at the minimum open to let, so the stain is not well atomized. The material will out form the gun in the splash but with more uniform size. We can take off the air cap of the spray gun to help splash the stain.
With the cup gun, we will be able to produce a more controlled spatter effect. By setting the cup gun, then we can produce a more uniform spatter effect. The uses of spray gun also help to direct the splash stain to the desired area. The spray gun is more flexible and controlled to produce the spatter effect in the special finish. We can make the spatter effects with many different sizes with many color stain consistently.

 gravity cup gun to make spatter

3. Spatter with texture spray gun or pressure port spray gun.

The use of brush or gravity gun to produce the spatter effect is limited to apply the stain with low viscosity. To produce a spatter effect with a viscous material then we need a tool that could spark a viscous material, i.e. pressure gun ports. Pressure port has the air pressure inside the tank that is facilitate to catapult material with high viscosity. The pressure port can be used to make effects spatter with viscous material. It can be used to spatter the base coat, paint or texture paint. Various texture effects with base coat or paint can be made. The pressure port can make splashed with the texture as well as the stain effect.

 spatter to make special finish

 The stain to make spatter effect.
 
Almost all kind of stains can be used to make the spatter effect. The pad stain is my favorite since it can be applied easy either by brush or spray gun. Pad stain on the sealer or top coat can be wiped off easily if it is considered too much. The glaze is also quite good to make spatter effect. It is easy to be applied by brush or spray gun. It also can be cleaned or wiped off if necessary, but it takes rather long time to dry. Too wet glaze is risk to sag. If we use the base coat or paint, then we need the pressure port or texture spray gun.

Spatter is usually applied on the sealer or top coat layer, before the last top coat as a final layer. If we use the pad stain or the glaze stain to make spatter, then we absolutely need to layer it with the top coat. The spatter with paint, base coat or the thinner stain is also high recommended to be layered with the top coat. The base coat or paint may be able to attach on the finish surface quite well, but the top coat is still needed to make the even gloss instead off to give more protection.

Tips to buy Ethan Allen furniture

Ethan Allen Furniture company.

Ethan Allen is one of the famous furniture companies in America. He has 300 stores, 295 design centers, 29 retail services and furniture manufacturer in North America and Canada. It is one of the largest furniture companies in the United States. He has facilities to makes customized furniture in US domestically. The upholstered for sofas and chairs are available in custom made in a selected fabric.  

As a furniture seller company Ethan Allen is not just selling products. He is success to sell concept, design, idea and experience. He provides free consultation to help his customers to find the best custom product. His concept is more to the interior design company instead of furniture selling. His designers are ready help to the customer to find the decoration theme according to the customer side.  He provides a complete range of household product to fill and decorate the house. He sells furniture product in all kind, home accessories, curtains, fabric, wallpaper, rug and carpet, even mattress and pillow.
The Ethan Allen furniture is well known as the product with high quality and could be considered as expensive. Now with the development business there are lot products are sourced from other countries such as : China, Philippines and Indonesia but they are all made with high control to the process and quality. The furniture are kept at the simple models but elegance. As the high end product they are made with very detail, precise, neat and smooth.

 the picture is from: wikipedia

Tips to buy furniture from Ethan Allen

Instead of his good service and product quality, the Ethan Allen product is considered expensive. So we have to get the maximum benefit when we buy products from Ethan Allen. Here are some tips that we need to consider when we want to buy furniture from Ethan Allen.

1. Do the good consultation and communication.

Ethan Allen provides free design consultation service. Do a good consultation and communication with the design center about the decoration theme, and the product we need.  If we want to decorate a home, make sure we explain about the theme and atmosphere we want.  Also give information about the supporting elements that already exist in the room such as: the model of building, room size, wall finish, etc. The successful in communication is the key to find the best product.

2. Checks to the products purchased.

The Ethan Allen products are known as its high quality. But as consumers we still has obligation to review and check for every product we buy. Make sure we get the right product in the good condition. We already spend money, then we should  we give some time to do checking and reviewing the product we buy.

