Furniture Structure and Materials

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FurnitureStructure and Materials

• Quality of materials and technique in furniture
  construction has a major impact on both its
  durability and its proper use.
• Generally the details of construction of a piece
  of furniture are at least partially concealed in
  the finished piece. Because of this, the
  reputation of a particular manufacturer,
  published specifications, and price are all clues
  to the quality of construction.
• Well made furniture need not be expensive, but
  cheap duplicates of high quality products are
  almost always the result of some skimping on
  materials, or details of construction.
• Good furniture is not weak, fragile, or shaky
  when new, and will not develop weaknesses with
  normal use over long periods of time.

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FurnitureGeneral Guidelines

• Just how sturdy a piece of furniture needs to be
  depends on its intended use.
• Many fine antiques that have held up for
  centuries are quite delicate, but they have been
  used only under conditions that do not impose too
  much rough usage.
• Delicate materials and finishes can survive in
  private living spaces or in executive offices
  better than in hotel rooms, dormitories, or where
  young children will be regular users.
• Whatever its intended use, good furniture is
  characterized by good materials, techniques of
  construction, and finishes at an appropriate
  level of durability.

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Materials used to make furniture

• A variety of materials are used to make
  furniture, but the primary structure of most
  furniture is based on three families of
  materials, used alone, or in combination.
• The three families of materials are
• wood
• metal
• plastics

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Wood furniture

• Wood is still the most used furniture material,
  and was almost the only material used in most
  historic (pre 20th century) furniture.
• Wood used for furniture is either
• solid wood
• plywood

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Solid wood furniture vs.plywood furniture

• Solid wood
• To produce a board measuring 1 inch thick, a tree
  is cut down and sawn to random lengths of 6 to 12
  feet.
• Since trees are round and boards are rectangular,
  there is substantial waste.
• Imagine a square within a circle and everything
  outside of the square is trashed.
• Next, the board desired is rough-cut from the
  log, and the saw kerf wastes another centimeter
  down the length of the log every time it makes a
  board.

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• A 1 inch thick board must be rough cut to a
  little less than 1-1/2 inches thick, then dried,
  which causes slight warpage.
• To make the board flat and smooth, it must be
  planed, this trashes another 3/8 to 1/2 inch.
• In producing a 1 inch thick board already the
  waste is greater than the yield.
• The board is just a random width and length, and
  the piece of furniture is not even started.
• If the simplest stick chair is made, waste is
  another 25-30, and if a piece of furniture has
  any curves or uses a low yield species of wood,
  like cherry or walnut, the waste factor is
  another 100 to 200......or more.

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• In comparison with solid wood construction of
  furniture, using plywood is much more efficient
  as a use of wood.
• Furniture grade plywood is manufactured
  specifically to be used as an exposed, visual,
  attractive, finished surface.
• One type of furniture grade plywood is called
  Baltic Birch plywood.
• Baltic Birch plywood is made of 7, or 15, layers
  of birch, each layer turned 90 degrees from the
  previous layer. Baltic Birch plywood is made in
  sheets that are 5 x 5.
• This yields a piece of plywood that is very
  stable, visually refined, and without voids in
  the layers.

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Edge of Baltic Birch Plywood13 ply 3/4 thick
sheet
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Birchnatural, unstained color
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• A good web page showing photos of different types
  of wood surfaces.
• http//www.boulterplywood.com/ProductGallery_41.ht
  m

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A connection using baltic birch plywoodEdges of
typical sheets of baltic birch plywood
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A table using baltic birch plywood and steel
tubes.
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A glass top with molded baltic birch plywood base
elements.
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Metal Furniture

• Metals are used to make parts, such as legs,
  frames, and table bases, and as a primary
  material for office furniture, kitchen cabinetry,
  utility shelving, and storage units.
• Steel in the form of rods, tubing, and sheets is
  the most used metal for furniture.
• Aluminum in the form of tubes, and formed
  sections, such as angles, channels, and Ts is
  used for cast legs, frames, and small parts.

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• Metal office furniture and utility files,
  cabinets, and shelves are made of sheet steel.
• The sheets are cut, and then bent to form box
  shapes, or with bent flanges (edges) used to make
  shelves or tops.
• The gauge (thickness) of the sheet metal is an
  important factor in determining the quality of a
  piece. Sheet metal that is too thin will not
  hold up well. Thicker sheet metal is stronger,
  will last longer, and will resist denting and
  deforming.

