Wood used in antique Japanese furniture
BryanSayer
| Posted in Wood and Materials on
Is anyone familar with what wood was typically used in Japanese furniture like a tea cabinet? I have one from the early 1900’s. The grain pattern is similar to white or yellow pine. The final coloring is reddish. I want to make an entertainment cabinet that matches, and I’m wondering what wood and finish to use.
Replies
Brian, by the 1900's, there would have been many species available from around the world. It's difficult to say based on your description. Some of the older traditional woods of Japan are Hinoki Cypress, Suginoki Cryptomeria which are softwoods. Reasonable substitutes are Port Orford Cedar and Western Red cedar. I think I'd take a drawer or door with me to your cabinet wood supplier. Also take it to a good paint store. Maybe they will have some ideas of how to replicate the finish. A good picture might help here but right now there isn't enough information and too many possibilities to speculate on.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Thanks! I'll post a couple of pictures tomorrow.
Here are a couple of pictures of the existing tea cabinet. I'd like to build an entertainment center that will probably by about 1/2 the height and 3 times the width - basically about the size of turning the tea cabinet on its side.
Bryan, ash with the right color finish ought to be reasonably close if not perfect.aloha, mike
Thanks, that's great. An Ash is fairly inexpensive too.
is it dense and hard? could it be the sapwood from rosewood
The Japs often used it that way
I have heard, and don't rember when but most of the heart pine was ship to Japan from the US.
The lady that identified the cabinet as a tea cabinet (someone on our house tour) told me that they didn't have pine in Japan then, so having it come from the US makes sense, but I would think that this piece pre-dates trade, but I'm not positive. The lady mentioned a couple of possibilites, but I can't remember them. They were not species that I recognize, at least not by those names.I'm thinking the Ash option is pretty good. but I'll take a door down to the wood supplier and see what they think.
Edited 2/1/2006 10:02 pm ET by BryanSayer
Japanese tea cabinet question
Hey there, i know this is a really old thread, but just in case you never found out what the original wood was, its almost certainly Japanese Chestnut or kuri, its reasonably hard and has a whitish colour unfinished, its often used in place of Japanese red elm, or keyaki as a cheaper and visually similar substitute.
Tamo, or ash is sometimes used as well, but when it is its usually highly figured and wavy.
Damien
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