3. Find the nearest store.

Although we may can get online to find information and there is the online consultation is available. But the real face to face meeting is still better choice especially when we buy for large purchases or the first time we do transaction. We may need to meet the sales or the designer to get the right product. Ethan Allen has a lot of store network, spread across U.S. states. There are many stores and design center that we can use. Choose the store the nearest store with our place to get the maximum service.

4. Note the terms of service

Although Ethan Allen is reputable company, but we totally cannot relay to him. See the term of service he offers such as: terms of payment, complaint procedures, cancellation procedure, etc. It is very important to avoid to get the dispute later on.

How to spray top coat.

Top coat is the top layer of a finishing. As the top layer, he functions to produce a smooth and even surface. The spray application is the best way to layer the top coat. Other application method such as: brushing, rolling or padding can be used, but the result will not as best as spray application. The spray application is doing 2 operations in the same time:  the material atomizing and the layering to the surface with fully control. With the proper technique we can get the perfect finish layer.

But to be producing a smooth layer of top coat, the spray application must be done properly. The top coat is applied at the last process, so a perfect coating is needed. The imperfectness at the top coat application will result on a bad quality finish. To fix it, we have to re sand the top coat layer and apply another layer of top coat with good technique.

spray the top coat

Here are some tips to spray top coat in the finishing process

1. Good preparation for the underneath finishing layer.

The top coat is the top layer at the finishing; it is usually applied after few layers of finishing material are coated to the wood. Some layer of sealer or paint is usually used as the previous layer to build the film layer underneath. To produce a smooth finish and even top coat, we need to well prepare the film finish underneath. The good sanding is very important thing to prepare the film. For finishing with a low gloss and open-pore or antique looked, some imperfections may still be acceptable, because it will be hided with the finishing looked. But for finishing with clean looked, high gloss and close pores, then the perfect preparation is required.  
Make sure the whole surface is sanded well. And no orange peel or rough surface at the layer. If we used the non reaction coating such as : NC, lacquer, varnish or shellac then we can use # 320 or # 360 grade sandpaper as the last sanding. The non reaction dry film will be melted and resolved with the top coat application. But if the thermosetting dry coating such as: PU, AC or water based coating is used, the better sanding is needed. The sanding mark at the film could be visible in the final finishing looked. We need to sand with # 400 grade or finer to make sure there is no big sanding mark at the finishing layer. Some time we need to do wet sanding to get the smooth and even layer. You can see our previous article: how to sand sealer and top coat  and wet sanding for the wood finishing

2. Good preparation for the finishing material.

Top coat is a finishing material which has several functions at once; form a smooth surface, build the sheen and provide enough protection to its underneath finish. To get all its function is fulfilled then we need to prepare well the top coat. Check the type of the top coat; make sure it is compatible with the underneath layer. Check the sheen of the top coat and the condition of the top coat.

The top coat should flow well when it is applied. Stir well the top coat and check the viscosity of the material; make sure he meets the required viscosity for the spray application. The viscosity around 12-13 seconds (with the NK 2 cup) is needed for air spray application.  If the material mixture is too thick, then we need to add some thinner.  Use the thinner that is recommended by the supplier of the top coat. To spray big case then we may need some retarder to slow down the drying time and let the top coat layer wet longer to make smooth surface.

3. Good preparation for the equipment and room facilities.

The air spray gun is the best equipment for spray top coat. The other type of spray gun such as airless, HVLP or LVLP can be used, but the best result is still the air conventional spray gun. The air spray gun gives the perfect atomization and best control to the top coat layer. Clean the spray gun, make sure it works properly. The good preparation for the finishing room is also needed.  Make sure the finishing room is clean and dust free. The existence of dust can be attached to the top coat and result for rough surface finish film.

4. The correct spray technique.

After all preparation is done well, then we need to do the correct technique. Set the spray gun in the right way, the material volume, the air pressure and the spray width to get the perfect atomization (see our previous article: How to use spray gun correctly 1). Then move the spray gun with the right technique (see our previous article: How to move the spray gun). Make sure a wet and even layer coat is obtained.  Then place the wet coated product to the clean drying room to let it dry.