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Plastics used in furniture

• Plastic Laminates are composed of layers of
  heavy paper impregnated with melamine resin.
• Acrylics such as Plexiglas and Lucite, resemble
  glass in their transparency, but can be made
  translucent and colored, and opaque. Acrylics
  can be bent and molded into curved shapes.
• Molded Plastics such as styrene, polyethylene,
  nylon, and vinyl, are often made into small
  parts, such as glides, rollers, edge trim, and
  drawer pulls.
• Fiberglass a hybrid material in which glass
  fibers are embedded in a molded polyester resin.
  Used to make custom auto body parts and small
  boat hulls.

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A molded fiberglass part for an airplane
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Making fiberglass objects
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Two half molds that will be used to form a
fiberglassdrum.
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Fiberglass chairs using a design from the 1950s
that show the fiberglass fibers.
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The Eames' fiberglass reinforced chairs solved
the problem of how to make a seat out of a
single shell. This chair went into productionin
1950.
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This chair has a molded fiberglass frame that is
made of fire-retardant polyurethane foam.
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Fiberglass seats designed by Swedish
designerPeter Fargring and produced by London
based LosPalurdos.
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Components of ChairsOffice chairs are
sophisticated pieces of design and construction
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• Chairs need feet to ease the friction between
  the floor and the chair, and to provide a visual
  and functionally appropriate termination of the
  legs.
• Casters

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Special Needs Chairs
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Herman Miller Caper chairwith casters
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Herman Miller Aeron chair One of the most
sophisticated, and now famous,contemporary
office chairs, in comparison with a wood office
chair dating from the 1940s
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Aeron chair designed by Don Chadwick, and Bill
Stumpf

• High-performance, long-term seating in three
  sizes with a full complement of adjustments and
  innovative suspension
• The two designers began this development process
  with a clean slate, with no assumptions about
  form or material, but with some strong
  convictions about what a chair ought to do for a
  person.
• "The human form has no straight lines, it is
  biomorphic. We designed the chair to be above all
  biomorphic, or curvilinear, as a metaphor of
  human form in the visual as well as the tactile
  sense. There is not one straight line to be found
  on an Aeron chair.

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Substantial research and testing went into the
designof the Aeron chair.

• The Aeron design was refined and validated
  through research and experts' opinions
• It was tested for comfort with scores of users,
  pitting it against the best work chairs
  available.
• Leading ergonomists, orthopedic specialists, and
  physical therapists evaluated the chair's fit and
  motion, the benefit and ease of its adjustments.
  
• The design team conducted anthropometric studies
  across the country, using a specially developed
  instrument to calculate everything from popliteal
  height to forearm length.
• The research team did pressure mapping and
  thermal testing to determine the weight
  distribution and heat- and moisture-dissipating
  qualities of the Pellicle material on the chair's
  seat and back.

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• The pellicle is a thin layer supporting the cell
  membrane in various protozoa, protecting them and
  allowing them to retain their shape. They vary
  from flexible and elastic to rigid.
• thin film or membrane

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• "The Pellicle was equally a deliberate design
  strategy in that its transparency symbolizes the
  free flow of air to the skin in the same way
  lace, window screens, and other permeable
  membranes permit the flow of air or light or
  moisture.
• The transparency of the chair as a visual element
  was in keeping with the idea of transparent
  architecture and technology, which Aeron
  pioneered in advance of Apple's transparent iMac
  computers.
• Transparency is a major design movement.
• Its purpose is to make technology less opaque, to
  communicate the inner workings of things, and to
  make objects less intrusive in the environment.
  Aeron is a non-intrusive chair."

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The Aeron chair comes in three sizes and a choice
of Pellicle weaves and finishes.
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• A web page for wheels and casters
• http//www.muvtons.com/products.html

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• Exam 3 monday, June 9, 1010am.
• Exam 3 will be very much like Exam 1 Exam 2
  in format and in length.
• Thank you for your attentiveness in this class.
• I have enjoyed our time together!
• Have a wonderful summer time.