Furniture material, how to choose the right, expert advice

Suitable furniture material is selected based on its functionality and the conditions in which it is operated. Despite the conservatism of this market segment, more modern and practical types appear every year. Therefore, craftsmen who make furniture on their own must constantly monitor new trends and the appearance of wear-resistant materials.

Varieties

Technologies for the production of furniture materials are constantly being improved and developed. More functional new products appear on the market. These include MDF boards, waterproof plywood, composite materials. Let's consider in more detail what materials are made of furniture.

Wood boards

The most popular variety is chipboard, or chipboard. For its manufacture, sawdust and shavings are used, impregnated with formaldehyde resin, which acts as a binder. This is the most practical material for the manufacture of cabinet furniture. Particleboard materials used in the kitchen and bathroom have increased moisture resistance.

With all the advantages, this type of plate has a significant drawback - the presence of harmful formaldehydes. Their excretion, especially in high concentrations, is hazardous to health.

The disadvantages also include its weak moisture resistance. If water gets under a layer of the laminated surface, the whole plate will swell and crumble. It should be taken into account that even furniture made from natural materials can suffer from conditions of excessive humidity and lose their appearance.

Fiberboard

In the manufacture of fiberboard, wood fibers are used in the manufacture. They are compressed by hot pressing of the mass. In addition to cellulose fibers, the composition includes water and synthetic polymers. Thanks to this technology, one side of the plate has a mesh texture. The other side is the front, covered with a film of melamine, creating a smooth surface. Fiberboard is much thinner than chipboard and more flexible.

For the manufacture of furniture, a rough fiberboard is also used. Its difference is in the front side, the surface of which is not covered with a film, but simply polished. The choice of material is affected by its cost. In this case, money is saved, because this version of the plate is cheaper than the laminated analogue. The thickness of the plate is from 3 to 5 mm. Although it is believed that the thicker it is, the better, in this case, everything is different. Fiberboard is used to make the base of sliding tables and cabinet walls, for which 3 mm is considered an ideal thickness. Therefore, this is the most common thickness of fiberboard.

The reasons why you should choose fiberboard for the manufacture of furniture are the low price of the material, good thermal insulation qualities and a long service life. The disadvantages include the fear of moisture and a narrow scope.

MDF

Furniture materials from MDF are safe and environmentally friendly, since they contain only natural components, such as sawdust. Instead of binder resins, MDF boards contain natural paraffin and lignin. Thanks to environmental friendliness, MDF panel materials are used in the manufacture of children's and kitchen furniture. That is, they are suitable for use in rooms where increased environmental safety requirements are required.

Another advantage of this material is its density and uniformity, which allows it to be used as a facing material for furniture. From it create facades and decorative decoration for furniture. A significant drawback of the plates is their weight. They are quite heavy, so they do not make solid furniture from MDF. The cost of the material, although lower than natural wood, is slightly higher than chipboard.

Plywood

Plywood is more expensive than chipboard and fiberboard and inferior to them in the diversity of surface texture. For these reasons, the material is rarely used in the manufacture of furniture.

Features of plywood:

The thickness of the sheets is from 4 to 21 mm;
They are made from different types of wood, which at the moment does not matter much. It is equally possible to use plywood from birch or pine;
The material is difficult to process. Plain plywood is sawn with an electric jigsaw, and for material with a plastic coating, special equipment is needed.

This material is moisture sensitive. Therefore, open furniture parts made of plywood should be further treated.

Plastic

Given that natural wood furniture is quite expensive due to the cost of raw materials, artificial types of materials that mimic natural ones are increasingly used in its manufacture. One of them is furniture plastic. This layered decorative material is made by pressing several types of special paper.

Materials for furniture decoration, such as plastic, especially postformable, are used to create furniture facades, cladding window sills and countertops. Plastic is great for making furniture for the bathroom, where there are conditions of high humidity and temperature fluctuations. A new direction in the market is furniture made of composite material. At the heart of its manufacture are two elements - polymer and wood.

Glass

Glass can be used to create different types of furniture. For example, a table with a glass top will look stylish in any interior.

Due to the ability of glass to refract and reflect light, this material acts as a good decorative element in the design of the house. With the right selection of light, the facades of glass furniture enliven the room. Such finishing materials for furniture like glass are reliable, practical and look good in the interior of the rooms of the house. Even chairs, stools and chairs of various fancy shapes are made of glass.

A rock

Materials for the manufacture of stone furniture look quite attractive. The main advantage is its pleasant energy, texture and unique pattern.

Benefits of use:

Natural colors and textures do not need additional decoration;
Indisputable environmental safety, because the stone is one hundred percent natural material;
It does not need special care, it is enough just to wipe it regularly from dust;
Resistant to high humidity and temperature extremes.

