It is generally known that the polishing of mahogany furniture is not an easy task, and any manufacturing of fine furniture can’t be done without the step of polishing, so the polishing is the “soul” of a piece of furniture. Furniture is composed of different parts, but each par has its own polishing tools. Craftsman use different tools to polish different parts, which makes the furniture has gentle and beautiful burnish, warm as a jade, likes a piece of incomparable jade.
In the process of making furniture, the polishing is a very important part of the process, which is basically done manually. The movement of this work procedure looks not big, rubbing here and scratching there, but the final effect on furniture is very big. The furniture is well polished has a more beautiful wood texture, more prominent and smooth angular line, clearer carvings, as well as the better stereoscope effect of whole, so it is certainly more beautiful. But if the polishing is not properly, all the previous work will be wasted.
The Chinese literati loved jade since ancient times, and they summarized the characteristics of jade into “five virtues”, which used to compare them to the quality of a gentleman. And this “five virtues” also was reflected on hardwood furniture. The furniture through careful polishing has soft luster, smooth and warm texture like a jade, makes tender affection.
After mahogany furniture is finished, the first step is to polish each part separately, and the tools used are scraper, tank, Angle grinder, etc. This flow is relatively rough. The main purpose is to let the junction of each component become round and grind out a light arc at sharp angles in order not to feel stiff.
After the initial polishing is completed, the next step is the overall polishing. However, this step is divided into rough grinding and fine grinding. The so-called rough grinding is the worker would make iron knifes in various shapes according to the characteristics of the part of the furniture. Next, using wet cloth wets the whole body of furniture, then the worker can judge whether the depth of polishing is the same according to degree of infiltration. Furthermore, if found cracks in this process, we need to use glue, wood powder to repair it in order to ensure its smooth.
After the step above is done, the next step is to grind using a variety of different thicknesses of sandpaper, and that is called fine grinding, which requires patience and experience.
The last step is the water milling. As above, worker use wet cloth to wet the furniture. Then, if there is something like wood fiber, it will expand out, and if there is a low-lying place, a wet place will also be appeared. Then the craftsman will deals with these situations
After this series of grinding work, no matter fine waxing, or the formation of later patina, furniture will be very beautiful.
