Aluminum for furniture.

Aluminum could be the most popular and widely used metal for human life. Wide range of tools and equipment are made of aluminum, from household appliances such as: pots, pans, kettles, plates, windows, doors to the machine and equipment are made from aluminum. Aluminum is light, strong hold, durable, and relatively inexpensive. Aluminum is available in various shapes such as: plate, coil or rod, etc. Aluminum in any form can be easily handled and formed to make any product. It is quite "soft" and "flexible"  to be bended, cut, drilled, welded, sanded and finished to make metal products in any form.

aluminum for lobby desk

Aluminum also can be used to make various kinds of furniture products for indoor and outdoor; it can be used alone or in combination with wood or other natural materials. Aluminum combined with teak, oak, merbau or rattan is quite popular to make outdoor furniture. Aluminum also can be used as the components such as: legs, table top, or simply as accessories or hardware for furniture.

Finishing for aluminum.

Generally aluminum can be directly coated with finishing materials. The material for aluminum should the special to be able be well attach to the metal. With the proper coating, aluminum can be finished in variety of colors and looked; he can be finished with paint finish to make a clean looked and modern impression, or  be finished with antique or old looked with the application of glaze and stain. If antique finish is going to be generated, then primer metal coat is needed as the first layer. The powder coating or electroplating finish can directly applied since they will well attached the metal. Aluminum also can be used without coated with finishing material. The naked aluminum with polishing process can produce a high gloss appearance with luxury and elegance looked.

 aluminum for top table

Here some tips to finish the aluminum.

• Surface preparation.

Although in general the surface of the aluminum coating layer can be received well, but we should do the cleaning and surface preparation to ensure the finishing layer can be well attached to the surface. There are may any rusty or dirt that could affect the finishing material attachment. Wash the aluminum surface with paint thinner to clean the surface. Aluminum also can be sanded to clean and smooth the surface, but the sanding should be done properly. The gradually sanding process is needed. Start the sanding with the coarse sandpaper (grade 240 or 320), then followed with the finer sandpaper sanding. If clean and smooth surface finish is needed, then the sanding with # 800 or # 1000 grade sandpaper should be used as the last sanding. 

aluminum table with antique finish

• Choose finishing materials according to the usability of the product.

Finishing layer is always expected to provide sufficient protection to let the product fulfill its functions. The finishing material selection should match the desired functionality of the product. For the products that require maximum protection, then the powder coating or electroplating is the best choice, since they will give a strong finish layer, high resistant to the chemical, scratch and outdoor weather. For indoor product with the antique models, then we can use the glaze and stain for wood finishes but with special coating for metal applications. We can used a epoxy base coating as first layer then followed with the solvent base or waterbase at the top layer. The special effect can be created by using glaze and special stain if necessary