Regency Furniture style

regency style chair

Regency style refers to the model furniture in England in the period of 1810 to 1837. It was the lattes part of the King George III and the early of his son King George IV lead the Britain. In that time, the UK is undergoing major changes in economic and political. But that time is also known as the generation of fine art and great architectural design. 

 the modern regency arm chair

regency style side chair

The Regency was a period of great refinement and architectural. Regency furniture was featuring the beauty and elegance. The regency chair is looked feminism with roll or spiral form at arm or backseat. The leg could be: sabre form, lion paw or carved fluted. Backrest has varies motif with the influence from the previous models. The use of brass or gild is also found as an ornament at the foot of cabinet or a chair or table  Cabinet-cabinet regency also has characteristic of simple but elegant. Lion paw feet with brass or gild ornament are used. The regency table is known with saber legs. Top table with marble or inlay decorated. Round table with quadruple leg base is lot of found. The sabre leg with brass or gilt is the character of the regency table.

regency style sofa

Regency dinning table

The regency style is still favored by many peoples today. The regency style furniture with many variety and modification are still available in the furniture market. Many designer are using the regency furniture for reference and inspiration. 

regency style side board

Eco furniture.

Eco furniture is furniture that is environmentally friendly. It is the action from the furniture industry to plays role together with the human community to save the earth. The advanced of technology has made the earth to be “smaller” to accommodate all the activities of the living creature on it. People start to realize that the developing of the technology and culture can impact to the earth damage. The human society start to realize that the technology and culture development must be controlled to preserve the earth.

The environment issue also affect the business sector. More companies start to consider  the ecological balance as the important aspect in the business. Many new product made are designed to be more environmentally friendly. This situation is also affect the furniture business. The furniture  manufacturer which still use the wood as its main raw material can be pointed as the cause of the environmentally damage. Many furniture manufacturers that are relocated in the developing countries could trigger to the uncontrolled deforestation. While the forest is the very important natural resources to keeps the air balancing in the world.  The forest is the "world lung" which absorb CO2 and provide O2 to keel the clean air in the world. Responses to this issue, then many furniture factories are start to make the eco furniture, the furniture product which is environmental friendly. 

 the cutting trees in the hard wood plantation

To be environmentally friendly, the furniture product must fulfill two aspects: the product itself must be eco friendly, and the process of manufacturing the product also should be eco friendly.

1. The eco friendly manufacturing process.

Until today, the wood is still used as the main raw material to make the furniture. While the wood is sourced from the tress, the organism that absorb CO2 and release O2 in the air during its life time. The existence of the trees is very important to keep the continuity of the living creature in the earth. Therefore the furniture industry must participate in action to maintain the presence of trees and forest.
The eco furniture should be made using raw materials sourced from the sustainable plantations. The eco furniture has to use the certificated woods, which indicate it is legal timber from the sustainable plantation. By this way then the eco furniture is help to reduce the illegal logging, which cause the big destruction to the natural forest.
The eco furniture also is also should be associated with the environmental friendly in the production process. It has to be produced in environmental balancing system. The safe and friendly environment material should be used and the healthy process should be held. The production process to make the product has to be equipped with the waste management to make sure it dose not pollute the environment.

The environmental issues are not only about physically, but also are involved to the social community aspects. The manufacturing process should be in balance with the social and culture at the society where the factory located. The company has to bring benefit to its environment society instead of to make profit.  

• 2. The eco friendly product.

The furniture product also has to be safe and does not emit the pollutant to the environment. People are becoming more aware to the air cleanliness. There are many rules are made to limit gas emissions for the furniture product that allowed to be used. In the furniture product, the emitting gas is correlated with the finishing chemical and the glue that are used to make the furniture. The finishing material and the glue used to make the eco furniture have to be the safe material and do not emit the poisonous gas.

Eco furniture is very good policy to be implemented. The eco furniture can help to bring the life in the harmony among the human with the other living creature and the earth. But it is very difficult to be realized. The biggest challenge is the economical issues, since all the process need cost that could be expensive. It need support and good will from the whole society to realize it. But sure it will be the condition that has to be fulfilled in the future.

