Hand Crafted Furniture 1
February 3, 2010
Hand Crafted Solid Oak
Chest of Drawers
Hand crafted solid hardwood furniture is the pinnacle of all furniture.
In the first of a two part special on hand crafted furniture we will look at the true definition of hand crafted furniture.
Hand crafted furniture vs. flat pack furniture
There are many types of furniture today on the market, a lot of which are made using computerised machinery to create flat pack kits that have to be assembled at home (usually with a poorly illustrated slip of paper by way of instructions), or are simply one piece mouldings. Only a select few retailers offer hand crafted furniture.
Hand crafted furniture doesn’t mean built it yourself!
Obviously a piece of flat pack furniture is going to be assembled at home by the purchaser. Not only does this mean that the tolerances on the measurements have to be wide to allow for mismatching of holes, dowels, etc., but it means that the person who assembles it is most probably not a skilled joiner, and will therefore not make the best job of construction anyway. This is hand made furniture in its loosest sense!
Hand Crafted Mahogany
Bed Footboard
Hand crafted furniture is so superior that it doesn’t really bear comparison, but due to cheapo furniture having the illusion of being a bargain many people are tempted into buying it.
Hand crafted furniture’s superiority is down to the attention to detail and skill of an experienced joiner. Apart from the carpentry techniques that are employed by a joiner when making hand crafted furniture, there is the decision making that only comes with human interaction.
For example: the direction and spacing of grain on a piece of wood will determine its best use. A tight, straight grain with no knots will make an excellent load bearing strut, base or leg, whereas a knotted piece of timber is more attractive and would therefore be best utilised as a door or drawer front. A skilled joiner will be able to select the wood for its best purpose. Something a machine on a production line could never have appreciation of.
More on hand crafted furniture coming soon
In the second part of this look at hand crafted furniture we will see the hidden benefits of hand crafted furniture, as well as the obvious ones.
