Solid Wood is, well, solid wood. Furniture made with solid wood can be sanded, stained, varnished, treated and painted. Some woods are soft and show wear, such as worn corners and edges, after many years of use. Others are called hardwoods and have a more durable lifespan. Here in our store, we love the look of solid wood pieces, often finding them as rustic, farm style tables, bookshelves and cabinets.
So, next time you are perusing our just-in section, take note of our titles and descriptions to learn a bit more about the piece and the materials that were used to create it.
Whether its veneer, laminate or solid wood, we will continue to strive to bring you the nicest, most intersting furniture we can find! We hunt for unique vintage and antique pieces and bring items into our showroom in New York City every weekday. Our philosophy is to provide creative local consumers with unique, well-made, long-lasting and reasonably priced pieces of furniture so that they can design their own homes, businesses, and sets in a meaningful way. Those are made from plastic, paper, or even foil that's been printed with a wood grain pattern that often wears away at the edges—a sure way to spot them.
But of course, there's also a range in quality of proper veneers depending on who makes them. Besides keeping a wood panel stable, veneers have other perks and purposes. In furniture, wood veneers give the appearance of an all-wood piece, when in reality only the surface is taken from natural wood. Advantages : Wood veneer furniture pieces use a minimal amount of natural wood, making them more affordable and environmentally friendly.
Wood veneers are also less prone to the splintering and warping that can come from an all-wood design. Disadvantages : Wood veneers are attached to fiberboard, which are not as heavy as natural wood boards; if wood veneers are not coated with a surface polish, this makes it easy for liquids to be absorbed through the wood. And unlike solid wood, once damaged, wood veneers can be difficult or costly to repair. Best for : Those looking for lighter pieces that are easier to move, as well as budget- and environmentally-conscious shoppers.
Just because veneer furniture isn't completely made up of solid wood , doesn't mean it's not durable. Because veneer furniture is not prone to the same aging effects as solid wood, such as splitting or warping, wood veneer furniture will often outlast solid wood furniture by years.
Solid wood furniture is furniture made completely from natural wood excepting any areas of upholstery, metallic fixtures, etc. Advantages : Solid wood is easier to repair, as most forms of damage can be fixed with sanding. While solid hardwoods will often outperform veneers in terms of durability, softer woods such as cedar are rising in popularity for their susceptibility to distress, patina and other ' rustic-chic ' signs of aging.
Disadvantages : Atmospheric pressure can cause natural wood to expand, leading to cracks or splits in the furniture design. While many designs now come with systems to prevent such from happening, it is still recommended that solid wood pieces be kept out of direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time.
Best for : Those looking for durability, minimal maintenance and an all-natural aesthetic. Laminate is not wood, veneer is wood. The difference between the two is that laminate is a material other than wood with a coating made to look like wood, while veneer is actual, thin slice of wood that is pressed onto the surface of a furniture piece. Technically, the types of wood veneer are the same as the types of wood — since veneer is simply a thinly-sliced piece of wood.
There are, however, types that are commonly seen in furniture and which you will probably encounter more often than others. These include:. The best and most interesting logs are cut into veneer — typically this is an economic decision. Sellers and veneer makers can make more money from a high quality log that is sliced into veneer than they can from sawing it into boards. And certain cuts, such as burls, are structurally unsound as a solid piece of wood.
These beautiful woods can rarely be utilized unless they're sliced into veneer. With solid wood, timber is typically sawn into 1" thick boards. This process produces 32 veneer surfaces for every 1 that is made into a board and, with no wood wasted as sawdust, another 8 sheets are gained where the saw blade would have gone. That's 40 surfaces of wood veneer for every 1 board of solid wood.
It creates new design possibilities. Since veneer is so thin and is glued to a stable substrate, it allows designs and arrangements of the wood that would fail in solid wood. Solid wood, even kiln-dried, expands and contracts as the seasons change from summer to winter and back to summer again.
For example, a radiant table top would be impossible to create with solid lumber because the seams would open in the winter and swell tightly shut in the summer. Since veneer is glued to a stable substrate, it produces surfaces that are not prone to warp, splitting or seasonal movement. It uses substrates. Plywood and medium density fiberboard are the substrates used in with veneers.
The use of these lower quality trees creates a market for landowners with these trees and contributes to better forests over time because the trees remaining grow better and faster with less competition for resources. This is more of a challenge for the builder than the buyer. During construction, if you sand through a layer of veneer in preparation for finishing it is impossible to repair and frequently involves a redesign or making a difficult repair which could be difficult to hide.
However, once the piece is completed the thinness of the veneer is of no concern. It can blister, delaminate or peel back at the edges. To prevent this, the furniture must be created with proper construction materials and techniques.
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