Hide glue for wood finishing

hide glue (the picture is from wikipedia)

Hide glue is glue made from animal. This glue is an adhesive material that has been known and used long time ago could be since the prehistoric; probably it is the oldest type of glue. Long time ago, peoples has used the fat and protein from animal to paste the wood or any other stuff. Now the glue is marketed in the small granules form and used for some special purposes in some industries. The modern process is used in the hide glue industry, but the source is still the animal. The collagen from skin, bones, tendons of cattle or horses is hydrolysis with to make the glue particles.

The uses of hide glue in the woodworking industry have been much reduced since the invention of the glue from synthetic material. Today, animal glues are still used for making music instrument and restoring objects, paintings, illuminated parchment manuscripts, and other artifacts.

The glue also can be used in the wood finishing. Some peoples use the hide glue to make some finishing  effect and some other use it to care the wood veneer.

Here are some uses of the hide glue in the wood finishing.

•  Glue sizing.

Hide glue can be used to overcome the problem of cracking veneer. Some types of veneer such as: crotch or burl, have high risk to get crack problem. They tend to have high movement according to the moisture content changes. We can use the hide glue to do glue sizing to avoid the veneer cracking. The glue will cover and close the pores and grains and make the wood moisture content to be more stable.  By this way then the crack problem can be minimized.

The application hide glue to glue sizing is done as follow: 
 
The wood veneer should has been attached to its core and has been sanded well. The veneer surface has to be cleaned from the tape marks, glue marks or scratches.
Mix the hide glue with water in the ratio 1:1, then boil the mixture until all the granules melt to form a liquid paste. Then layer the warm glue evenly to the veneer surface evenly. Use putty knife to apply the glue at the veneer surface ( do as we apply the wood filler on the wood), avoid too thick glue. The glue should be left only at the inside pores and grain; the excess of glue at the surfaces must be cleaned. 
Let the glue to dry for about 1 hour. The glue will get cold and hard. After the glue is hard, then we can sand the veneer surface to make flat and smooth surfaces. Then the veneer is ready for the finishing process. See our previous article: oak burl finish

The glue will fill and close the pores of wood grain and pores to make more stable veneer and then the veneer movement will be minimized. 
The glue sizing will affect the absorption of stain by the wood veneer. Therefore glue sizing should only be done selectively on the veneers that really need it. Usually it is used to care the burl or crotch that has high risk to get cracking problem. The regular veneer normally does not need the glue sizing. 

 crotch mahogany veneer has high risk to get crack

• Hide glue to make crackle finish.

There are many ways to make crackle finish, one is with the hide glue. Crackle finish with hide glue will produce crackle effect with a large crack and can be set at the desired place.
Here's how to make crackle finish with hide glue.
Mix the hide glue with water and boil until it is melted as in the processing hide glue to glue sizing. Then apply (brush) the hide glue on the wood surface. Apply glue at the parts where the crackle effect is desired, then layer the water based paint to the wood surface. Water based paint application should be done by way of spray and evenly to all surfaces. Let the water based paint dry, together with the cooling of the hide glue, and then the paint on the hide glue will crack.

Then the finishing process can be continued with the application of sealer, glaze or stain to produce a more attractive crackle effect.

• Hide glue to make gesso finish.

We can also make the use of hide glue gesso. Mix: 5 parts of hide glue, 5 parts water, 1 part of calcite and 1 part of talc and boil the mixture until it melted and form a liquid paste. Use this liquid as a “gesso” for various purposes. It can be used to form a flat surface and smooth to the base for high gloss paint finish. It can also be applied be used to make texture effect by the technique application. See our previous article: high gloss silver finish

Chair

folding chair

Chair or seat is furniture that is specifically used for human for sit. Chair have parts that are set up to fulfill its functions, such as: legs, seat and back rest. It is also can be equipped with arms as a place to lay the hands. Chairs are usually used as the completeness table where people usually use it to do various activities. There are many types of chair according to the activities served; dining chairs, office chair, vanity chair, lawn chair, working chair, etc. Each of them have their special form according to their function.  Chair also can be classified according to its style. There is classic style or antique style that refers to the chair model in the past, and the  modern or contemporary chair that refers to the seats model in the present and future.

