elm
Elm is the most commonly used wood for making furniture in northern China. There are more than 20 kinds of elms. The tallest elm can grow to more than 30 meters and its diameter can reach 1 meter. After the elm is cut open, sapwood is yellowish brown, core material is light brown, and the texture is like feathers. Elm doesn't crack easily. Ulmus pumila has moderate strength, corrosion resistance and easy processing.
beechnut?
In China, beech mainly grows in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui. Beech trees can grow to more than 30 meters and have a diameter of 1.5 meters. Beech is more layered and richer than elm. Suzhou craftsmen call it "pagoda pattern". Beech is also harder than ordinary wood, but it is not hardwood. Beech occupies an important position in Ming and Qing furniture materials and has been paid attention to since ancient times. Beech is a common material for making furniture in Suzhou. There are also many beech furniture in the north, mostly of Ming style, with the same technology as Huang Huali, which has always been valued by craftsmen and collectors. Jiangsu craftsmen often divide beech into three categories: beech, red beech and blood beech. Different tree ages lead to different colors and densities. The ruddy old man is called "blood snapper" and is the most cherished.
nanmu
Nanmu is often mentioned in Ming dynasty literature as a good material for furniture. Nanmu is often used to make cabinets and bookshelves, and can also be used to decorate cabinet doors or make stationery for study. Phoebe bournei grows slowly with a straight trunk, with a height of 10 to 40 meters and a diameter of 50 to 100 cm. There are more than 30 species of nanmu in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in the southwest, and the best nanmu is produced in Hainan. Nanmu is extremely resistant to corrosion and is often used as building materials or shipbuilding. Nanmu is easy to dry, stable and not easy to crack. Nanmu is fine in texture, and the polished surface will produce charming luster. Often referred to as "Phoebe bournei", it is a very high-grade wood, with light orange and slightly gray color, elegant and quiet texture, warm and soft texture, no shrinkage, and a faint fragrance when it rains. All the southern provinces have production, but Sichuan is the best. In the Ming Dynasty, it was widely used by the imperial court. Now the Forbidden City in Beijing, the first-class ancient buildings in Beijing, are mostly built of nanmu. Nanmu is not rotten and fragrant. The Royal Library, with its golden painted throne, is decorated mostly with nanmu. Such as Wenyuan Pavilion, Leshou Hall, Hall of Supreme Harmony, Changling and other important buildings have nanmu decoration and furniture, which are often used with rosewood. It's a pity that many people don't understand it now, and often regard it as a sacred object. They think that the quality is not strong or heavy, and the color is not dark or bright, so they abandon it. The insiders' comments on its texture are as follows: Jin Sinan, Minnan, Minnan and Gentiana. In addition, in Shanxi and other places, hardwoods such as redwood and yellow pear are often called "Nanmu", the original meaning should be wood from the south. At first glance, it is easy to be confused with this "Nanmu".
walnut
Walnut is easily confused with nanmu. However, the surface texture of its wood is rough. Compared with the olive brown of nanmu, the color of walnut tends to be golden brown or reddish brown. There are several varieties of walnuts suitable for making high-quality furniture in China. Real walnut trees are generally planted in North China and Northwest China. This is a deciduous tree, which can grow to 20 meters high, bear walnuts and can be eaten. Its sapwood is lighter in color, and its heartwood is reddish brown or chestnut brown, and sometimes even purple. Walnut dries slowly, but then the wood properties are stable. Because the "real walnut tree" is generally used to eat its fruit rather than as wood, the "Northeast walnut tree" is often used to replace it. "Manchurian walnut" is produced in North China and Northeast China, and its color is light. There are also "wild walnut trees" in central and eastern China and Yunnan.
Sam
There are many kinds of eucalyptus, which grow in most areas of China. Shirt trees generally grow above 2000 meters above sea level. Shirt wood is often used as building materials. But there are also some varieties with strong hardness, dense density and uniform texture used to make furniture. Shirt wood is light yellow-brown, with straight texture, relatively easy to dry and good strength, but it is not resistant to moisture and moth.
