Restores and exports Chinese antique furniture and reproduction furniture




Elm


Yumu (Ulmus, Northern Elm) is traditionally the most common softwood used in the manufacture of furniture in Northern China. The sapwood tends to be yellowish-brown in tone, whereas the heartwood is typically more of a chestnut brown color; both possess a striking, wave-like grain. This wood dries with difficulty, and is of medium density and hardness, making it an excellent medium for furniture manufacture. 

Elm wood is used in many Chinese furniture pieces for its durability and wide grain.  Light yellow to brown colo

Camphor
 Camphor occurs in the camphor laurel, Cinnamomum camphora, common in China, Taiwan, and Japan. 

Camphor is used in Chinese furnishings not only for its beautiful grain, but also because it acts similar to cedar in deterring moths (hence its wide use in storage trunks.) 

One of the oldest spices, Chinese cinnamon (cassia), is produced in the bark of C. cassia. Another species is used medicinally and in the manufacture of explosives!


Beech
Jumu (Southern Elm, Zelkova) 

Southern Elm was a popular furniture-making wood in the Suzhou region. It is distinguished from its northern counterpart by a more refined ring porous structure that is apparent in the tangential surface, and by small medullary rays that are visible as fine reflective flecks across the radial surface. Southern Elm is also comparatively denser and stronger. 

Southern Elm is widely distributed throughout China with concentrations found in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces as well as Korea and Japan, where it is commonly known as keyaki. The arbor reaches 30 meters in height and the trunk, 1.5 meter in diameter. 

The sapwood is distinguished from the slightly darker heartwood, which varies in tonality from yellowish brown to coffee-brown. Jiangsu craftsmen traditionally divide jumu into three types: yellow ju (huangju), red ju (hongju), and blood ju (xueju). Factors including the age of the tree are thought to account for these variations in color as well as ranging densities (63-.79 g/cm3). Blood ju, with a reddish-brown coffee color as well as some feathery like figure in the tangential surface, is the most highly prized.


Fir
Straight and even grained with a medium to fine texture. Creamy white to pale brown color, heartwood indistinguishable from sapwood. 

Light and soft with low strength, shock resistance, and decay resistance. 

Works fairly easily with hand or machine tools. Glues, screws, nails, stains, paints, and varnishes well. 

Used primarily for general construction, as well as boxes, crates, sash, doors, trim, plywood, and pulpwood.

Rosewood
Rosewood is a deep, ruddy brown to purplish-brown colour, richly streaked and grained with black resinous layers. It takes a fine polish but because of its resinous nature is difficult to work. The heartwood attains large dimensions, but squared logs or planks are never seen because before the tree arrives at maturity, the heartwood begins to decay, making it faulty and hollow at the centre. 

Once much in demand by cabinetmakers and piano makers, the wood is still used to fashion xylophone bars, but waning supplies restrict its use in contemporary furniture making.


Burl
Also called Yingmu (Literally means shadow wood) or Huamu , got its name with its cloudy and curly looking grains resembling bud formations. Grown on the root or trunk of any trees, in oval lump shape or twisted knots, just like tumor. It is a natural insulation material. Some use it for smoking pipes and decorative components. Burl wood is usually available in planking less than 8mm thick. Length is almost always under 90cm, and width lower than 40cm. Supply of the old burl wood, taken from panels removed from demolished houses, is diminishing by time.


Oak
Although furniture made from oak is somewhat rare, the material has long been known as an excellent furniture-making wood. The variety known as gaoli was used in the Yongzheng (1723-1735) Imperial workshops, and earlier examples have also survived. Botanists have identified one hundred forty types of oaks widely distributed throughout China. These are divided into the evergreen Qingfeng group and the Mali group, the latter inclusive of both deciduous and evergreen varieties. Three species suited for furniture-making are noted below. 

The Blue Japanese Oak (C. glauca) is widely distributed from Japan to India and commonly reaches heights of 20 meters with trunk diameters of one meter. The sapwood and heartwood are not clearly distinguished and range from grayish-yellow to grayish-brown with streaks of brown or red. The material is difficult to dry and not easy to work, however, it is extremely dense (±.90 g/cm3) and hard. Distinctive medullary rays appear in the tangential surface as short dark lines; in the radial surface, they appear as lustrous flecks woven through the longitudinal grain. The Sawtooth Oak (Q. acutissima) is also broadly distributed throughout China. With the exception of its reddish-brown heartwood, other characteristics are similar to the Blue Japanese Oak. 

The somewhat less dense (.67-.75 g/cm3) Mongolian Oak (Q. mongolica) grows throughout north central and northeastern China, and is found from stretching westward through Japan , Korea, Mongolia, and Siberia. A similar species of growing in the Xing'anling region of Mongolia has been related to that commonly termed gaoli mu---Gaoli being a Chinese reference to ancient Korea.

Walnut
Walnut was used for many examples of Qing period furniture sourced from the Shanxi region, which generally demonstrate refined workmanship; earlier pieces are extremely rare. Walnut is easily confused with nanmu, however, the surface of walnut tends to have more of an open-grained texture, and the color tends more towards golden-brown or reddish-brown when contrasted with the olive-brown tones of nanmu. Furthermore, their freshly worked surfaces each emit a distinctive fragrance. 

China has several species of walnut that produce timber suited for high-quality furniture-making. True Walnut (J. regia L.) is generally cultivated in the north and northwestern regions, but also extends into the southwestern provinces. It is a deciduous tree reaching 20 meters in height that produces an edible nut that can be pressed into a high-quality vegetable oil. The light-colored sapwood is clearly distinguishable from the heartwood, the latter being reddish-brown too chestnut-brown in color, and sometimes even purplish, or with darker striated patterning. It dries very slowly, but is quite stable afterwards. It is of medium density (±62 g/cm3) and has a relatively fine texture. 

Because True Walnut is generally cultivated for its fruit rather than timber, Manchurian Walnut (J. mandsharica M.) is often used in its place. It is distributed throughout the northern to northeastern forests of China. It is somewhat lower in density (±.53 g/cm3) than True Walnut, and somewhat lighter in color. Wild Walnut (J. cathayensis) is distributed throughout central-to-eastern China, with noted concentrations in Yunnan province. 

The dark, fine-grained wood of English and black walnuts is used for furniture, panelling, and gunstocks.  It's tough wood has a medium density and straight grain.

chinese Assorted wood

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chinese maple wood

chinese Che wood

chinese mahogany