In-depth analysis of cracking and deformation of solid wood furniture

The deformation and cracking of solid wood furniture is said to be a common problem in the industry. Solid wood furniture must have a certain probability of self-destruction. This is an iron fact, and it is also a nightmare shared by manufacturers and owners. The damage of expensive solid wood furniture is an extremely bad experience for the owner to buy a home - he does not believe that such expensive furniture will have problems that so many cheap furniture will not - they will inevitably fall into a kind of The thinking circle of price and quality - also believes that good quality must mean that it cannot crack and deform.

▲【end split】

Therefore, using the word probability to solve the experience problem will ultimately ignore the customer's feelings. Making and selling furniture is a normal behavior, but buying furniture is a minority behavior related to the house. Generally, manufacturers will ignore the feelings of the 20% of the owners. Whether it is after-sales or returning to the factory, only those who meet them will understand—one year The warranty period goes by really fast. This will inevitably lead to a situation of mutual misunderstanding and mutual mistrust. Therefore, writing an article on furniture structure will allow us to better understand each other. In the face of facts, nothing is more important than communication.

In the first few years of the popularity of solid wood furniture (in fact, there are not a few years in total), many manufacturers have achieved a 20% maintenance rate and a 10% return to the factory. This offset the otherwise slightly higher profits of solid wood furniture. China's manufacturing profits themselves are very poor, so some manufacturers have returned to composite materials. Those who insist on pure solid wood are still carrying a lot of cost of returning to the factory and after-sales maintenance, which can only be made up through the cost budget. In the recent past, the variety of imported wood has been limited, and most of them have risen sharply, which has also brought producers into a more tense situation. They will become more impatient when it comes to the aftermarket. This is off topic.

This i

s a fundamental factor that is mostly ignored: changes in the modern living environment, not the furniture itself.

I gave him the following explanation: If all are courtyards and bungalows, our furniture is almost maintenance-free, and the factor is humidity. It is because of the current buildings, floor heating, heating and other factors, the furniture is not grounded, and the humidity changes greatly. Furniture is not sensitive to temperature.

I have encountered some requests for repairs, and I hope we can repair some old furniture for them upstairs. These old homes have been owned for more than 20 years. They used to be good in the bungalows. When they moved to the new buildings, some people were reluctant to throw them away, so they moved to the buildings, and then cracked and deformed. This is not an exception. If we pay enough attention and have relevant associations, we can find the key point of this problem. I once thought this was a non-critical issue. After many times, after slowly precipitating, I found that this link is the most critical.

▲【Fine end cracks in white oak are a common problem】

▲【Without prompting, it is impossible to see the black walnut panel that has been patched】

To be more detailed: if the moisture content of wood is 12%, it is the best humidity for making furniture (requirements vary from region to region), heating in northern buildings in winter will lead to extreme dryness, and floor heating will cause transpiration effects, moisture should be 8%, and in summer Wet, the moisture should be 20%, so the wood is neither too dry nor too wet. Due to the long-term storage of white stubble furniture, especially tables and chairs, it will be treated with excessive drying so that it is not too deformed during the storage process. The consequences are also obvious, that is, the life of the furniture is seriously shortened. If the paint is fully enclosed, the facts have proved that only some of the problems have been alleviated to a certain extent, but they have not been fundamentally solved.

▲【The most stable structure is a five-in-one board, that is, five pieces of wood in the upper, lower, left, and right sides are made into a board.】

Changes in the environment have become the biggest test of solid wood furniture, but after a few years, the problem is still widespread, and there seems to be no way out. The first proves that there are indeed problems caused by changes in the use environment. Second, the manufacturers have not kept pace with the times and continue to adopt the method of sewing and repairing.

solution to the problem

So how to solve the problem? Paint? Accessories? structure? plate? complex? Where is the key core of solving the problem, we have been exploring hard. This is not to say 100% to solve the problem, but at least it can be controlled.

▲【Too many efforts have been made to enhance the stability of wood, which is a solid wood composite process】

Let’s start with an example: a young owner in Beijing bought a number of brand furniture, including some independent brands.

Unfortunately, most of the furniture, indeed most of it, took a toll on his confidence. It stands to reason that it can also be pushed to the probability, because unfortunately, there were problems in the few pieces he bought.

