Hi folks, I’m considering buying a “fruitwood” coffee table for my screened in porch. While I can protect it from direct rain, I’m in Virginia and it’s humid. The table is blocked and glued. I’m concerned about warping, swelling and splitting. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Replies
Fruitwood?
Yes. My understanding is that that's a general class of woods of fruit trees: apple, pear, cherry, etc.
On mass produced late 20th century furniture, it's most likely the wood is not a driftwood. It's just a trade name in those circumstances. Sometime it us just referring to the color.
Driftwood?
Since fruitwood is a generic name for cherry like woods that are used in indoor furniture making, it is dried and finished for interior use. If it spends its life outdoor it will go from say 8% to 12% humidity which if well constructed and finished equally well on all surfaces should not be a problem.
Urrrrr. Autocorrect.
yes, I would expect it will do all that stuff in high humidity, if it really is fruitwood. But as said, sometimes they use the term to describe the color. I have a whole bedroom suite from a US manufacturer sold as "cherry wood" that is actually alder with a cherry toner finish.
Got it. Another thought; hardwoods only come from fruit or nut-bearing trees with maple being one exception. Guess that's why I questioned the use of fruit-bearing. The term encompasses a number of woods.
To answer your question, if the table's finished well you shouldn't have to be concerned about splitting, etc.
Thank you,
Mikaol
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled