Wood is a natural product that... reacts to moisture . It dwindles and it swells. An undesirable side effect of this is that boards, bars and even beams can warp. She bulge or become crooked . If this happens, the planks and wood cuttings are unusable and can no longer be processed further.

Solid wood furniture indoors and outdoors

Especially wood products outside are particularly affected by warping because the wood is subjected to different stresses. Through the Sunlight Window shutters or patio furniture can be subjected to irregular stress, causing the wood to warp. But also in the living room rule yourself Humidity fluctuations that affect the wood.

Avoid warping of solid wood furniture

Carpenters, furniture makers and craftsmen who work with solid wood are of course all too familiar with the problem of warping. That's why over time they have developed some techniques to do this To avoid warping . Incidentally, the warping of different types of wood is not the same. Larch, for example, is quite severely affected. Warping of larch wood terraces is not uncommon. Oak and ash, on the other hand, are significantly more stable . That's why this material is particularly suitable for making our " high-quality solid wood cutting boards ".

The right time to fell trees

Long before the wood is processed, there are important things to consider: Traditional Wood felled in winter , when it contains the least moisture. The general rule is that moisture fluctuations are almost exclusively responsible for warping in wood. Therefore, the time at which the tree is felled can be crucial for it later wood quality .

Drying solid wood

After the wood is cut, it needs one sufficiently long drying time . High-quality solid wood furniture is therefore made from wood that has had a correspondingly long time to dry. Exactly how long that is depends on various factors, but roughly speaking, it's about a year. During storage, however, care must be taken to ensure that the wood doesn't dry out too quickly . This means that it may even be sprinkled with water in the summer.

Storage of solid wood

Raw wood is also a must Well ventilated from all sides become. This is ensured, for example, by stacking strips that are placed 50 centimeters apart between the planks. And with our high quality Chamber drying , the residual moisture is between eight and 20 percent. With this moisture content there is a risk of Delay reduced to a minimum .

Gluing solid wood protects against warping

Contrary to popular belief, glued wood is by no means inherently of inferior quality. Clean and made from high-quality wood, the opposite is even the case: Solid wood, that glued warps significantly less . This is due to the glue technology used here. By the way, we only use high-quality furniture for our furniture DV gluing technology . The specialist then glues the wood cut into strips in different grain directions. So The tensile forces are balanced out by the distribution of the fibers . But it can also happen with glued wood that it loses its shape after cutting. Therefore, the workshop must also store the wood in a well-ventilated manner and without major temperature fluctuations. Larger wooden panels should have a certain Minimum thickness have. Our table tops therefore have a material thickness of 3 to 4 centimeters.

Wooden ridge strips in furniture construction

One A tried and tested method of protecting the wood from warping is with ridge strips. This wood connection is particularly suitable for solid wood tables and benches . A is inserted into the glued panel or board wall Nut milled up to a third of the wood thickness. The sides slant inward at an angle of about 75 degrees. This is very important so that the bar cannot slip out later. The strip itself is a counterpart of the milled groove. At the end it is pushed in as tightly as possible. A few hits with a wooden hammer can help here. Secured with a drop of glue to prevent it from slipping out – done. Now the bar prevents the plate from twisting or arching. At Table tops The ridge strips are attached to the underside. When neatly crafted, they not only have the best possible effect against the undesirable effects of fluctuations in humidity - they also look great. In some of our furniture, this wood connection is not only useful, but at the same time Design feature.

Metal ridge strips in furniture construction

The traditional technique of the ridge strip has been preserved to this day. There are now also metal ridge strips. These metal ridge strips usually consist of one Steel core and aluminum profiles . They are available from different manufacturers in different widths Sold by the meter offered and can be easily used for any panel length. Unlike classic wooden ridge strips, you don't push them precisely into the groove, but fix them through Screws . At Anton Doll Holzmanufaktur we try to avoid metal parts and screws as much as possible.