TYPES OF WOOD

Zitan 紫檀木, perhaps the most expensive of all the Chinese wood, are used to make a variety of furniture and art pieces. Zitan wood is the hardest and the heaviest of all hard woods and is purple-black in colour. There are 2 types of Zitan in the market now. From North Africa, it’s called Da Yue大月檀and from India, it’s called Xiao Yue小月檀.

Huang Hua Li 黄花梨, also known as yellow sandalwood or 黄檀, has fine grains and turns yellow in alcohol. The timber produced in the northern part of china was only confined to the types of white wood comprising of Yi Mu榆木，Feng Mu枫木and Tao Mu桃. This type of wood are generally softer compared to quality solid timber like Huang Hua Li黄花梨. The emperor ordered a special team to Han Nan海南to harvest these timbers. There wasn’t any transport at that time and so manual labour was used to bring these timbers back to Beijing. A timber log can easily exceed 100 katis. These timbers are then transported to exquisite furniture workshops with fine craftsmanship. From time to time, these pieces are auctioned at high prices.

Blackwood 酸枝 is found in Chinese provinces of Guang Dong and Zhe Jiang. It has a beautiful grain, ranges from dark brown to black and sinks in water. The wood is extremely heavily, dense, very strong and resistant to termite. This wood is used in all ranges of furniture and the products are very sturdy.

Te Li 铁力木wood, also known as iron wood, originates from Rong and Teng counties of the Guangxi and Guang dong province as well as in east India. The wood is heavy and very strong, hence the name iron wood. The grain is similar to chicken wing wood but thicker and has a dark red hue. Furniture made from these woods are strong and lasting.

Jichi 鸡翅木wood, also known as phoenix feather wood, has beautiful gains that are tightly packed and compress that looks like a feather. There are two types of Jichi wood, the old ones and the new ones. The old ones have lighter and finer grain lines. It is an expensive wood often used for Ching Palace furniture. There are few examples of Ming Dynasty furniture made with Jichi mu that exist. Old furniture made with Jichi mu ranks with furniture made with Zitan or Huanghuali.