Galla chinensis
Gall wood is an unusually prominent part of the trunk or branch. The reasons for the formation of eucalyptus are not clear, and their growth like tumor buds does not seem to hinder the health of trees. There are different opinions about the causes of galls. Some people think that they are the result of logging, fire or forest disasters, including bacterial erosion and even being pecked by woodpeckers. Some tree species, such as camphor tree, elm, Phoebe bournei, cypress and willow, are more likely to grow galls. The texture of beech is mostly rotating fine patterns, and it is often difficult to distinguish what kind of tree it is. However, the same color, texture and texture usually come from the same parent tree. The branches and roots of the trunk grow into beech-like textures due to the changes in the growth direction of tree fibers, such as beech of nanmu. Nanmu is the first beech that can produce large plates. Birch trees that can be seen everywhere in China are also prone to galls.
birch
Produced in Northeast China and North China, the wood is delicate, pale white and yellowish, and the fiber has poor shear resistance and is easy to "break". Its roots and knots have many patterns. The ancients often used it for decoration such as door cores. Its bark is flexible and beautiful. Pu people are very touched by this, and often inlay scabbard and bow back. Only its wood is juicy and deformed when it becomes wood, so it is rare to see tables and chairs made entirely of birch.
white poplar
Wood commonly used in northern China is soft, stable and cheap. In ancient furniture, it is often used as the accessory of elm furniture and the fetal bone of lacquer furniture. This is the so-called poplar, also known as "Populus simonii", which often has a piece of luster, so it is also called "satin poplar", not the kind of Su Yang, Populus euphratica and Populus euphratica introduced in the middle of this century. Poplar often has a "coquettish taste", which is lighter and softer than birch. On the other hand, birch has a slight fragrance and often has very fine brown-black water stains. This is the difference between the two.
Du Mu
Also known as "Li Dumu", the color is grayish yellow, the wood is delicate and unpretentious, and the vertical and horizontal textures are not much different, so it is suitable for carving. In the past, this kind of wood was used to carve boards and stamps. I have seen the micro-carved trademark lettering used by Shanxi Commercial Bank. People, ships, mountains and rivers, houses and so on within one square inch are extremely exquisite, and there are hundreds of small words on them, which are amazing. This edition is Du Mu's engraving. Cedar has a fragrance that can be used as medicine. Cedar can soothe the nerves and replenish the heart. Whenever people step into the lush Berlin, look at its colorful branches, breathe the fragrance that secretes people's hearts, and think of the cold-resistant and evergreen characteristics of these thousand-year-old trees, it is easy to purify people's hearts. So we can see that the ancients used cypress as furniture. Cedar is yellow, thin, fragrant, water-resistant and knotty, so people often regard it as "cypress". A good coffin is also made of cypress, which is rot-resistant. The famous "yellow intestine" in the ancient tomb unearthed in Dabaotai, Beijing
Hardwood is the most commonly used in the production of China classical furniture.
red sandalwood
Rosewood is one of the most precious woods in the world, which is mainly produced in the tropical areas of Nanyang Islands, followed by wood with toes. China's Guangdong and Guangxi also produce rosewood, but the quantity is not much. Rosewood is an evergreen sub-tree, five or six feet high, with compound leaves, Hua Die-shaped, fruit wings, hard wood, red color and sinking when entering the water. The understanding and utilization of rosewood in ancient China began in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. In Jin Cuibao's Notes on Ancient and Modern Times, it is recorded that "rosewood is rich in south and purple in color, also known as rosewood." In the Ming dynasty, this kind of wood was valued by the royal family and began to be cut down on a large scale. Due to the scarcity of rosewood, domestic rosewood was quickly set on fire, and then officials were sent to Nanyang for procurement. Since then, it has become a statute law, which lasted until the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Not all the purchased wood is used, but many wood is stored for later use. This kind of acquisition is predatory to some extent. Therefore, almost all the excellent wood produced in Nanyang Islands has been cut, especially rosewood. Anyone who can become an object is bound and taken away. The place where rosewood is produced in the world is mainly Nanyang Islands. So in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, most of the rosewood produced in the world gathered in China and stored in Guangzhou and Beijing. Rosewood used in the Qing Dynasty is mainly collected in the Ming Dynasty. Although new materials were also purchased from Nanyang in the Qing Dynasty, most of them were rough and crooked, because rosewood grew slowly and could not be used for hundreds of years. Excessive logging in the Ming Dynasty, not revived in the Qing Dynasty, and the source dried up, which is also an important reason why rosewood is cherished by the world. Europeans and Americans pay more attention to rosewood than our country, because they have never seen rosewood, and think that rosewood has no big wood and can only be made into small utensils. It is said that there is a five-inch long model of rosewood coffin in front of Napoleon's tomb, which all visitors are surprised and envious and think is rare. It was not until westerners came to Beijing and saw all kinds of rosewood utensils that they knew that the elite of rosewood gathered in Beijing. So many parties bought it and shipped it back to China. The rosewood utensils limited to the west are basically shipped from China. Due to transportation difficulties, it is generally not necessary to buy finished products, just buy patterned doors, boxes, etc., and then assemble wooden frames for display after shipment. Red sandalwood is divided into old and new. Old people are purple, new people are red, and they all have irregular crab claw patterns. The characteristics of rosewood are mainly rhinoceros, and the annual rings are mostly twisted. Although there are some straight threads, there will always be twisted threads if you look closely. Rosewood bristles have thin eyes and strong wood. The method of identifying new and old rosewood, the new rosewood fades after soaking in water, and the old rosewood does not fade after soaking in water; The new rosewood will not fall off when brushed, and the old rosewood will fall off when brushed.
