Deconstructing Early 20th Century Softwood Furniture of Hawaii

As-found, Douglas fir dresser. Kona. 

There is not much information out there about once-common softwood furniture that was made here in Hawaii during the period of about 1900 to 1960. Wishing there was, I figured I would at least document what I have found because such furniture is rapidly disappearing, especially the earlier examples. 

Admittedly, there are legit reasons for the disappearance - and the dearth of info. This furniture is often battered, worn, splintery, termite-damaged, viewed as "old and worthless", rotted, heavy, in need of repair, has lead paint, etc. It was never intended as "fine furniture" but it served its purpose well for many years in a lot of homes here. 

While koa is a beautiful Hawaiian hardwood and grown right here on the Big Island (Hawaii Island) where my furniture examples came from, few could afford such furniture during the pre-tourism economy of the early 20th century. However, households could occasionally afford to buy, or have made, furniture in a suitable style - of readily available softwoods. Some folks made it themselves out of what they had, which was usually softwoods.

Softwoods available from the local suppliers were construction woods, namely Douglas fir (DF) and redwood. Both came from the West Coast, both were old-growth and often clear. Later, think mid-century, imported woods like lauan became available and koa began to be more commonly used for furniture. To see some nice examples of that, take a look at the inventory of The Flying Pig on Oahu. 

But in the first half of the century much of the furniture made for typical households here used softwoods. Similarly, built-ins of various types are featured in a lot of older homes in the islands and these too are usually made from softwoods. Plywood was not widely available here until the mid-1950's so keep that in mind if you are trying to pin down the age of a piece. All the early furniture is solid wood. 

How you know it local? 
Provenance is very helpful, if you can determine it. Pieces in this article all have it but there are other telltale signs on some pieces. Like stamps, stencils, writing, or supplier info. For example, here in Kona a lot of the boards from the American Factors (AMFAC) lumber yard in Kailua-Kona are stenciled with "Amfac Kailua" or that is written on some boards. These two examples are from the dresser above:

Handwritten Amfac Kailua.

 If crate wood is used, you might get some info from it. Amfac also sold general merchandise, so crates from Amfac or some other source may provide a tip.

Drawer bottom from crate wood.

Desk Example:
This is an early writing desk (tsukue or fuzukue) from a Japanese language school that used to be down the street here in Kona. I have seen similar desks in Japan, but this one was most likely made here. 

Redwood writing desk, ca 1910

It is modeled after those being used in Japan around the start of the last century (Meiji period). This type of desk was designed to be used on tatami and maybe this one was, but the foot strips are now quite worn on the bottom. Rendered in old growth redwood with pine drawer sides and bottoms, it needed major work after years of use as a school desk, a work bench, and pine termite fodder. When found it was sitting on the concrete in a neighbor's open shed in partial sunlight. 

I stripped the crinkled old black paint and pulled it all apart to correct some warping, missing drawer bottom boards, loose joints, and a large gap along the old edge join on the top and ends. There was only one (probably original) US-made iron drawer pull on it. Failing to find a match, I put on new old-looking pulls I picked up in Japan. 

Original iron pull. US made. Common
 pattern, uncommon size. 

While there are no markings on this desk, I have seen plenty of OG redwood used for other purposes locally and similar construction techniques. The hardware used is US made (nails, original pull, lock) and lumber is US nominal or actual dimensions - as is the case on all of these pieces.

Dresser Example:
Pictured above, this dresser came from a local kamaʻāina family and the form and joinery really look like typical western dresser features. Mostly. I have seen similar vintage dressers for sale here, often misidentified as hardwood and made in Japan. Stained old-growth DF seems to be the norm here. 

Framing of the above dresser.

This dresser is approx. 46" high, top is 48" wide and 17 1/2" deep. It is 3/4" thick boards that form all faces but the back, which is 1/2" DF. Depth on these pieces was commonly dictated by width of boards available. This example has sides, top, and bottom from 3/4" x 15 1/2" DF. The top has a narrow strip tacked on the back edge to get to the 17 1/2" depth - just like the redwood desk above. 

One feature of this dresser that is similar to typical tansu construction is the joint used to attach the sides to the bottom board of the same 15 1/2" width: 

Looking at bottom of dresser. 

Tansu typically use 3, 5, 7, or 9 "fingers" with 5 being the most common to join sides and top/bottom. This dresser uses only 3 (2 on the side plus 1 on the bottom). The joint helps keep edges aligned and may lend a little more strength. I have not seen this joint used in any mainland-made casegoods but if you make the joint too tight and the boards shrink or expand unevenly, the side board can crack - which one side did in this case. This unfinished bottom board so close to the concrete floor was sure to absorb trapped moisture and expand, or the side was heated by sunlight while the bottom stayed cool. Same result. 

