Paulownia wood is derived from Southeast Asian countries but because of its various attractive characteristics, it has now gained an immense amount of popularity in almost all regions of the world. At first, the world was only considering paulownia wood to be used as a biofuel but as it is now being used to manufacture surfboards, construction applications, and furniture, people started wondering, is paulownia wood good for furniture?
Well, there is no second opinion that paulownia is a great wood to be used for furniture, there are a lot of things to know before you proceed on getting a furniture piece for your home.
Table of Contents
What is paulownia wood?
Paulownia wood comes from a fast-growing tree that can rise to its height in a matter of a few months. When the process of deforestation increased in the world especially in the Northern side of America, the plantation of paulownia wood was increased as it can grow faster and can efficiently tackle the needs of trees.
Note one major thing that paulownia wood has a wide range of different types while 17 are officially registered and almost all of these are different in terms of their quality, strength, and most importantly, its usage. You need to at least have basic knowledge about all these types so that you can choose the one that suits the best for your required furniture piece.
Is paulownia a hardwood?
Paulownia is a deciduous hardwood but it grows much faster than any other hardwood and some softwoods as well. The grain pattern of paulownia wood is pretty straight and has good character and can easily replace expensive woods such as Chinese poplar.
Is paulownia wood sustainable?
Paulownia wood is being used for various kinds of applications where manufacturing furniture is also prominent. You can get an idea about its sustainability by the fact that it has been in Southeast Asian countries for more than 1000 years now.
Because of its resistant characteristics, you can be assured that paulownia wood is sustainable and durable. The wood is also not included as a threatened species in any IUCN Red List or CITES Appendices.
Is paulownia wood waterproof?
Experts claim that paulownia can only take about 10% of moisture inside its pores while it can easily repel 90% moisture which makes it one of the best waterproof wood in the market. Because of these reasons, it prevents deformations, breakages, swelling, and warping to a greater extent.
Paulownia wood furniture advantages
- Attractive and royal look because of its reddish, purplish, and grayish shades.
- Straight grain pattern.
- Decay or rot resistance.
- 90% water-resistant.
- No unpleasant smell.
- High durability.
- Non-toxic.
- Lightweight.
- High strength.
- Very good insulator.
- Minimum to low shrinkage.
- Easy to work with.
- Can repel insects attacks to a greater extent.
Paulownia wood furniture disadvantages
- Difficult to find in some parts of the world.
- Strong blunting effect in some of its species as it includes high silica content.
- Require good glues, finishing, painting, and staining processes.
Should I buy paulownia wood furniture?
If we put the best properties of paulownia wood furniture in a nutshell, it becomes a huge list of benefits. Paulownia wood furniture is suitable, durable, water-resistant, rot-resistant, repels insect attacks, lightweight, and strong, even more than the balsa wood. You can keep paulownia wood furniture in outdoor conditions but care and maintenance are essential.
Keeping all these factors in mind, it can easily be concluded that paulownia wood furniture is worth buying. It can easily be used in place of Chinese poplar or any other yellow poplar. Paulownia wood furniture is also a good insulator and is efficient in temperature resistance as well. Experts claim that the ignition temperature for paulownia wood (at 400°C) is almost double that of other hard as well as softwoods.
How to identify paulownia wood furniture?
Identifying paulownia wood furniture is one of the trickiest jobs to do because there are various species of this amazing tree.
You should have a basic knowledge about the wood and then ticking all boxes according to the below-mentioned elements will surely take you to the paulownia wood furniture of high quality.
- Paulownia wood is one of the few that have larger pores which gives a porous and stripped look and can easily be seen even with your naked eyes.
- This wood furniture has an uneven texture, with a coarse.
- The grains are patterned in a straight manner while giving it a straight-lining.
- The wood color ranges from pale grayish brown to purplish or reddish shades around different portions of the furniture.
- You may have seen Catalpa, a well-known lightweight hardwood and porous look as well. The appearance of paulownia wood furniture is almost the same as it.
- One of the biggest properties of paulownia wood is that it is knot-free which makes it a good contender to be used in almost all kinds of furniture. This factor can be used as an identification element as well.
- The wood furniture will be highly lightweight because of its porous composition. You can even move a big sofa without using an extreme amount of power.
How to paint paulownia wood furniture?
Painting paulownia wood furniture is no different than any other wood furniture as they have a good reputation in terms of accepting paints and staining.
You need to make sure that the furniture is cleaned completely and sand the areas which are uneven or have been damaged.
Also, if you are painting furniture not the first time, getting rid of old primer as carefully as possible is recommended as it will give your new paint a good and evenly smooth look.
While painting paulownia wood furniture, using 100% Acrylic Latex Paint or Alkyd Oil Paint will bring the best possible finishing.
Taking care of paulownia wood furniture
- Paulownia wood furniture should be placed under the shade because direct sunlight may not bring any harm but it can cause some cracks and affect its color in the long run.
- The wood is fairly delicate and can be scratched easily. This is why it is recommended to keep sharp tools away.
- Gently clean the furniture with cotton damp in water. Don’t rub harshly as simply moving the cotton will be enough.
- Although paulownia wood furniture is a good water repellent, it is still recommended to keep the moisture as little as possible because continuous exposure to water may still bring some stretching or shrinking effects in the long run.