The disadvantages of Pine wood furniture

The disadvantages of Pine wood furniture

Pine wood has always been a versatile wood. It has been used for everything from building homes, fencing livestock, and building furniture. This is for good reason. Pine wood is plentiful, fast growing, and easy to work with. It is the most cost effective way to build house trusses, for example. However, the qualities that make it a great building material for larger projects makes it less ideal for long-lasting furniture. The price of this furniture is attractive, but you would be better served by making your furniture out of hardwood. This post lays out several reasons why you, the forward-thinking buyer, should invest in solid hardwood furniture.

What is Pine wood?

To start, we should understand what pine wood is. Pine is a softwood tree that, when milled into planks, is used in general construction applications such as residential framing and fencing. Pine trees grow quickly throughout many regions of the world and for that reason are considered to be one of the most sustainable types of general purpose lumber.

The characteristics of this tree can be seen first hand in any Home Depot. It is characterized by it's creamy white to yellow color. accented with brown and black streaks at irregular spacing from each other. Additionally, Pine follows the general grain formula for a fast-growing dense tree. Wide-spaced grain structure allows for lots of sap, and this structure follows widely around branch knots, which detach and leave holes when the wood is dried. It can warp significantly when aging due to it's high water content. When handled, pine is noticeably soft, with most specimens denting or scratching with a fingernail.

Is Pine wood good for furniture?

In general, it is not. At it's best, pine wood does not keep shape nearly as well as a hardwood, and even well made examples will eventually fall apart. In practice, most modern pine bedroom furniture is not made well, and is oriented toward the lower-cost end of the furniture market. This is because the lumber itself is inexpensive and easy to work with. In an effort to make a profit the builders cut corners, and the results reflect that. If you are looking for furniture for kids rooms, dorm rooms or other places where low cost is the priority, pine may be a great choice. However, if you have to live with your purchase for longer than a few years, you will come to resent how your furniture wears in.

The bottom line is clear cut. When it comes to crafting long lasting, durable furniture, our experience at Solid Custom Heirlooms is that Pine is simply too soft to remain durable and good looking over time. For example, suppose that you want a dresser with drawers for a child's room. A piece like this will receive lots of abuse over time, from spills and impacts to the top, to accidental kicks around the legs and enthusiastic drawer pulling and slamming. The dresser will splinter and split, as did the author's. 

This is due to it's soft surface. Pine will chip and dent easily, no matter the finish used. Furthermore, because of its soft wood structure pine does not retain fastening hardware in the same way as hardwood. This means that over time screws, nails, and even dovetail drawer joints will gradually loosen, and eventually pull free.

From this anecdotal evidence it is easy to see why we believe high quality dressers and beds should be made from hardwood like oak, cherry, or maple. The inherent strength of a hardwood eliminates practically all the problems of pine. With the exception of outright mistreatment, a good solid hardwood dresser will last decades longer then any pine. For these reasons, we believe that pine wood is not good for furniture.

Is Pine wood furniture durable?

Pine bedroom furniture, or any other softwood furniture for that matter, is by no means durable. Let us be clear; pine wood is not a weak wood by any means. In fact it's most popular use is in residential wood construction where it shows tremendous load bearing strength. But the same strength that is good for building a roof truss or concrete form is not necessarily the best for furniture. The requirements for furniture are simply different. Furniture wood does not only need to have good load bearing capacity, but it is equally important that it is hard. All surfaces of wood furniture needs to withstand daily wear and tear, as well as occasional accidental impacts, to last any amount of time. Pine wood will  eventually splinter and split, making your furniture unusable. Pine wood is best left for applications where affordability is necessary. There is a reason why hardwood is so much more expensive; it is simply superior in every way but cost and, maybe, weight.

Is Plywood stronger than Pine wood?

Plywood is made from layers of thin wood strips compressed together with glue and other binders. As a result plywood is very stable and can be very strong when used correctly. For example, plywood used to sheath the wood frame of a home adds a tremendous amount of lateral stability, or "sheer support", to a home. However, this is only in conjunction with a good frame. The same plywood, without the bones of a good structure, would not be able to support a wall.

