What you need to know about solid wood furniture

Solid wood furniture is made to last for centuries – it is not for nothing that antiquarians look for hundred-year-old chests of drawers, and in museums there are secretaries from the tsarist era. In the 21st century, cheaper materials are used, but wooden models have not disappeared from the market. Solid wood is a material that consists entirely of treated wood. To get a solid shield, the tree is cleaned of the bark, processed in several stages, dried, polished.     From fragments that are not suitable for a solid shield, they make a Eurobeam. It is also called a glued array, since several layers – lamellae – are glued together. Birch is another budget array. It has a nice golden hue and pattern. Products made of this wood are durable and elastic, so they do not crack from impacts, do not split and do not deform. Birch wood is often used to make furniture with bent legs and backs. Birch should be treated with a water-repellent compound so that it does not rot and darken. Oak produces very strong and durable furniture of various shades. It is a hard and plastic material. Thanks to the oils and esters in its composition, oak wood does not rot. These same oils act as an antiseptic and also make the oak resistant to moisture. Beech is hard and flexible, easy to cut and bend. It is better not to place furniture made of this material in damp rooms, because the wood absorbs water, swells and rots. The beech massif has no core, so it is uniform and beautiful in appearance. Solid wood furniture is expensive not only for the buyer, but also for the manufacturer. Because of this, it happens that cheaper materials are presented as wood.     There are several signs that will help you distinguish a quality product from a fake. First, natural wood has a unique pattern that is not repeated. Secondly, the wooden surface is treated with impregnations and varnishes, so there can be no film or traces of glue on it. Third, solid wood furniture is often decorated with intricate carvings and rounded edges. Fourth, the cut of the wood is even, while in MDF and chipboard, chips are noticeable. You should also pay attention to the weight of the product: the array is much heavier than other materials – for example, tables of the same size differ in weight on average twice. If the room is too humid, the product will swell and lose its shape. The ideal humidity is 45-70%. It is important to regularly ventilate the room to maintain this figure.     If the room has uneven floors, place wedges under the furniture legs to level the height, otherwise the cabinet or table will warp over time. Dust from things from the array is washed in the direction of the pattern so that the dirt does not penetrate into the pores of the material. The product should be periodically wiped with a well-wrung cloth or sponge. Stains are removed with a soap solution or special detergent, but in no case with abrasives.