Side/bottom joint - and crack.

  
    Western hardware. 

Drawer bottoms in this piece are of redwood, crate wood, or both. Boards are 1/2" or so, planed at the edges to fit the 3/8" groove in the drawer sides and front. Tacked along the back. Grain runs perpendicular to the front, which is not the typical Western orientation - but it is common in Japan. 

Mix of woods on drawer bottoms is not uncommon here. 

Here is an example from a current local Facebook Marketplace ad. Some similarities in form, materials, hardware. And there are other examples out there on FBM and Craigslist. 

 

Farm or Work tables:

These come in a range of sizes, with drawers or without, with various construction methods - some crude, some quite thoughtfully done. Many of these were in sheds, work areas, outside under cover, on wooden floors, etc and very often were exposed to termites. But OG Douglas fir is tough and can still be very strong despite considerable termite damage, so there are plenty of survivors still out there being used. 

Table dimensions again are often dictated by lumber dimensions for convenience and economical use of material. 1x12" is a popular choice for the top. 
 

DF work table in situ. 

So this utilitarian work table is all DF. Top is 1 x 12" 's (nominal), legs 3 x 3 with one quite damaged by termites (buggers came up through the leg and into the top). The drawers appear to have been cut in later - in typical farm fashion. "Original" drawers are missing but construction would have been similar. Remarkably still very solid and used daily outside under cover. 

Beveled corner, rests on shouldered leg. Fancy and sturdy. 

MCM End Table:
This one was made by my neighbor's uncle back 50 or 60 yrs ago. It is made of lauan (meranti, Philippine mahogany) which is not a softwood, but it was cheap, available here, and you may know it is on the soft side. Well if you use solid lauan, you can create some decent furniture. However, it looks like the top panel is lauan plywood in this piece, and just as well since it is framed by the rabbeted apron. All other parts are solid lauan. 

 MCM Lauan Coffee Table:
This one was also made by the same uncle. You will see this style here quite often. The lauan holds up and is readily refinished but it is very porous and does ding easily so expect to do some filling to revive it. 

Solid lauan coffee table.

The top. Termites got it at one point. 

Methods:
The earlier work I have seen was crafted from dimensional lumber, smooth 4 sides, 1/2" - 1 1/8" typical though 2x, 4x and larger were available. There were also a number of saw mills on the Big Island so custom work could be had. Widths ranged up to 16" wide. Clear, no pith wood, some quarter-sawn but mostly plain-sawn for boards not milled for flooring, etc. Lumber dimensions often dictated furniture dimensions. Redwood was used more commonly in the early years. 

Basic tools seem to have been used to create these pieces, so not a lot of fancy moldings, intricate joinery, or fine details - at least not on the examples I have seen in this class of furniture. Dados, rabbets, grooves, and basic fasteners apparently cut with hand saws, planes, chisels, etc. Much can be done with these.  

Not much evidence of glue being used in the early pieces. Lots of finishing nails though... All assembly was with finishing or small common nails, usually galvanized. Finishes were dark stains, shellac, or paints - or left unfinished. Reminder that there is lead in a lot of the old paints, so test before sanding, etc. 

General:
Misidentification is also something that happens with these pieces. Some have Japanese hardware so people assume the entire piece came from Japan. Or, they think the Douglas fir is some kind of hardwood - it is heavy and pretty hard and some cuts have interesting grain patterns. Early makers here may have been trained in Japan or some may use Japanese woodworking tools and techniques, but "made in Hawaii" is the reality for many of these pieces. Design inspiration could have come from afar or styles could have been blended due to economics, convenience, or artistic license.

Termites are a fact of life out here and really got into a lot of furniture, often directly through wood surfaces they stood on or against. 3 of the above examples had termites enter or exit through the bottom of the legs. Early houses were quite open, exterminators were not a thing, screens were not always present in some plantation and modest homes. So, houses got termite infestations and furniture was at risk. 

This is barely an introduction to the range of pieces made out here during this limited time period but I hope it is useful to anyone wondering what that old thing is out in their shed or in their aunty's basement. This was common furniture. There are signs of hard use on most pieces - worn drawer sides and hardware, dings, and general signs of wear and tear. There are rookie construction "mistakes" - or omissions, but you can't argue with longevity. While you won't find these pieces in museums, they are worthy of recognition as another unique island creation from earlier times.