• Re: Is Ethan Allen high-quality furniture?

    From Bohemian's Antiques@21:1/5 to sha...@mail.webspam.net on Sat Oct 30 12:26:41 2021
    On Monday, July 21, 1997 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, sha...@mail.webspam.net wrote:
    Roger Blake wrote:

    Thomas A. Gauldin wrote:

    This may earn me some flames, but I see no real problem with even
    the "highest quality" furniture using plywoods. Just as the highest quality products now use modern adhesives and fastening techniques,
    why should the material itself be assumed better when solid than manufactured?

    This is not a flame. One problem with plywood is that if the veneer
    gets damaged its much harder to mend than solid wood. I can see that
    for mass production, manufacturing tolerances, the stability of large surfaces dictates use of modern sheet goods. Of these, I suppose
    plywood is best. However, I would much prefer that my surface of my
    kitchen or dining table was solid wood.

    Why do you suppose that plywood would be the best substrate? Manufacturers of cabinets and furniture stopped using plywood long ago in favor of particle board and medium density fiber board. Both of those substrates are much more stable than plywood. For the purposes of laying down a veneer, they can be machined to be much smoother than plywood ever could be. Veneers telegraph all
    the lumps and imperfections that are found in the substrate (it's like wallpapering over a poorly prepared plaster wall).
    Why is veneer harder to repair? Either you patch in a new piece, or work with what you have. With a little artwork, the history of your damage is rewritten.
    Most people lose sight of the fact that veneer is THIN WOOD. Even the paper thin (1/64") veneers can be repaired and refinished (it is true that there is a much greater chance of sanding through to your substrate if you are trying to correct wear and tear). As a legitimate process that has more than 3000 years of history to it, it ought to command much more respect than it does. There is a canard that one must set up a dichotomy between veneering and solid
    wood construction. The two are apples and oranges. They are often used together in most modern furniture. Many veneers are even put on over a solid wood core, not because the manufacturer has something to hide. This is done because you can do decorative things with veneer (marquetry, fancy inlay, repeating grain patterns, diamonds, reverse diamonds, edgebanding, etc.) much better than you can with thicker "solid" pieces of the same wood.
    --
    Daniel
    To send an e-mail, write me at "shafner at webspan dot net", taking out the quotation marks and inserting the appropriate symbols.
    / `-' ) ,,,
    | IU U||||||||[:::]
    \_.-.( '''
    I think the used furniture available by Ethan Allen is a great option... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBr7iawXvCg&t=8s

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  • From CPM Systems@21:1/5 to Bohemian's Antiques on Wed Jan 5 02:30:56 2022
    On Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 12:56:43 AM UTC+5:30, Bohemian's Antiques wrote:
    On Monday, July 21, 1997 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, sha...@mail.webspam.net wrote:
    Roger Blake wrote:

    Thomas A. Gauldin wrote:

    This may earn me some flames, but I see no real problem with even
    the "highest quality" furniture using plywoods. Just as the highest quality products now use modern adhesives and fastening techniques, why should the material itself be assumed better when solid than manufactured?

    This is not a flame. One problem with plywood is that if the veneer
    gets damaged its much harder to mend than solid wood. I can see that
    for mass production, manufacturing tolerances, the stability of large surfaces dictates use of modern sheet goods. Of these, I suppose
    plywood is best. However, I would much prefer that my surface of my kitchen or dining table was solid wood.

    Why do you suppose that plywood would be the best substrate? Manufacturers of
    cabinets and furniture stopped using plywood long ago in favor of particle board and medium density fiber board. Both of those substrates are much more
    stable than plywood. For the purposes of laying down a veneer, they can be machined to be much smoother than plywood ever could be. Veneers telegraph all
    the lumps and imperfections that are found in the substrate (it's like wallpapering over a poorly prepared plaster wall).
    Why is veneer harder to repair? Either you patch in a new piece, or work with
    what you have. With a little artwork, the history of your damage is rewritten.
    Most people lose sight of the fact that veneer is THIN WOOD. Even the paper
    thin (1/64") veneers can be repaired and refinished (it is true that there is
    a much greater chance of sanding through to your substrate if you are trying
    to correct wear and tear). As a legitimate process that has more than 3000 years of history to it, it ought to command much more respect than it does.
    There is a canard that one must set up a dichotomy between veneering and solid
    wood construction. The two are apples and oranges. They are often used together in most modern furniture. Many veneers are even put on over a solid
    wood core, not because the manufacturer has something to hide. This is done
    because you can do decorative things with veneer (marquetry, fancy inlay, repeating grain patterns, diamonds, reverse diamonds, edgebanding, etc.) much
    better than you can with thicker "solid" pieces of the same wood.
    --
    Daniel
    To send an e-mail, write me at "shafner at webspan dot net", taking out the
    quotation marks and inserting the appropriate symbols.
    / `-' ) ,,,
    | IU U||||||||[:::]
    \_.-.( '''
    I think the used furniture available by Ethan Allen is a great option... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBr7iawXvCg&t=8s
    With digital transformation taking over many aspects of the workplace, the traditional working environment as we know it is changing as well. A new generation of employees is demanding a more comfortable and modern working environment. In response to
    this, some companies have even started investing in light and energy-saving furniture to occupy their workers for a longer period of time.
    https://sites.google.com/view/furnituremanufacturers/

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