Furniture Terminology

Making furniture is a specialist skill that has been developed and refined for centuries, so it is not surprising that it should have evolved a whole vocabulary of its own. The following list of terms is intended to help people who just want to understand what they should look for when buying modern furniture.

Dovetail joint

The dovetail joint first came into widespread use for cabinet making in the 15th Century. Before that time the main woodworking joint in use consisted of a peg (tenon) fashioned on one component to fit into a hole (mortice) in the other component. In building construction, the two could be held together with wedges or pegs.

Drawer fronts could not use this system and the glues then available were not ideally suited to the stresses imposed on drawer joints in constant use. The dovetail joint uses a tenon that spreads outwards in the shape of a dove’s tail. This means it cannot be pulled apart like an ordinary mortice and tenon joint, even if the glue used is not very strong.

Modern glues and the arrival of mass-produced metal screws have overcome this problem, but the dovetail joint remains the preferred method of fitting drawer fronts to drawers.

Hardwood

The term hardwood is used for the timber from all broadleaved deciduous trees – trees that shed their leaves. This would include oak, ash, beech and birch. These trees, particularly oak and beech, are slow growing and therefore the wood is very dense and hard. Both have a long history of use in furniture and cabinet making.

Jointed and glued construction

The traditional way to make furniture was to cut joints into the separate components and fit them together in a similar fashion to a jigsaw puzzle. Applying glue before assembling the components held the whole piece together. Since the invention and mass production of woodscrews, some furniture has used these and other metal fixings to hold furniture together.

Generally speaking however, furniture that is just screwed together is not as strong or durable.

Lacquer finish

Modern lacquers provide a tough, waterproof coating to the surface of wood. They are available in a range of finishes from matt through satin to a full gloss, although usually a semi-gloss finish, similar to a polished wax finish, is chosen. While they offer a much greater degree of protection from liquid spills than oiled or waxed finishes (though not against hot drinks or liquids), lacquers are more at risk from scratches or knocks as they are not absorbed so deeply into the surface of the wood.

Oak

Oak has been a popular choice of timber for British furniture for hundreds of years. The reasons were simple; oak was commonly found in most parts of the UK, seasoned oak is extremely tough and hard-wearing and oak has an attractive colour and grain. In recent years oak furniture has enjoyed a revival in popularity thanks largely to new supplies of oak coming from Europe and Asia.

Oak is a broadleaved, deciduous tree. It is relatively slow growing which means the timber it produces tends to be dense and strong. This can be seen in the grain which is close, meaning the lines made by the annual growth layers are close together.

Oak sourced from warmer climates will be faster growing and therefore slightly different in appearance to the English Oak. Normally oak has a light beige or sandy colour but this has commonly been stained to give it a much darker appearance. There are several reasons for this; for example in the 1930’s it was to imitate oak furniture of the Middle Ages that appeared dark due to a combination of natural processes and the accumulation of many centuries of dirt and soot. At other times oak has been stained to imitate tropical hardwoods such as mahogany.

Oil finish

Danish Oil or Linseed Oil is absorbed into the wood grain and produces a yellowish satin finish. Because it is deep in the wood’s surface, it does not mark easily if subjected to knocks or impacts. An oil finish cannot be buffed to produce a shine and does not offer much protection against liquid spills.

Pine

Strictly speaking, pine is just one family or genus of trees that includes a large number of species ranging from Scots Pine (the UK’s only native species) to Corsican Pine to Chilean Pine (better known as the Monkey Puzzle Tree). In furniture retailing however, pine may also include furniture made with the wood of trees from the Spruce and Fir families.

All of these trees are conifers, that is, they have small leaves or needles they appear to keep all year round, unlike broadleaved deciduous trees that shed their leaves in the autumn. The characteristics of pine wood are that it is faster growing and therefore less dense than broadleaved deciduous woods. This makes it a softer material to work but the lower density is less suitable for carving and producing intricate decoration.

Pine furniture has enjoyed a massive growth in popularity in the UK since the 1960’s when large supplies of the wood became available from Scandinavian countries, while stocks of oak and beech used for traditional British furniture making had been severely depleted by the Second World War.

Reclaimed style

Reclaimed furniture can mean furniture that has actually been made from timber previously used elsewhere, or furniture that merely looks as if it has been made from timber previously used elsewhere. In either case there will be evidence (real or contrived) of knocks, scratches, repairs or other imperfections. The extent of these imperfections will depend entirely on the particular range of furniture in question.

Runners

Furniture with drawers will have runners. These are the strips that support the weight of the drawer and its contents and allow it to slide in and out. Traditionally these would have been made of wood but, since the latter part of the 20th Century, runners have also been made from metal and plastic. It is no longer true to say that wooden runners are always the best option, as some good quality metal runners are smoother in operation and more durable than their wooden counterparts.

Rustic style

Strictly speaking, rustic means something derived from or relating to the countryside. However, in furniture retailing it is a general term taken to mean any furniture that does not look brand new. Other terms used include distressed or distressed finish.

Softwood

The term softwood generally applies to all coniferous trees, including pines, spruces and firs. These trees are faster growing, less dense, and therefore softer, than slower growing trees.

Veneer

Veneer is a thin layer of material applied to the surface of furniture, usually for decorative purposes. Wood veneers are the most widely recognised, although other materials have also been used both in the past and today. These would have included ivory or tortoiseshell in the past and various plastic and vinyl compounds today.

Where veneers are used to imitate solid wood, this can normally be detected by studying the exposed ends of the cabinet or table in question. Solid wooden panels will display end grain, whereas veneered pieces will show the same grain pattern on the ends of the panel as on the sides.

Wax finish

A wax finish, like an oiled finish, provides only limited protection to the wood. Where it differs from oil is that it can, with effort, be buffed to produce a shine. Wax polish needs to be re-applied on a regular basis.

Wood colour and wood stain

Very little, if any, wooden furniture is the same colour as the bare untreated wood from which it has been made. Protective finishes of oil, wax or lacquer will all affect the colour and wood will also change colour over time according to environmental factors, most notably its exposure to sunlight. Sometimes wood will be stained to achieve a desired colour.

Stains may be absorbed deep into the wood and applied prior to a protective coating such as wax, oil or lacquer; they may be applied as a protective coating in their own right or they may be brushed or sprayed over an existing protective coating or finish.