Construction methods.

Our furniture uses 2 timbers in the main it will be plantation 'swietenia mahogany' and also reclaimed pine which is a minimum of 30 years old after felling please click for more detailed information.

As we predominantly use solid hardwood and solid timber this means we have to use traditional cabinet construction techniques. This is not for any marketing reasons it is simply that if you use solid timber you have to take into account a natural material such as solid timber retains its properties after it has been felled seasoned and kiln dried. As a natural material it will respond to the environment it is in with movement. This is really seen when using large single pieces of timber such as a panel in the headboard of a bed in which case we use a fielded floating panel. Ask your self have you ever heard of or experienced a front door jamming due to movement even when you may have had that front door for decades? Or an antique wardrobe for example experiencing hairline cracks or warping in a new environment?

When ever you see furniture in the high street chain stores if it has a large surface area it would be rare for it to not be veneered over ply or MDF, other techniques such as splicing small pieces of timber together is used often seen on kitchen counters. There are occasions where timber depth is sufficient to guard against this i.e. kitchen tables coffee tables but for many pieces this method is not applicable.

The majority of high street furniture do not use cabinet techniques as they are too expensive to use and prevent mass manufacture which offers much better economies of scale and efficiencies. This is why China for example where so much of high street furniture comes from will not use cabinet construction techniques.

Cabinet techniques incorporate traditional joints such as mortice tenon, butterfly, open tenon, floating panels, dovetail joints. The same joints and construction techniques used in antiques and as you may have been taught in wood work class at school. They are time intensive require great skill to use expensive and all round far more difficult but the advatages are significant from the point of view of ownership. The result is furniture that is so much stronger and durable just ponder why antiques last so long!