At the entrance of our hanger factory, a beech tree stands. When we renovated there in 2008, we planted it as a landmark of our wooden hanger factory. Actually, over 80% hangers of NAKATA HANGER are made of beech wood. So we’d like to talk about beech wood.
Some customers see the hanger rack in our showroom and say, “Wow, you’re making lots of hangers by various materials!” To tell the truth, almost all hangers are made of only beech wood. Due to the coating colors and coating way, we can make various hangers. So beech wood is the best material for making hangers.
What is a merit of using beech wood? There are mainly 3 points.
1) The wood grain is fine and smooth, so it’s gentle for clothes.
2) It’s easy to process, but strong, so we can make various shapes with high durability.
3) The best wood quality for curving, so we can make a beautiful curved line.
By polishing, the fine-grained beech wood has a smooth surface. So it doesn’t hurt the fabric of clothing. The wood grain finish gives luxuries and fine texture, and fill painting gives a smooth surface with no bumps on the surface.
Easy-to-process wood can be processed into various shapes with NAKATA HANGER’s craftsmanship. Also it’s viscous and tough. This viscousness is a characteristic that helps to prevent the metal parts like a hook or underparts from coming off.
Additionally, a beech wood is suitable for the traditional woodworking process to bend wood using steam. With the viscousness to withstand bending force and the fine grains to keep curved shape, it makes the best curve for hangers, especially for shirt hangers.
Beech has been called a tree which symbolizes the richness of the forest. Beech’s high water retention and the seeds that feed animals have brought lots of benefit to the forest. On the other hand, beech was considered not to be suitable for woodworking. Because of the water retention, it is hard to dry the wood completely. If it’s not dried sufficiently, it’ll easily twist.
Nowadays, the drying technology has improved, so beech is known as a good wood of easy processing and a beautiful finishing. So it’s used for making furniture and toys. Recently beech wood has become one of rare natural resources in Japan. But in Europe, a stable supply system has been established for a long time. For various reasons, using beech wood became a standard for making hangers.
The most attractive point of natural wood is that you can enjoy the natural texture. Coloring, texture, and the wood grains. All of them are their original properties. Also you can enjoy the aging, which the artificial material can’t make. We think, a hanger is a utensil that customers touch most often. We’d be so happy if you enjoy the texture of wood hangers after reading this story.