Women love arts and crafts. Most women would love to own a piece of antique furniture, antique hand crafts or anything that resembles the olden days. Thus, it may help to know how to buy an antique craft. You may always find a costly reproduction of an antique piece but if you know how to choose a real antique craft, you will not be mistaken.
Here are some tips to know how to buy an antique craft
Antique crafts especially wood products will be available in many different points of purchase such as antique shops, garage sales or online.
While choosing an antique craft may be difficult, there are some things you can easily identify.
This is especially for antique wood furnitures. The finish, the cut and the wood used can all be an indication if the product is antique or a fine reproduction.
If you are comfortable buying a fine reproduction, then scrutinizing the piece may not be such an important factor in your purchase.
However, if you want to buy a real antique wood craft you may need to scrutinize it a bit.
It may help to know that hand carved wood products in antique finish are available in many wood product stores. Thus, finding an antique piece will be somewhat a challenge. Just the same here are some of the important rules when buying antique wood crafts.
The finish
The finish in the olden days is mostly shellac finish. Varnished furnitures came after the 18th century.
Other finishes that may show the wood product is antique include an oil, wax or milk paint finish.
You can test this by using alcohol. Shellac dissolves in alcohol. If the finish did not dissolve in alcohol, it can be a find reproduction of the original where varnish is used as finish.
Milk paint on the other hand can be tested by using ammonia.
The cut
The corners of the wood product can show the period it was made. In the olden days, cuts are mostly done by hand. Thus, you will see the edges are uneven and the dovetails are usually unequal.
If you see find cut in the corners, the possibility that this may be a reproduction dating after 1860 is a good indicator.
While many Pakistani wood carvers still use hand in cutting the corners of their wood products, you have to be a bit scrutinizing to know the real age of the furniture. Saw finish with uneven edges could show an old product.
The wood used
Oak is the common wood used in the olden days. While mahogany and walnut may also mean the furniture is at least 150 years, finding oak wood furniture will lead you to the antique wood furniture you could be looking for.
While the wood used can also be an indicator of the piece being antique, some wood workers today may likewise use oak, mahogany or walnut. Thus, the better alternative in choosing an antique wood craft is the finish and may be the cut of the furniture.
Most Pakistani women will know how to choose antique furniture, thus, let this guide be a reference if you need.