The chair can be not just furniture to sit, but also a symbol of status or position. The king chair, minister chair, the governor chair, are designed in special model to be used as a status symbol. 

rattan chair

Material for chair.
 
The advancing technology in the furniture manufacturer has provided variety material to make chair. Now, the chair can be made from many substrates such as: plastic, iron, stainless steel, rattan, resin, etc. But the most widely used is still the wood. The seat and backrest of the chair can be made from various materials such as: synthetics material such as: foam and fabric, or natural substrates as: leather, rattan, wood, bamboo, pandanus, water hyacinth. 

teak wood chair

Finishing for the chair.
 
The chair has unique shape and can be designed to showcase in the best shape in a design collection. The chair has small parts of: arms, legs and backrest that can be made in special form and decorative theme, and then it can be finished to enhance its beauty and unique shape..
The finishing for the chair generally is easier than the finishing for desk or cabinet. It has small surface that makes the application finishing materials can be done easier. Some small damage and imperfectness will not be looked too obvious as the large and wide surfaces at table or cupboard.
But the finishing materials used still have to accord to the function of the chair. The exterior finishing materials such as: PU outdoor or spar varnish is required for outdoor chair. The indoor chair can be finished with the NC, shellac, or furniture varnish. The NC finishing is my favorite since it is relatively easy to be applied and   be able to maximally enhance the beauty and unique of the chair.

Unlike tables that are used to put stuff and be stricken lot of activity, the chair relatively get less physical abused. But however, the strong finishing such as PU or AC is still needed for the chair that facing hard activities such as chair for hotel, bar and cafe.

garden chair

Tips in choosing chair.

Chairs are usually purchased together with the table. We usually buy the chairs together with the table in a set. But sometime we also may buy the chair alone to complement the existing furniture. When we decide to buy chairs there are two things we need to consider two major things: the function and the appearance.

 classic chair

• The function of the chair

We decide to buy seat because we're going to use it, therefore make sure that we choose the product that according to our need. Choose the model, size and specification in accordance with the functionality we want. Choose the size of the chair to conform with the available space. Adjust the high chair according with a high of table and the people who is going to use it.

• The appearance and the model of the chair

Choose the chair according to your taste. There are many chair supplier available with many model and style that we can choose.  What we need to do is just find the right supplier where we can buy the right product. The chair is also a the part of the decoration tool, then we also need to adjust the form and model of the chair according with the theme and decor of the room and space.

Tips to care the chair.
 
To make the chair be durable and can be used in a long time, the chair should be maintained properly. The caring to chair is quite simple. What we need to do is to clean the surface and minimize the physical abuses. Clean the  finishing in the same way as maintenance and cleaning of the finishing for the other furniture.
The chair is an item that is often be moved, then handle them carefully to minimized the physical abuses. The chair usually is protected with shoes at the bottom leg to reduce friction with the floor. Replace the shoes soon when it is damaged to reduce friction with the floor that could be a hard physical abuses for the chair..

Queen anne chair

The texture paint.

The texture paint is the paint to make the texture finish. The texture paint is initially used for wall painting. With various model, the texture can produce life and attractive  finishing looked. It can bring to the more dynamic to the wall than the paint finish that is flat and monotonous. But then with the development of the furniture models and styles, the texture effect is also used for furniture finish. Now, the texture finish for furniture is growing with more and more models and colors are made. There are many techniques and texture effect are created. The finishing material suppliers also have been providing various types of texture paint to be used in the furniture finish.

texture finish for furniture

There are several type of texture paint that can be used in furniture finishing. Here are the texture paints that are most used in the furniture finishing.

• Water based emulsion texture paint.

It is the texture paint that is most easily found and could be the most widely used. It is water based paint, latex paint or the wall paint that is designed to make texture effects. Actually almost all of latex paint can be used to make texture. But some paint suppliers provide the special paint for texture finish. It available in many color and some special effects is available. We can make the texture paint ourselves by increasing the viscosity of the regular latex paint. We can add some talc powder into the paint to make a thick and viscous paint that can be function as  a texture paint.