It is used for the manufacture of kitchen worktops and window sills, as well as garden benches and armchairs. Bright representatives of this type of material are marble and granite. To sit on the stone it was comfortable, it is equipped with pillows made of soft fabrics such as velor, velveteen, microfur and others.

Natural wood

Due to its natural qualities, it is the best material for furniture production. First of all, it is environmentally friendly, does not emit toxins. Natural wood is a durable material. Products from it have a long operational life. Wood is easy to process and any form of furniture can be made from it. This property allows you to create original designer headsets. The main tree species used are: pine, birch, oak. In addition to these familiar species, more rare ones are used: sandalwood and mahogany.

Metal

Metal is mainly used for the manufacture of garden furniture sets. Three types of metals are mainly used. This is cast iron, steel and aluminum. Cast iron has a beautiful appearance, strong and durable. Since it is very heavy, furniture made from it is hard to move. This metal undergoes corrosion, therefore, requires additional treatment with a special coating.

Garden tables, gazebos and deck chairs are made of steel. Products can be made large because they are easy to move. To protect against corrosion, a primer and paint are used.

Aluminum is a very light material. Therefore, it is suitable for the manufacture of chairs and armchairs. It is steady against corrosion and does not demand additional processing.

Wood-based decorative coating

The decorative coating of wood boards includes veneering, laminating and laminating chipboard, as well as the production of postforming and softforming facades.

Caching

Laminated chipboard is created by coating the surface with a web of web material using glue. The canvas is rolled with a roller at a temperature of from 20 to 150 ° C and a pressure of up to 7 MPa.

The advantages of lacquered chipboard include its low cost, ease of manufacture, and beautiful appearance. The disadvantages of using this material is a short service life, low wear resistance, the initial appearance is lost after 1-2 years.

Melamine coating

The melamine edge is used to trim the furniture. It is made from decorative paper impregnated with resins. It is used for finishing the inner side of products or internal parts. The material is easy to use. For sticking it does not need special equipment. The edge thickness is 0.3 mm, and it happens to be one and two-layer. The back side is treated with a special adhesive solution.

Laminate

The surface of the laminated chipboard is covered with a special finishing film. She speaks paper impregnated with pitches. It attaches to the surface through a chemical reaction involving resins that are present in the film. There are two types of lamination:

Cold
Hot.

The process itself takes place in four stages. Namely:

Preparation of the basis;
Preparation of paper for coating;
Pancreation of this finish on the stove;
Forming plates into pallets.

Postforming

This is the name of a simple chipboard plate with rounded corners. Used for the manufacture of furniture facades and kitchen worktops. Postforming facades are done without internal milling, which is why they are cheaper than analogues.

For the manufacture of postforming facades, a standard 2.44 meter long chipboard panel canvas is used. It is cut into parts of various widths. Then, on special equipment - edge banding machine, paste over the ends of the facade using a plastic edge. The ends themselves can only be glued with a melamine edge, but it is less durable and not practical.

On the finished product, the junction of the edge and the web should be smooth and without glue residue. It is best to pack each part separately to avoid scratches and dents.

Softforming

Softforming is based on chipboard. Its edges are milled and covered with a plastic protective film of different colors. Scope - furniture facades. The main difference from postforming is the internal milling of the edges of the canvas.

The process of manufacturing facade softforming is no different from the production of facade postforming. Also, the facade canvas of standard sizes is sawn into individual products and glued over the ends of the parts on special equipment. The only difference is what can be done from the inside of the parts in addition to a groove for installing glass. Its width is 4 mm.

PVC

This material, due to its performance, a variety of shades, is widely used in the facing of furniture facades. It is used to create a beautiful appearance of countertops, door linings, decorative panels, profiles. A PVC edge protects against formaldehyde resin and gives furniture facades extra strength.

Veneer

In furniture production, veneered chipboard is mainly used. This is a wood chipboard covered with sheets of thin wood. Veneers are made from hardwood or coniferous wood by peeling, planing and sawing.

Materials for the production of veneered chipboard are chipboard, veneer and glue. In the process of work, chipboard using single-span and multi-span presses is covered with 3 mm veneer. After the adhesive has hardened, the surface is ground. Furniture made of such material, unlike laminated and laminated boards, is of good quality and in its characteristics resembles that made of natural wood.

Which is better to choose?

Starting to equip a house, many of us are wondering what material to choose furniture from? It should take into account the appearance of the material, its consumer characteristics and cost. In the manufacture of mainly use:

Chipboard (chipboard);
MDF boards;
Fiberboard (fiberboard);
Natural wood.

Each of these materials has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, the cost of natural wood is quite high compared to other raw materials, but the furniture itself is very beautiful in appearance and has a long service life. However, it should not be installed in rooms with high humidity and sudden changes in temperature.

Sometimes it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what material a particular structure is made of. To make sure the choice is correct, you need to require the seller certification documents for furniture.