I’ve been asked over and over by clients, “What makes this piece better than another one?” There are a lot of questions regarding wood in particular and how it’s used. Some people don’t want any pieces with wood veneers. Others request “solid wood” without knowing exactly why or what that means. I hear the term “solid hardwoods with cherry veneers” almost every day. Kind of leaves you wondering, “What does it all mean?” With this in mind, I thought I’d provide you with a little info on wood products used in furniture.
There are many reasons why manufacturers use certain types of woods, veneers, ply products, etc. on their furniture. Certain wood products add strength and stability to the piece. Others give you the option of refinishing in the future. None of the varying wood products out there is inherently bad–the important thing is how the manufacturer uses it. The grade of the wood product is important, too. A desk at a big box office store is most likely not going to have the same grade of plywood as one at a high end furniture store.
Hooker Furniture, a manufacturer known for having quality pieces for every room, provides this information about their use of various wood products.
Many of our furniture items are constructed of hardwood solids and veneers over durable wood products such as medium density fiberboard (MDF) and particle board. MDF and particle board are used in quality furniture for areas that need to be stable, such as large surfaces. These durable wood products do not expand and contract with heat and cold and do not absorb moisture as much as solid wood, which results in stronger and longer-lasting furniture.
Solid hardwood is something a lot of clients ask about because they’ve heard that solid wood is synonymous with high quality. There are times when solid wood is a great option. Norwood has two custom dining manufacturers that produce excellent solid tables, chairs, and buffets in birch, maple, or cherry. One benefit of solid wood is if you ever wanted to refinish, the pieces could be sanded down and restained. With this being said, solid wood can have issues with cracking and warping and must be stabilized or treated appropriately to make the pieces more resistant to those issues. Solid wood will “breathe,” or expand and contract with the temperature and humidity changes. This can cause the separation of joints or the appearance of cracks in extreme cases. Most manufacturers use kiln-dried hardwood, so as much moisture as possible is removed from the wood while in the kiln before it is used to build the furniture. Even with the kiln drying process, there’s still around 6% moisture remaining in the wood.
The other options for wood products–MDF, plywood, and particle board–allow more of the tree to be used for their creation. There is less waste overall but they use chemicals in their creation. MDF, plywood, and particle board can be used as a substrate in conjunction with beautiful wood veneers to create fantastic designs.
Speaking of wood veneers, I have clients that often confuse a wood veneer with laminates. Veneers are a thin sheet of real wood. Laminate is a material of various designs/patterns covered with a coating of plastic for protection. The laminates most associated with furniture are the “photo finish” style, which is basically a photograph of actual wood grain that makes the furniture look like wood from far away. You’ve probably seen the “photo finish” laminate at Wal-mart, Staples, or Office Max.
Wood veneers can be quite decorative in nature. They allow for designs with multiple woods to be created without risking the chance of the splitting and separating that might occur with solid woods butted together. Wood veneers can be adhered to solid hardwoods, plywood, mdf, and particle board. They are used at all price points and should not be looked down upon by consumers. Some of the most gorgeous tables could not exist without the inclusion of veneers.
Plywood is one of the strongest wood products on the market and is widely used by the furniture industry. There are different types and grades of plywood. Furniture grade plywood is quite different than your basic plywood. Plywood layers are held together by adhesive with each layer placed at right angles to one another for greater strength. The layers are generally odd in number to reduce warping. Plywood’s use of grains running in opposite directions across an odd number of layers makes it very hard to bend perpendicular to the grain direction. If you open most dressers, they will have plywood boxes for the drawers. Plywood is actually stronger than solid hardwood, making it a desirable product for the furniture industry.
Particle board has gotten a bad wrap because when we think of plywood, we envision that rough ugly stuff on the shelves at Home Depot and Lowes. Particle board, (or chipboard) is an engineered wood product that combines wood particles, such as chips, shavings, or saw dust, with a bonding material, often a resin. The board is pressed and cut into sheets. It’s a light weight material that’s most often used in cabinet doors and shelves because it doesn’t add much weight to the furniture piece. It can be covered in wood veneers and laminate or painted. It does not bow like plywood when used in applications requiring a wider piece, like a long shelf. Particle board comes in varying densities and will vary in strength and stability. It’s often used as the back board on dressers, bookshelves, chests, and armoires.
Medium-density fiber board, or MDF, is similar to particle board in that the wood particles are bonded together with a resin. However, MDF is much more dense and heavy. It isn’t splintery since it’s made of fine wood fibers that are pressed together. There are some furniture applications where it is too heavy to use. It generally doesn’t take stains, so most furniture pieces using MDF are painted pieces or covered in veneers. Due to it’s density, it doesn’t warp, which makes it desirable for many applications.
I hope this gives you some information about what wood products may come into play when you’re out looking at furniture. It helps to understand some of the terminology so you can make the best decision for your home. Stop on by the store and I’ll show you some of the beautiful wood pieces we have!
Shasta
