Oak And Hickory Furniture

Oak and hickory furniture is usually made from solid oak or hickory. Although many manufactures will use oak and hickory veneer on top of the solid wood to get a more uniform appearance for all of the pieces.

Wood finishing for oak and hickory furniture is probably the most neglected part in any furniture purchase. Most people just want the finished pieces to look good. So they are usually more concerned with how the furniture is constructed. However, wood finishing should be given as much attention as all of the initial stages in building a piece of oak and hickory furniture. After all, you wouldn't want your furniture to deteriorate with time because it wasn�t finished properly. Not to mention, the additional expense incurred to have it refinished.

The purpose of finishing the wood is to protect the surface of the wood from wear and tear from normal use and from general weathering. Surface finishes like varnish, polyurethane and lacquer do this by providing a protective coating on the surface of the wood. While oil finishes tend to penetrate into the grain of the wood and protect by hardening the wood fibers themselves.

Surface wood finishing for your oak and hickory furniture gives you better protection against stain and abrasion than oil finishes but tends to be more difficult to repair. Many surface finishes have that shiny luster that some prefer but to the wood purist, they have an artificial look and feel. On the other hand, oil based finishes have a more matt finish that brings out the natural grain of the wood.

The most common types of oaks used for oak and hickory furniture is either red oak or white oak. Both grow allover the North America and are most prevalent along the eastern seaboard. Red oak, as it�s name implies, has a red color to the wood and is the preferred wood for most non-veneered furniture use. White oak has a white wood that is more commonly used for structural building materials but is frequently used when a veneer is being applied over the solid wood.

The most common types of hickory used for oak and hickory furniture are pecan hickory and shagbark hickory.

Pecan Hickory Grows in United States and Mexico. It is pale to reddish and is a very heavy, hard and strong wood that is stiff and shock resistant. Shagbark Hickory grows in United States and Canada. It is brown to reddish brown and is one of the hardest, heaviest and strongest woods in the United States and is used to make musical instruments as well ad oak and hickory furniture.