Some makers use both types of
construction in building custom furniture and custom cabinets.
Now lets look at these two options and their strong and weak
points.
Solid wood furniture, this means all exposed parts are made of
the same species of all natural wood, with no other materials
included, such as plywood or particle board.
Advantages of Solid Wood:
Practical. The durability of solid wood furniture is high on the
list. Scratches, dings, dents, water marks, stains can all be
repaired. Obviously, the worse the damage the more expensive,
but it is certainly easier and less expensive than veneer
furniture.
Disadvantages of Solid Wood:
Split. When exposed to extreme atmospheric conditions, solid
wood furniture will expand or contract, and may split along the
grain of the wood. Some makers use a "floating case system" in
which table and case-piece surfaces are attached using a bracket
method or elongated holes for screws to slide. This enables
furniture to respond to environmental changes without damage. As
a rule, though, avoid exposing pieces to strong sunlight or
direct heat sources.
Good quality veneer furniture will have a solid core and the
legs, posts, doors or drawer fronts will be straight-grain solid
wood.
Advantages of Veneer:
Beautiful. The best, most interesting logs are cut into veneer.
This is largely an economic decision--sellers and veneer makers
can make more money from a high quality log sliced into veneer
than they can from sawing it into boards. And certain cuts, such
as burls, are structurally unsound in 'the solid'. These
beautiful woods can rarely be utilized unless they're sliced
into veneer
Environmentally kind. Saw timber is typically sawn into 1" thick
boards. The saw cuts a kerf between boards 1/4" thick that winds
up as sawdust. Veneer is not cut from the log but sliced with a
knife (like lunch meat) into 1/32" leaves or sheets. That
produces 32 veneer surfaces for every 1 that is gotten from a
board and with no wood wasted as sawdust another 8 sheets where
the saw blade would have gone. That's 40 surfaces of wood veneer
for every 1 of solid wood.
Creates new design possibilities. Since veneer is so thin and is
glued to a stable. Since veneer is glued to a stable substrate
it produces surfaces not prone to warp or splitting or seasonal
movement.
Substrates. Plywood and medium density fiberboard, the
substrates used for some furniture, are made from low quality
trees. This means a market is provided the landowner for these
trees. This leads to better forests over time since the trees
remaining grow better and faster with less competition for
resources. Its like weeding your garden only a lot bigger.
Disadvantages Veneer:
Thin. This is more of a problem for the builder than the buyer.
Sand-through in preparation for finishing is 'touching the third
rail' of woodworking. Such pieces are almost impossible to
repair and frequently involve 're-design' (as in cutting off the
sanded through area) or making a speculative, difficult repair
which can be difficult to hide. Once the piece is completed
thickness of the veneer is of no concern.
We at Berkshire Furniture believe that there are good in both
kinds. It all depends on who is the manufacturer and how it is
built. When buying your piece of furniture, always ask if it is
real wood veneers or laminated imitation of wood. If the surface
of table top or any wood case top looks Perfect and unreal, then
it is most probably not a wood veneer. Pores, scuffs and wood
knots can be easily found even on wood veneers if the veneer
comes from wood. These pores, nicks and scuffs are the signature
of nature and proves to the buyer that yes, this is a slice of
real wood that is veneered over this top. |
