Wood furniture, made from wood as the primary material and assembled with hardware components, are integral to our daily lives. Whether it’s the living room sofa or dining utensils, the quality and safety of wood products are of utmost concern. Inspection and testing of wood products are crucial. In recent years, Chinese exports of wood furniture such as wardrobes, chairs, and indoor/outdoor plant stands have gained popularity on international platforms like Amazon. So, how can you inspect wood furniture, and what are the standards and common defects to consider?
I. General Inspection Methods for Wood Furniture
- Sample Comparison: Inspect according to customer-provided samples. In the absence of samples, use clear pictures and product specifications provided by the customer for comparison.
- Quantity Inspection: Orders with fewer than 50 pieces are subject to 100% inspection, while larger orders are sampled according to AQL standards.
- Inspection Environment: Ensure a well-lit environment with lighting between 600-1000LUX, and the light source should be higher than the inspector’s head. There should be no reflections around the environment. The inspector should maintain a distance of 40cm from the product and a 45° angle for inspection.
II. Inspection Standards and Requirements for Wood Furniture
- Visual Inspection:
- The front surface should be smooth without unevenness or nail protrusions.
- Other surfaces should be even, with consistent color and no color differences compared to the front surface. There should be no impurities, foam marks, or discrepancies.
- For the same model, color differences between batches should not exceed 5%. There should be no exposure, peeling, bubbles, runs, sharp protrusions, orange peel texture, blemishes, foam marks, or impurities.
- Product Dimension, Thickness, and Weight Testing: Measure individual product dimensions, thickness, weight, outer box dimensions, and gross weight based on product specifications or provided samples. If specific tolerance requirements are not provided by the customer, use a +/-3% tolerance.
- Static Load Testing: Furniture like tables, chairs, recliners, and shelves often require static load testing. Apply a certain weight to load-bearing parts like chair seats, backrests, and armrests. The product should not tip over, crack, deform, or lose functionality after testing.
- Stability Testing: Check the stability of load-bearing parts such as chair seats, backrests, and sofa backrests by applying force horizontally. Observe for any tipping.
- Shake Testing: After assembly, place the sample horizontally on a flat surface. The base should not wobble.
- Odor Testing: Finished products should not emit strong or irritating odors.
- Barcode Scanning Testing: Product labels and outer packaging labels should be scannable by barcode scanners, and the scanning results should be correct.
- Impact Testing: Drop a load of specific weight and size from a certain height onto the furniture’s load-bearing surface. After testing, there should be no cracks or deformations that affect functionality.
- Humidity Testing: Measure the moisture content of wooden components using a standard humidity tester. The moisture content of wood should generally be controlled below 12%.
III. Assembly Inspection Standards for Wood Furniture For many wood furniture items, consumers receive semi-finished products that require assembly. During inspection, differentiate between materials, components, hardware, processes, specifications, instruction manuals, and other related accessories. Follow the provided instructions to assemble the product completely. This process verifies the product’s structural integrity, manufacturing accuracy, and the correctness of the instructions.
Assembly Principles: Tight, Flat, Secure, Accurate
IV. Hardware Inspection Standards
- Size and Dimension: Hardware components should meet the specified dimensions. Screw lengths can deviate by ±1mm. Nails should have a round, crack-free head with clear teeth and proper mating without resistance. They should not be noticeably bent, scratched, or damaged.
- Quality: Hardware should not rust, cause injuries, or deform. It should have consistent size, reasonable structure, and uniform color.
- Compatibility: Hardware components should fit well with other related accessories.
- Appearance: Hardware components should match customer requirements, templates, drawings, or pre-production sample requests.
- Plating Quality: Plating should be firm, without peeling.
V. Carton Inspection Standards
- Appearance: The carton should have a clean and neat appearance. The printing material should have a proportionate and clear print.
- Hardness and Flexibility: Carton hardness and flexibility should meet purchase order requirements.
- Seam Connection: Carton seams should be neatly and tightly nailed.
- Size: Carton dimensions should meet order requirements.
- Color: Color discrepancies are not acceptable, and cartons should be free from ink or other stains.
- Labeling: Cartons and shipping marks should be accurate and match the provided documentation.
- Condition: Scratches, wrinkles, peeling, and delamination are not acceptable.
- Humidity: Carton humidity should be controlled within 12%.
VI. Detailed Explanation of Wood Product Defects
- Woodworking Defects:
- Components made from engineered wood should be edge-sealed. All exposed sections, apart from those adhered with veneer or paint, must be sealed.
- Defects include loose joints, gaps, or fractures in jointed areas, chipping, and irregularities in shape or size.
- Symmetry issues, including uneven or asymmetrical rounded edges, and inconsistent thickness, should not be present.
- Up to 3 concave points of 3mm size or less are acceptable, but they should not cluster within a 10cm2 area. Convex points are not allowed.
- Painting Defects:
- Unacceptable color variations between different parts or sets.
- Paint coating defects such as wrinkling, sticking, or peeling.
- Obvious haziness, whitening, white spots, oil bleeds, runs, shrinkage holes, brush marks, powder buildup, impurities, scratches, or peeling of paint coatings.
- Recesses, stains, scratches, cracks, or chipping on the surface of wood veneer or laminate materials.
- Lack of cleanliness on non-painted parts or inside the product.
- Hardware Assembly Defects:
- Missing or incorrectly installed hardware components.
- Loose, separated, or broken joints in parts, mortise joints, or connecting holes.
- Inadequate securing of parts, leading to loosening.
- Lack of smooth movement in moving parts.
- Loose hardware components.
- Carton Defects:
- Damage, defects, or deficiencies as per the carton inspection standards mentioned earlier.
These detailed inspection methods, standards, and defect explanations should be followed meticulously when inspecting wood products to ensure their quality and safety.