Information about the treatments and production of Rosewood.
Rosewood Furniture Production
The production of Chinese Rosewood Furniture can be divided mainly into two sections.
- The preparation of raw materials – by using modern technology and machinery the parts of each individual joint are individually cut, this section consumes about 30% of total production work.
- Assembling – this is all done by hand, and is where the skill of the true craftsman is required.
Treatment of Moisture Content in Rosewood Furniture
Moisture control of Rosewood is essential prior to the production of the furniture. With the aid of modern technology, the wood is kiln dried for about 21 days. The moisture content in the wood is brought down to about 5-6% equilibrium.
Although moisture will be drawn back into the wood during production, the content in the finished goods will be no more than 10% which is internationally acceptable.
Unique
The Chinese Three-way mitre, double locking, mortise and tenon joint integrated with a floating panel in Rosewood Furniture, would horrify a furniture production engineer – due to the extreme difficulty in mass producing it.
The floating panel is cut from a single piece of wood usually about 9 mm in thickness, and is tongued and grooved into the rails. To support and prevent any tendency to curl, transverse braces are dovetail grooved into the underside and then tenon and mortised into the long rails of the frame.
This assembly is found in all pieces, be they table tops, door panels or seat frames.
The Impeccable Lacquer Finish
A tradition which is centuries old is to use the ‘Natural Lacquer’ which exudes from the Chinese Lacquer Tree which is indigenous to China. It is collected in much the same way as latex, and is partially evaporated in the sun.
Although the lacquer may take a little longer to produce and apply, it proves to be much deeper and more beautiful than synthetic equivalents. After the first course sanding a lacquer based filler is applied to fill the characteristic open grain of rosewood. This takes eight hours to dry with successively finer grade abrasives.
The first layer of lacquer is then applied to seal the grain. After sanding with flour paper, if the colour of the wood is to be changed, aniline dye is painted on and rubbed down.
Then the polishing begins with successive applications or clear lacquer. There are a minimum of four base coats and a total of seven applications of lacquer. The finish resulting from all this hard work has some remarkable properties, not only is it heatproof a wet glass or hot pan will not permanently mark it. The surface is not as hard as a polyurethane lacquer, but small scratches will polish out.
Above all, the natural quality of the finish allows the Rosewood Furniture to mature with age and wear. Hence when the Rosewood Furniture of today becomes the antique of the future, its sun-bleached gold will be enhanced by the patina of the natural lacquer.