Commonly used woods for furniture in China: Elm Elm is the most commonly used wood for furniture in northern China. There are more than 20 varieties of elm. The tallest elm trees can grow to more than 30 meters and have a diameter of 1 meter. After the elm is cut open, its sapwood is yellowish brown, its core material is light brown, and its texture expands in layers like feathers. Elm wood does not dry out easily and is prone to cracking. Elm has medium strength, is resistant to decay, and is easy to process. Beech In China, beech mainly grows in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui. Beech trees can grow to more than 30 meters and have a diameter of up to 1.5 meters. The texture of beech is layered, which is richer than that of elm. Suzhou craftsmen call it "pagoda pattern". The wood of beech is also harder than ordinary wood, but it is not considered a hardwood. Among the furniture materials used in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, beech wood has an important position and has been valued since ancient times. Beech wood is a common material for making furniture in Suzhou. There is also a lot of beech wood furniture in the north, most of which have Ming-style shapes and workmanship similar to huanghuali. They have always been valued by craftsmen and collectors. Jiangsu craftsmen often divide beech wood into three categories: yellow beech, red beech and blood beech. The different ages of the trees cause differences in color and density. Those who are old and red are called "blood beech" and are the most prized. Nanmu is often mentioned in Ming Dynasty literature as a good material for making furniture. Nanmu is often used to make cabinets and bookshelves. It can also be used to decorate cabinet doors or make stationery. Phoebe grows slowly, with a straight trunk. The tree height is between 10 and 40 meters, and its diameter is between 50 and 100 centimeters. More than 30 kinds of nanmu tree species are found south of the Yangtze River, especially in the southwest. The best nanmu comes from Hainan. Phoebe is extremely resistant to decay and is often used as building materials or shipbuilding. Phoebe is easy to dry, has stable wood properties, and is not easy to crack. Phoebe has a fine texture. After polishing, the surface will produce a charming luster. It is often called "golden nanmu" and is a very high-grade wood. Its color is light orange and slightly gray. The texture is elegant and quiet, the texture is warm and soft, non-shrinking, and has a delicate fragrance when it rains. All southern provinces produce it, but Sichuan produces the best. The Ming Dynasty court used it extensively. Nowadays, most of the Forbidden City in Beijing and the finest ancient buildings in the capital are constructed of nanmu. Nanmu is not rotten and has a delicate fragrance. The royal library, gold lacquer throne, interior decoration, etc. are mostly made of Nanmu. Important buildings such as Wenyuan Pavilion, Leshou Hall, Taihe Hall, Changling and other important buildings have nanmu decoration and furniture, and are often used in conjunction with red sandalwood. It's a pity that many people today don't know it. They often view it with a fetishistic mentality. They feel that the quality is not strong or heavy, and the color is not deep or bright, so they abandon it. Insiders regard its texture as the following names: golden nan, douban nan, fragrant nan, and gentian nan. In addition, among the people in Shanxi and other places, hardwoods such as mahogany, pineapple, and pear are often called "Nanmu", which originally means wood from the south. At first glance, it sounds very easy to be confused with this "nanmu", which is important to know. Walnut wood Walnut wood is easily confused with nanmu. However, its wood surface texture is coarser. Compared with the olive brown of nanmu, the color of walnut wood tends to be golden brown or reddish brown. There are several varieties of walnut wood in China that are suitable for high-quality furniture. "True walnut trees" are generally planted in North China and Northwest China. This is a deciduous tree that can grow up to 20 meters tall and bears walnuts, which are edible. Its sapwood is light in color and its heartwood is reddish brown or chestnut brown, sometimes even purple. Walnut dries slowly but becomes stable thereafter. Since the "True Walnut Tree" is generally used for its fruit rather than for wood, the "Manchurian Walnut Tree" is often used instead. "Manchurian walnut" is found in North and Northeast China, and its color is lighter. There are also "wild walnut trees" in central and eastern China and Yunnan. Luliang and Taihang Mountains in Shanxi are rich in walnuts. Walnut wood is the best wood for Jin furniture. The wood is polished and waxed. It will have a luster like hardwood, its texture is delicate and non-toxic, easy to carve, and its color is gray and soft. Its products were produced in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and most of them were of excellent quality. Available and hidden. Its woody features are only fine, needle-like brown eyes and light yellow filament-like growth rings. Weight and elm etc. There are many types of cedar trees, which grow in most areas of China. Cedar trees generally grow above an altitude of 2,000 meters. Cedar wood is often used as building materials. However, some varieties with stronger hardness, denser density and more uniform texture are also used to make furniture. The wood is light brown in color, has a straight grain, is relatively easy to dry, and has good strength, but it is not resistant to moisture or insects. Galls A gall is an abnormal protrusion on a tree trunk or branch. The cause of gall trees is unknown, but their warty growth does not appear to be detrimental to the tree's health. The causes of galls vary; some believe they are the result of logging, fires or forest disasters, including bacterial erosion and even gnawing by woodpeckers. Certain tree species, such as camphor, elm, nan, cypress and willow, are more likely to develop galls. The texture of gall wood often has fine rotating patterns, and it is often difficult to identify what kind of tree they are.