For most furniture applications, solid wood is a better choice than plywood because it is strong in ALL directions - up, down, and side to side. In addition the glues, binders, and formaldehyde that is often used in plywood and particle board can emit fumes for years after being manufactured. For most furniture applications pine wood is stronger than plywood. However, pinewood is still inferior to hardwood, as mentioned in a previous section.

If you are interested in specifics, more information can be found in our solid wood vs plywood blog post.

Is Pine wood better than hardwood?

Pine wood is most definitely not better than hardwood, especially for furniture. Pine wood is an affordable softwood that is used in applications where structural support is needed. This is the only application where it is better than hardwood. In almost every other way, hardwood is superior. Strength, durability, and looks are all inherent in a good hardwood. Strength, in a tighter grain structures that resists deformation and stress. Durability, in it's scratch resistance and finish retention. And looks, in the varied colors and patterns inherent in a slow-growing tree. Pine trees grow very fast, and as such have less time to create desirable patterns. Patterns in pine are not good, since they are most likely made around a knot, which is the cross-section of a branch root. When the water-heavy grain structure is dried, this root can fall out and leave a hole. As such, colors in pine are almost always an issue, while the already tight grain structures of a hardwood resist shrinkage and avoid this issue.

What is the best wood for furniture?

Hardwood is the answer to any furniture need. However, the type of hardwood is up to personal preference. We stock a wide variety of hardwoods, including both red and white oak, cherry, several types of maple, ash, and walnut. Each wood has its own aesthetic qualities that can be seen by following their respective links.

Pine or any type of soft wood are out of the question. Take a look at this side by side comparison of Pine vs Cherry wood. As you will see the grain "rings" in the Cherry wood are packed much tighter than the pine example. Because of the density of the hardwood fibers, Cherry wood has a very high strength to volume ratio. It is like this with all hardwoods, while pine is indicative of the soft woods. Over time, the looser fibers of the soft wood will come apart, and will render the furniture useless.

Hardwood such as walnut, ash and wormy maple is prized not only for its strength but for the incredible beauty of its color and grain patterns. Each piece of hardwood is truly one of a kind and, depending on your preference, can range from being subtle to downright bold.

The Cost of Pine Wood

Pine wood is great for affordable structure, like roof trusses. However, it is terrible for furniture making. Pine wood furniture is acceptable for a few years, but the user will find durability issues after that. Pine and plywood furniture will fall apart faster than hardwood. That means that there is an expiration date on a pine wood piece, while a well made hardwood piece has a lifetime of hundreds of years. We still have the desks and chairs of medieval kings, while it is much harder to find the softwood furniture of the peasant. All this to say, you get what you pay for. Over the course of a piece's life, you will get far more value for your money from hardwood.

Pros and Cons of pine wood furniture

The pros of pine wood furniture:

• Pine wood is amazing for creating affordable, strong structures
  
• Pine wood is low in initial cost
  
• Pine wood is sustainable
  
• Pine takes paint well
  
• Pine is lightweight

The cons of pine wood furniture

• Pine wood's strength is only structural
  
• Pine wood scratches easily
  
• Pine wood dents easily
  
• Pine is not as strong as hardwood
  
• Pine does not take or keep stain well

Disadvantages of pine wood furniture

Pine wood does not last long and is boring to look at. It's straight grain and bland color states the obvious; that it is not meant for furniture. For the best results, use materials woods that have tight grain structures. The furniture will last for a very long time and will look good. Your wallet and eyes will thank you!

The best wood is a hardwood. Soft woods like pine are not the best for furniture because of their large loose cell structure. Pine wood has a large straight grain that has a lot of space between fibers. This means that while pine wood is still structurally strong, you need more volume for a similar amount of fibers. That is why construction lumber is so thick; it needs a higher fiber count. In contrast, a hardwood like cherry has a lot of fiber per square inch. It has the same structural strength of pine wood while having a significantly lower volume. This adds some benefits for furniture, the most obvious being scratch resistance. The denser the fiber count, the higher scratch resistance a wood has.