Durability is the ability of any product or thing to survive for longer period of time and not to wear out quickly. When we think of buying wooden chairs for restaurants, we need to get serious on the durability factor. These days, there are lots of cheap restaurant chairs being influx into the market. Their construction and style are similar; however, the quality of raw material is different. Historically, European Beech Wood is the industry standard and has been for the past 30 years. Beech wood offers numerous benefits for wood workers: it’s a heavier and dense wood, it’s easier to work with and it’s color and stain are relatively consistent. Only in the recent few years, rubber wood has made its way into the commercial market. Primarily used in economical home furniture, rubber wood has become increasingly common in the commercial furniture industry because of its lower pricing.
However, rubber wood restaurant chairs fall apart. This is not baloney. Once taken out of its native sub-tropical environment and exported to the US, the wood expands and contracts because of its innate absorption properties, thereby causing the frame to swell and contract and eventually break. Also, much like pine, rubber wood likes to move quite a bit. By moving, it refers to the way the wood likes to bend and twist. Chairs joints are susceptible to this problem.
The way you can tell the difference between rubber wood and beech wood is by its wood grain. Rubber wood has a complete absence of any grain whereas beech wood will have some wood grain. Rubber wood is not a very clear color wood and attempts to color it will result in some yellowish tints. Most of the time you will see rubber wood in some dark color that can mask the coloring. Lastly, wood rubber is lighter than beech wood. On a standard chair, it is about 2 lbs lighter. When you knock on wood, it sounds like your knocking on rubber.
If you are going into the furniture market, you need to give your special attention on the durability factor and should not forget to the furniture seller about the about the materials used to make the chair before purchasing. It is nothing but the material used in making furniture that always matters the most.
Many large restaurant chains use laminate tables because they are cheaper and more durable than solid wood tables. Solid wood tends to warp or level water rings, and will wear down after continuous chemical wears down the top coat.