However, the same color, texture and texture usually come from the same parent tree. The bifurcation of the trunk and the roots of the tree develop into gall-like textures due to the change in the growth direction of the tree fibers, such as the gall wood of nanmu. Among the gall trees that can produce large slabs, nanmu is the most preferred. Birch trees, which are ubiquitous across China, are also prone to gall wood. Birch is produced in Northeast China and North China. The wood is fine, white and slightly yellow. The fiber has poor shear resistance and is prone to "stubble breakage". There are many patterns on its roots and nodes. The ancients often used it to make door cores and other decorations. Its bark is pliable and beautiful. Pu people are very sentimental about this and often inlay scabbards on the bowed back and other places. However, its wood is juicy and often deforms after it is matured, so it is rare to see tables and chairs made entirely of birch wood. Poplar is a commonly used wood in northern my country. It is fine, soft, stable, cheap and easy to obtain. It is often used as an accessory for elm furniture and as a fetal bone for lacquer furniture on ancient furniture. This poplar is also called "small-leaf poplar". It often has a joke-like luster, so it is also called "satin poplar". It is not the kind of Soviet poplar, big-leaf poplar, poplar euphratica, etc. that were introduced in the middle of this century. Poplar often has a "smell" and is lighter and softer than birch. Birch has a slight fragrance and often has very fine brown-black water-soaked lines. This is the difference between the two. Dumu, also known as "Duli wood", is earthy gray in color. The wood is delicate and unpretentious, with little difference in horizontal and vertical textures, making it suitable for carving. In the old days, this wood was often used to carve wooden boards and seals. I have seen miniature carvings of trademarks used by Shanxi merchants. The figures, boats and carriages, mountains, rivers, houses, etc. are extremely exquisite within a square inch, and there are hundreds of tiny characters on them, which is breathtaking. This version is carved from Du Mu. Cypress wood: Cypress wood has a fragrance that can be used as medicine, and cypress seeds can soothe the mind and replenish the mind. Whenever people step into the lush Berlin, look at its nine-curved branches, inhale the fragrance that fills the heart and spleen, and think of the cold-resistant and evergreen character of these thousand-year-old trees, it is easy to purify people's souls. From this we can see the situation when the ancients used cypress wood to make furniture. Cypress wood is yellow in color, fine in texture, fragrant in flavor, resistant to water, and has many knots, so it is often used as "cypress rice cake" among the people. The best coffins are also made of cypress wood, which is more resistant to corrosion. The famous "Huang Chang Ti Cou" in the tombs of ancient kings unearthed at Dabaotai in Beijing is a barrier made of thousands of cypress logs stacked neatly. It can be used for aroma and antisepsis. It can be seen that its level among wood plants is high. Camphor wood is found in all provinces south of the Yangtze River in my country, and is abundant in Fujian, Taiwan. The tree diameter is larger, the wood is wider, the pattern is beautiful, and especially it has a strong fragrance, which can keep insects away. Our country's camphor wood boxes are famous both at home and abroad, including suitcases, lying boxes (court clothes boxes), top boxes and other varieties. Only tables and chairs are mostly in the Beijing category. In the old wood industry, camphor wood is divided into several types according to its shape, such as red camphor, tiger bark camphor, sassafras, rosewood camphor, watercress camphor, white camphor, ship board camphor, etc. Catalpa wood is popularly known as walnut wood that does not bear fruit. Catalpa wood has a plain brown eye arrangement, dark color, soft texture and little luster, but its shrinkage is small, so it can be used as a door core or table core. Often used in conjunction with Korean wood and walnut wood. Catalpa wood is lighter in weight than walnut wood, has a darker color, is pine in texture, and has large and scattered brown eyes, which are the main points of difference.