His furniture also includes some of our furniture. Before I delivered it, he found that the furniture that had arrived at his house had encountered many problems. It is from here that a little understanding of furniture structure begins. It is true that ordinary people are already dazzled by the styles and materials, and they can no longer study the structure of furniture, but unfortunately, for furniture, the structure is more than everything.

So what we said is to rely on texture to resist fancy shapes, rely on craftsmanship and structure to ensure long-term service life and years of tossing, and get the attention of customers at the beginning. Because of all this, the time is still too short, and no one can see the essential difference.

So what exactly can make furniture have enough stability?

——Analysis of the reasonable structure of modern furniture

▲【Most families are still using three-in-one panel furniture. This cheap and fragile structure is not suitable for solid wood. Some solid wood furniture factories have been using them all the time. These parts are used to support furniture, especially cabinets. Pretty much a joke. Seriously, this joke is all over the place】

For solid wood furniture, no matter what kind of panel, what kind of structure, what brand, there will be quality problems. If it is only the prestress of its own, it is reasonable to say that many of them are design defects and cause more problems.

I have mentioned many times that the essential interpretation of furniture is a box and a shelf, or a complex. We dismantled it from the following aspects, so that everyone has a deep impression on the structure of the furniture. Furniture design and production is a very complex behavior, and here we mainly talk about the stability of solid wood furniture structure.

Panel: The longer, wider, thicker the panel, the greater the prestress, the more uncontrollable it is, which is quite different from the uniform material. With the popularity of simplicity, many desktops and coffee tables are single-sided, which greatly increases the probability of cracking and deformation. If it is a traditional five-in-one board, although there will be a circle of shrinkage seams, the structure is indeed too stable. Many, if it is composite material or veneer furniture, do not need to think too much, people want solid wood, want to be simple, just don’t need structure, the problem will be exposed directly. There are not many ways to solve the problem. Generally speaking, thick panels (more than 40mm thick) need to do a dovetail threading process on the back, and ultra-wide panels (more than 80 cm in width) need to do a cross on the back to prevent the picture below. Tile warping. If the panel is connected to the wooden frame below, it must leave a certain amount of leeway (that is, in the direction of the cross with the wood fibers), otherwise the wood will be stretched when the wood shrinks. In order to prevent the hunchback from warping, the super-long panel is generally controlled within 180 cm. If possible, try to stop in the middle as much as possible. The overall effect will not be affected, and the deformation rate will be much lower, such as door panels.

Frame: The frame itself is the backbone of the furniture, it can make the panels thin and durable because they are the main structure of the force. If the panel is thick enough to be used directly as a frame, it is the so-called solid wood panel furniture. There are generally few problems with the frame. Some of them are detented. Most of the grooves left when installing the board are too shallow, leaving no room for expansion of the core board, which will directly open the mortise and tenon of the frame or other connecting structures. This problem has appeared many times in our furniture. Another problem is due to the placement problem. For example, the self-weight of the wardrobe is very large. If the ground is uneven, you must find a good plane. Otherwise, over time, the self-weight will cause the overall frame to deform, although it will not be seriously damaged (the wood is elastic). But it affects the door opening and drawer pulling.

Door panel: Because the door panel is vertical, it does not face the problems of water ingress and sundries like the desktop, and because it is not controlled by force, it is best to have a five-in-one board and tenon structure. Large drawer fronts) are made from a combination of five pieces of wood. In this way, the component force can be guaranteed, and various deformations will be reduced to a minimum. I like the simplicity of five-in-one, which is low-key. The veneer door is favored because of its simplicity, but there are structural problems. Because usually only the hinge is connected to other structures, it is easy to deform, and it needs to strengthen the back to increase the stability.

▲【Veneer door effect】

Drawers: Drawers that are poorly constructed generally have two problems. 1. The drawer cannot be opened after the built-in panel is damp, or the gap is too large after heating in winter. As shown in the figure below, this is because the gap is too large or too small. If you want to reduce drawer problems, make a 5-degree slope on the top of the drawer panel, which will reduce a lot of after-sales service. 2. If the bottom of the drawer is made of solid wood, the direction should be as shown in the figure below. The reason is that if it is wrong, the expansion coefficient will be large, which will affect the use of the guide rail.