Wood Types
Certain types of wood have been favorite choices for centuries in creating furniture because of useful characteristics. Today, these types of wood are commonly used for making rocking chairs and gliders. The colors, general patterns, and characteristics are different from one species of wood to the next.
Cypress
Cypress wood has a straight, fine grain. This characteristic helps the wood endure changing weather conditions without warping; rocking chairs and gliders made from cypress wood hold up in humid climates. Cypress takes well to gluing and finishing, and because it is a soft wood, it holds hardware well. Cypress wood is pinkish to faintly orange-brown. The sapwood is very pale.
Cedar
True cedar has properties that allow it to naturally repel insects and impede rotting. Also soft wood cedar works well for building rocking chairs and gliders, because it holds well to hardware. Cedar varies in shades of light brown to pale beige; it has a straight grain, although the Atlantic and Lebanon varieties are knotted.
Pine
Pine grown mainly in the western United States has a very low-splitting tendency. This makes it a good material for nailing during the process of making a rocking chair or a glider. Many people prefer pine simply because of its varied pattern and lovely yellowish sapwood.
Oak
White oak and red oak are hardwoods. Both types have a straight grain and are coarsely textured. Oak is very hard and strong. While making a rocking chair or glider, oak wood’s hard quality requires the nail holes to be pre-drilled, otherwise, the wood will splinter. Oak does not have much natural decay resistance and relies on protection from a finishing process.
Whatever type of wood is used to make the rocking chair or glider, it will be finished—either stained or simply sealed; and it will be thoroughly sanded before the finishing process to make sure that the finishing oil or stain will effectively penetrate the surface and leave the wood soft to the touch and lustrous to the eye. |