In the furniture finishing, the water based texture is mostly used in combination with other wood finishing material such as: stain, glaze and thinner based clear coating to antique finishing.

• NC-based texture paint.

It is the development of NC paints that is very popular in wood furniture finishing industry. The NC texture paint is a kind of base coat that is designed for texture application. The white or black is the most available color, although other colors can also be generated. This paint can be applied with a spray gun, since it dry relatively faster than the water based texture.

We can also make the texture paint from the NC base coat if necessary. We can add some talc powder into a base coat paint to make a thick paint that can be applied as a texture paint.

Tips in the application of texture paint..

•   Use the type of texture paint that is compatible with the whole finishing system.

Texture paint will form a thick finish in the finishing layer. The thick texture should be compatible to the overall finishing layer. The incompatible finish can lead to the finishing problem such as: adhesion problem or cracking finish problem. We also need to make sure that we are using the proper type of paint in accordance with type of coatings used in the finishing system.
The water based paint texture is the good choice because he can be used in combination with various types of clear coating. The NC, PU or Acid curing, or even the varnish or shellac can be used together with the water based texture paint. It can also be used in combination with other wood finish material such as: glaze, powder glaze, stain or base coat.
While the NC texture paint is rather limited, although it is quite ease in application. He should be used in the finishing process that is suitable with the NC paint. The finishing with the lacquer coating, NC coating, varnish or shellac can use the NC base texture paint.

•   Choose paint and the application method according to the effect needed.

Although we can make the texture paint, but in my opinion it still be easier to buy the texture paint from the paint store. There are varieties of texture paint we can choose according to our need. Some special paints to make special texture are also lot available such as: sand texture, or hammer shield (which is quite difficult to be made).  What we need to do is to find the right material according to the effect we want.
The effect of texture is also determined by the application method. There are many techniques to apply the paint this with variety of tools to make many different effect. The paint can be applied by: brush, roller, sponge, scotch brite, felt, knife, etc. and each of them will give different texture effect. The NC texture paint, the sand texture and hammer shield texture are should be applied by spray. The spraying equipment which can apply the thick material is needed, since he deal with the viscous material.

• Take the time for the drying.

The texture paint is a thick paint; he takes a relatively long time for the drying. Make sure we provide enough time for the drying process. The texture will be down little bit when it is fully dry and the different texture pattern with the wet paint may be resulted. So make sure the texture paint layer has been completely dry to get the proper effect. For the water based texture, normally we need to wait for about 1 day to let it dry completely, while the NC texture paints need about 3 or 4 hours to dry. The  paint that is not dry will also lead to many problems in the finishing such as :adhesion, bubble and color problem

The trembesi wood for furniture

trembesi wood panel

Trembesi tree (Albizia saman) is much cultivated throughout the tropical area. It is grows best in the lowlands from sea level to 500 m (1000 ft) with rainfall 600–3000 mm (24–120 in). The tree can fast grow and become big timber in the proper climate. It usually reaches 15–25 m height with a wide canopy leaf and big diameter log. In Indonesia the tree is lot planted at the road as shade tree for reforestation. The saman tree is chosen to green the land since it fast growing and good absorber for the C02 from the air. In Indonesia the action of planting the trembesi tree is encourage in many areas. The wood is lot available in Indonesia by many names such as: tamarind, munggur, ki hujan, trembesi, meh, etc.
Since its availability, some furniture manufacturers use the trembesi wood to make furniture. It is quite cheap and easy to be handled in the woodworking industry. It can be used to make indoor furniture in the combination with veneer or other wood species. The wood has strong grain character with shallow pores and grain texture, with the proper finishing it can produce an attractive appearance. This wood has a medium hardness make it relatively easily to be machined, drilled or sanded in the woodworking process. Some furniture manufacturers are also use the wood for outdoor furniture with a quite good result.