Similar to rosewood, sandalwood is an evergreen shrub, which is produced in Guangdong, Yunnan and other places in China. Its leaves are long, with no petals at the top, and its calyx is divided into four pieces, which is actually a drupe. The wood is strong and fragrant, and there are two kinds of yellow and white. Mostly used as spices, or made into small utensils such as fan bones and boxes. Wood is not as good as rosewood.
Natural History and Zhu Fanzhi classified rosewood as sandalwood, and thought rosewood was a kind of sandalwood. "Natural History" contains: "Sandalwood has yellow, white and purple, which are used by people today. Sandalwood produced in Jianghuai is one of them, but it is not fragrant. " He also said: "Sandalwood is found in Guangdong, Yunnan, Zhancheng, Zhenla, Java, Bonai, Siam, Sambuchi and Hui Hui countries, and it is also found in Lingnan today. The leaves are all like lychees, and the skin is green and smooth. " "The sandalwood with yellow skin is deodorized, the sandalwood with white skin is deodorized, and the rosewood with purple skin is rich in fragrance and excellent in deodorizing." "Zhufanzhi" said under the volume: "Its trees are like litchi in China, and its leaves are also. Purple is called rosewood. " According to China's tree taxonomy, "Pterocarya stenoptera is a kind of Leguminosae. There are about fifteen species, mostly in the tropics. Two of them are produced in China, one is rosewood and the other is rosewood. " Mr. Wang's Appreciation of Ming Furniture said: "Schiffer of the United States made an investigation on rosewood and thought that the rosewood imported from China was rosewood." Judging from the existing rosewood objects in China, at least some of them are rosewood. Whether other rosewood materials belong to the same tree species remains to be further identified by botanists. Although there are many kinds of red sandalwood, they have many common characteristics, especially the color, which is purple and black. The production of mahogany furniture makes full use of its natural characteristics and adopts the method of light elements. Rosewood is hard, long and thin, floating and changing endlessly. In particular, its color is relatively dark, which makes it stable, generous and beautiful. If you carve too much, the texture and color of the wood itself will be covered, and craftsmen will not take pictures.
Huanghua pear
Rosewood has bright color and clear and beautiful texture. It has been found in Guangdong and Guangxi in China, but the quantity is small, and a lot of materials are mainly imported. According to the Natural History, "Huali is a famous palm tree with pear-like leaves and delicate texture, which can be used as utensils, tables, chairs and study rooms." "Guangzhou annals" says: "Flower palm is purplish red, slightly fragrant, and its pattern looks like ghost face or raccoon spot, also known as' flower raccoon'. The old man tattooed his fist, and the tender Chinese tattoo was straight, and the flowers were round and dizzy like money, so it was better if the size was wrong. " "Records of Qiongzhou" says: "Hualimu produces Yazhou, Changhua and Lingshui." In the Ming Dynasty, Huang Province wrote in the Tribute to the Western Regions: "There are two kinds of rosewood, one is rosewood and arbor, which are produced in all parts of southern China. One is Dalbergia hainanensis, a deciduous tree, which is produced in the South China Sea. Both can be made into high-end furniture. " The book also points out that Hainan sandalwood is harder and thinner than flower palm wood and can be used for carving. Chapter 29 of the Antique Guide says: "Pears are the floorboard of hawthorn. All pears are extremely hard, bright red in color, but extremely thick in silk." China began to make utensils from rosewood in the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, Chen Zangqi's Collection of Materia Medica recorded that "palm trees came out of Annan and the South China Sea to make beds, which were like red sandalwood and strong in nature". In the Ming Dynasty's "Gegu Yaolun", it was mentioned: "Red sandalwood is produced in Guangdong, which is purplish red, similar to Dezhenxiang, but it also has fragrance. Flowers with ghost faces are lovely, and flowers with thick and pale faces are lowly. Many people make tea and wine glasses. " Hou Kuanzhao's Flora of Guangzhou introduced a kind of sandalwood called rosewood "Dalbergia hainanensis" to Hainan Island. Dalbergia hainanensis is a specialty of Hainan Island, a forest plant, and likes to be born in humid places in the valley. The wood is good, the sapwood is light in color, slightly loose in texture, and the heartwood is reddish brown and hard. Fine and beautiful texture, suitable for carving and making furniture. As can be seen from the above records, the so-called rosewood varieties should be