English translation: preserve the innate natural tension (of the wood)
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French to English translations [PRO] Furniture / Household Appliances / Description of wood
French term or phrase:mise en tension (du bois)
Hello, I'm hoping someone can help with this. I'm working on text - it's marketing/sales text tallking about origin/creation of product etc - about a wooden coffee table that is made from salvaged wood.
This is the original: 'Le procédé de lavage puis de cirage, avec une cire naturelle, a pour but de mettre en valeur chaque détail de la veinure du bois en accentuant son aspect d’origine. Tout le travail de l'ébéniste vise à préserver la mise en tension naturelle de l’objet, et la faire vibrer' so far translated as 'The aim of the cleaning and waxing process, using natural wax, is to emphasise every detail of the wood grain by accentuating its original appearance. All of the cabinetmaker's work is intended to preserve the ... '
I'm really struggling with the missing part regarding 'la mise en tension' and 'la faire vibre' as just don't know how to describe the 'tension' in wood - do we use the same word in English? I think we're talking about the wood's inner force or strength? Any suggestions would be gratefully received, many thanks
Having spoken again to the writer of the text, this appeared to be the best solution in the context - many thanks to all contributors though 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
Explanation: Tensioning is the best translation, in my opinion, of mise en tension. It is usually applied to concrete, and it is used in that context as stretching, so you could also use the word stretching or just tension. But tensioning in terms of concrete is translated into French as mise en tension, and if it were me, that is the term I would use. There is also something called tension wood, which is a type of reaction wood, which forms when part of a woody plant is subjected to mechanical stress - which also sounds like tensioning to me. Since tension wood is a noun for a kind of wood rather than a characteristic of wood, I would be hesitant to use it as is in that sentence, but there may be a related term that is closer.
Example sentence(s):
In angiosperms reaction wood is called tension wood. Tension wood forms above the affected part of the plant, pulling it up. It is composed almost entirely of cellulose.
Tentec offer world class standard ranges of hydraulic bolt tensioning tools and innovative ranges of direct drive, square drive hydraulic torque wrenches.
Explanation: In engineering language, a "tension" is a stress, having units of force per unit area.
In English, "tension" is wrong because "tension" is only one type of stress.
"strength" is wrong because linguistically and technically it is not a translation.
TechLawDC United States Native speaker of: English
The translation workplace 