But, the wood is always unique, each type of wood has special character that different with the other. The trembesi as a product from tree also has special character that need to be well anticipated to get them maximum benefit.

trembesi solid wood and mindi veneer to make furniture

There are some things need to be considered in the process of tamarind wood.

• The insect attacked.

The tamarind wood has a risk to get insect attacked. Although the risk of insect is not as high as the mahogany or mango wood, but since it needs to be chemically treated to prevent the insect attacked. The wet wood plank should be soaked in the anti insect chemical before dried in the kiln dry oven. (see  our previous articles : the insect attached problem at the wood).  

• The volume shrinkage.

The trembesi wood has high volume shrinkage from the wet to the dry wood. It has high risk for rupture and curved. Therefore he must be dried properly; the drying process cannot be too fast since the risk of damaged and broken wood. After the wood is dry, then it need to be layered with the proper finishing layer to minimize the risk of wood movement.  The finishing layer will coat the wood and make it stable and minimize the wood movement.

trembesi finish panel

• The finishing for trembesi.

The trembesi wood contains some oils inside. The oil is not as much as teak wood oil, but it could interfere the finishing looked resulted. To minimize the oil problem, then we need to dry the wood at the standard m.c. should be and choose the proper finishing color. The antique brown transparent finishing color is the best choice for this wood. The wood has nice grain pattern that can be maximized with the transparent color. It has the white color base at the sap wood and brown to the dark brown at the heart wood. The finishing with dark brown color is the most easiest to be achieved. If the light color  finish is needed, then we may need to bleach the dark wood.

The finishing with solid color is also can be generated, but we must be aware with the oil inside the wood. We need to apply the oil block (insulator) at the first step to prevent the oil comes true and ruin the finish looked. 

Outdoor furniture

Outdoor furniture is the furniture that is used to fill the outdoor rooms. As the indoor room, the outdoor space such as: garden, patio, park, beach, or gazebo also need furniture. The outdoor furniture usually are used for place for relax while enjoy the natural atmosphere at the outside room. Furniture for outdoor uses requires different specifications than the furniture for indoor uses. The outdoor furniture should be durable enough to withstand the outdoor weather such as: rain, wind, night cold and sunlight. The outdoor furniture should be made from strong substrates and be finished with special material.

 outdoor chair with outdoor finish

The outdoor furniture is usually made from solid wood from hardwood such as: teak, acacia, merbau, oak, pecan, etc. The other substrates for outdoor furniture are: synthetic rattan, aluminum, stainless steel or iron with a special finishing. Hardware used should also be made of material that has high resistant to the outdoor weather such as: brass, copper, aluminum or stainless steel.
The special finishing material is required for the outdoor furniture, although there are much outdoor furniture are used in the unfinished conditions. The exterior finish material that is specially design to withstand the outdoor weather is needed if we want to finish the outdoor furniture. Some of the exterior finishing materials are: spar varnish, outdoor oil, outdoor polyester, outdoor polyurethane, outdoor water based or outdoor latex paint. We can determine the outdoor finish material by read the specification and the technical data sheet of the finishing material. The exterior finishing materials usually have higher prices and have less color choices then the indoor finishing material.
The models of outdoor furniture are usually simpler and less varied than the indoor furniture. The limited choice of the substrates and finishing has make the model is less varied. The special model with special veneer pattern at m.d.f. or particle board that many used for indoor furniture cannot be used because it is not strong enough for outdoor uses. The model with complex and heavy carving also is not too suitable with the natural environment in outdoor rooms. 

outdoor furniture made of synthetic rattan

How to care the outdoor furniture.

The outdoor furniture has less lifetime than the indoor furniture. The sunlight, rain and wind will make outdoor furniture to be quickly worn out, discoloration and making the wood, iron or other substrates become quickly obsolete. However, if we can do proper maintenance then we can make the furniture will be last longer. 

Here are some tips for caring the outdoor furniture.

•   Avoid furniture the direct sunlight at the hot day.

The sunlight is the factor that damages the furniture quickly. The ultra violet rays from the sunlight will make the colors fade and the wood, metal or plastic quickly decayed. It may impossible to avoid the sunlight from the furniture, but at least we should try to minimize the hot sunlight directly go to the furniture. Place the furniture under the tent, umbrella, roof or the trees. The shade places are also more pleasant as a place for relax and rest  than the open sky room with hot and direct sunlight.

