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Posts Tagged ‘brazilian maple’

Stunning quality furniture requires both good design and quality craftsmanship, but must start with superior raw lumbar. Popular woods for indoor furniture have, in the past, been maples, cherry and oaks because of their durability and hardness as well as finishing qualities. One of the most excellent measures of a wood species’ ability to withstand denting and wear is the Janka Hardness Scale. This is planned by the force required to embed a steel ball to half its diameter into the wood. The higher the number, the harder the wood.

Two South American woods have come to be favored for fine furniture in recent years because of their superior hardness along with their similarity in finish to the maples and cherrys. Though harder to work due to their hardness, they produce beautiful furniture which lasts a lifetime. Brazilian Maple (Balfourodendron riedelianum) also recognized as Ivory wood, looks similar to sugar maple or yellow birch. Though harder and more dense, it tends to be more elastic and less brittle than the maples and birches and, also, less prone to splitting. Its color is pale yellow to cream with ocassional darker streaks. The texture is fine and tends to be uniform with a straight dense grain. The best quality of this wood is its ability to take a finish. It stains well and can be polished to a high smooth luster. Brazilian Maple produces one of the most lavish finishes possible for furniture as well as floors.

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