Wood Furniture Buying Guide

Solid Wood

Dried slowly in kilns down to approximately six percent moisture content, solid hardwoods are cut and shaped into pieces that provide the structural integrity of the furniture. These pieces include the legs, frame and posts that support the weight of the table, chair or cabinet.

These joints are often given additional strength with bonding glues. To check if a piece of furniture is joined properly, lift it by one corner. The entire piece should remain rigid and retain its shape with little or no racking or twisting.

Plywood and Particle Board

The use of non-solid wood products is probably the most maligned and misunderstood aspect of furniture construction. As wood is porous by nature, solid wood has a tendency to expand and contract as the humidity changes. In constructing the large flat panels that make up the tops of tables or the sides of cabinets, solid wood does not offer the necessary stability. Plywood and products manufactured of ground up wood are significantly more stable and less apt to warp or split. These large flat panels typically called RTA Furniture will often be framed in solid wood and covered by veneers to recreate the look of one large piece of wood.

Veneers

The beautiful grain you see on the top of a dining table or dresser is most often a wood veneer-a thin slice of wood selected for its outstanding character. Dating back to ancient Egypt and Rome, veneering became commonly used in the 17th Century. Today the use of veneers is found at every price level of wood furniture. The advantages of veneering are many. In covering the core panels, veneers are often applied creating patterns that add interest and beauty to the piece. Often , more expensive woods which would be too costly or fragile to use as structural parts are used as veneers.

For example, Crotch Mahogany, often utilized in eighteen century designs to give that fiery look to the front of a Chippendale armoire could not be utilized structurally due to its gnarled character.

The Finish

It has been said that a piece of furniture looks only as good as its finish. Most of the fine furniture sold today goes through a finishing process involving many steps. After the piece is thoroughly sanded, a stain is either sprayed or wiped on. Sometimes the grain is "highlighted" using steel wool. If the piece is traditional in design, distressing, or fly specking can be added using anything from a chain with bolts to a paintbrush dipped in black paint to give the piece an aged look.

A sanding sealer is then applied to prepare the piece for its final finish steps. A final sanding is done prior to the application of the top coat. Lacquer is most often used as the last step, giving the piece its finished appearance. Whether flat or buffed to a high gloss, lacquer provides the beauty, water resistance and durability desirable today.

Engraving or Printing

Some surfaces that look like wood on a piece of furniture may not be. Due to the high cost of veneering, a method has been developed that reproduces the grain of wood photographically. This wood image is then applied over the flat panels to simulate a wood surface. There are two ways to tell if what you are looking at is an engraved or printed surface. The grain will be perfect, with none of the flaws of nature, and the grain will have no variation in texture as one would expect from a piece of real wood.

This process is being used primarily on the inside backs of cabinets where the manufacturers feel they can save a little without being obvious. However, on less expensive furniture, you might find engraved surfaces almost anywhere. The drawbacks of engraved surfaces are that they are not repairable and that when coming in contact with a solvent, the grain may come off. Ask your furniture salesperson, if you are not sure, which if any parts of the piece you are considering are engraved.