• Coat the furniture with proper finishing material.

The proper finishing layer will protect the substrate from the sun, water and wind to make furniture more durable. As long as the finishing layer is still well attached to the surface it still relies to give enough protection to the underneath substrates. But after a certain period of time, the finishing layer could become worn, faded and damaged. And when it comes, we should re finish the furniture. The refinishing process can be done in the simple way by re coat the furniture with the new finish material (could be the same types or not). Many finishing suppliers have been recommended to do re finishing every certain period of time (6 months or 1 year) to keep the finishing color and looked. We can choose the finishing material that can be applied by brush or rag to make the refinishing can be done easily. There are some exterior finishing materials such as: spar varnish, oil or water based paint finish that can be applied by brush or cloth.

Wood conditioner for wood finishing.

The best way to get the maximum advantage of the staining result is by applying the stain directly to the raw wood. We can apply stain by spray, dip, brushed or wipe, but the stain must wet and penetrate into the wood surface. By this application we can get the maximum beauty of wood. This method will let the stain to color the wood and enhance the natural grain and pores of the wood. But this finishing system is often causing problem in some soft wood. Some types of woods such as: pine, maple, alder, etc. are soft porous which has high absorption to the stain. The application of stain directly to the wood has high risk to get problems cause by too much absorption of stain such as: color too dark or blotchy color finish. To overcome this problem, some finishing materials suppliers have created a special finishing material that is  called as “wood conditioner”.   

Wood conditioner is special materials to address the problem of blotchy color in the soft wood. Wood conditioner is like a base stain, or thin sealer that serves to reduce the penetration of stain into the wood. Wood conditioner may have different types from one product to another, but in principle it is a barrier to avoid too deep penetration of the stain into the wood. Wood conditioner is applied to the raw wood before the stain application. The way the application of this wood conditioner can be by wet spraying, wiping, or brushing until it soak and wet the wood surface evenly. Wood conditioner should be applied evenly to completely wet the surface so he could wet and fill at the wood surface that has a high porosity.

The wood conditioner is working similarly with the glue sizing or sealer sizing, but the wood  conditioner should be easier to be applied since it is the material that is specially design to handle the soft wood. Some types of wood conditioner can be followed by stain application without sanding. Wood conditioner of this type is more work as stain base which will reduce the strength of the stain, so it does not too wet and soak into the wood surface. This wood conditioner is usually an oil base and must be followed by the application of stain with the same type (oil base stain).
The other wood conditioner requires drying and sanding process to produce smooth wood surface. This material contains some sealer that will stiff the wood fibers. It has to be sanded to produce smooth and even surface. This wood conditioner can be followed by application of different types of stain. The best way to apply the stain is by spray application since we can do better control to the stain thickness. The application of stain by brushing or dipping has bigger risk to get blotchy color problem, since the uncontrolled the stain thickness at the surface.

Some tips in the application of the wood conditioner.

• Get the proper preparation at the unfinished wood

To get the good finish, we always need to start with the proper preparation at the unfinished wood.  The wood conditioner is not a magic potion that can overcome the finishing problem as a result of poor preparation in the unfinished wood. Do a proper sanding at the unfinished wood; do correction at the wood problem such as: dents, holes, cracks, etc. make sure that the wood is dry before finishing process begins. Most of the finishing problems come from the unfinished preparation.

• Read and follow the technical data sheet.

Every material has it specification. Read the instruction and the technical data of the material. Make sure we already know the character or the wood conditioner and how to apply. 

• Do some test at wood panels first, before making the application to the furniture product.

Wood is an unpredictable material. He could have very large varied properties. The same finishing process on a different wood can produce very different results. Even the same type of wood can be have different properties. Therefore, every time we do a finishing process we should start to do the process at a piece of wood panel with the same type and same condition. Make sure that we have found a proper finishing system before start doing the finishing process at big furniture product.

 step panel for wood finishing