Wood is the primary material used in the manufacturing of all kinds of furniture, as well as a fundamental construction material.
For this reason, it is necessary that you take into account a series of tips before buying the wood you need, for example:
- Define the type of wood you want (natural or synthetic), the quality of the furniture will vary depending on the type of wood it is made of.
- Take into account the type of joints of the pieces.
- Look at the orientation of the pieces (are they straight or crooked).
- Remember that wood finishes are a good indicator of their quality.
- If the furniture is of good quality and coated, look at the quality of the fabrics as well.
- Be cautious and distrust very low prices or offers that seem too good to be true.
So, read on and we will tell you what features you should look for in good wooden furniture.
But before we continue, we recommend you take a look at the article about the different commercial presentations of wood to complement your search.
How to recognize quality in wood furniture
Tip # 1 Get to know the wood you’re buying
Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between quality wood and a cheaper imitation at first glance, especially if we are looking at a finished piece of furniture, say, a table.
Given this, the first thing to look at is how the table was made and from what materials. Keep in mind that most modern furniture is made with synthetic or prefabricated wood.
Sometimes, though, they can indeed be made of laminated wood, i. e., solid or natural wood, but very thin.
Let’s suppose then that we have a wooden board; think of it as a “sandwich”, where only the outermost layers, i.e. those at the ends, are made of fine or noble woods, such as mahogany, for example.
Meanwhile, the “filling” of the sandwich; i. e. the wood in the middle of the board is made with cheaper wood such as pine or spruce (in which case it would not be something serious and in fact could be a good thing), or it is simply made of recycled wood that is not necessarily of poor quality, but it is not the best either.
In that case, we would be dealing with a laminated wood board, meaning that it is indeed fine wood, but only at the ends because the rest is normal or cheap wood.
Likewise keep this in mind, if you are buying laminated wood (which is very good) remember that a good quality sheet is at least 2.54 cm thick (1 inch) and therefore a sheet with a lesser thickness may indicate lower quality.
The thinner the laminate is, the less durable and solid the whole board will be.
Tip # 2 Wood joints are everything
One feature you should appreciate in furniture is the way it is joined.
Good quality furniture is distinguished by the way its pieces are attached to each other.
Therefore, it is common for fine furniture to have the following joints.
Screw joint
This type of joint is made by means of a pre-drilling process, that is, the holes where the nails or screws go through have been made with a drill, not with a hammer.
This ensures the wood doesn’t chip or split, as even the finest woods can “suffer quite a bit with a hammer when dry”.
This joint is the cheapest for the manufacturer, although it gives very good support to the structures. However, it is the least aesthetic of all so it is rare to see it in high-end pieces.
Joint with dowels
This joint is made through ” finger-shaped ” pieces, called dowels, which are inserted into previously drilled holes in the pieces to be joined.
This anchorage is common in bedroom furniture such as some beds. It is more aesthetic than the screw joint but often requires additional reinforcement as the pieces can separate over time.
Tongue and groove joint
This is the most effective and often the most expensive type of joint or anchorage.
Tongue and groove anchoring works by means of joints that simulate the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
So, for example, we have one board with a hole and another with a point; both fit perfectly together so the joint is solid and not as aesthetically invasive as screws.
In fact, this is one of the types of joint used in traditional Japanese carpentry known worldwide for the complexity of the joints between pieces.
The joints here are so elaborate that no glue is used at all.
Usually, this type of anchoring is more expensive than the others because each joint has to be made individually with the help of specialized machines or, as in the case of Japanese carpentry, by hand, which requires a lot of time, effort, and dedication.
Lesser quality (cheaper) joints.
You wouldn’t want to see this type of joint in thin furniture because it will damage the wood, and no one wants to damage thin wood with a bad joint.
Nail joints
This type of joint is made directly by driving nails through the pieces of wood; they will eventually give way and can split the pieces.
Stapled joints
This type of joint is not common when you want to join 2 structural pieces, for example, the legs of a chair with the seat board because the staples alone cannot support much weight.
Instead, staples are used when you want to cover a piece of wood with fabric. Sooner or later (more sooner than later), the staples will give way and the fabric will eventually peel off.
Joining with glue
This type of joint is not bad for small pieces.
A problem occurs when 2 large pieces are anchored with glue. It is not a very strong way of joining and the least aesthetic of all.
So, if you are offered a fine piece of furniture with these joints, be wary of the authenticity of the piece.
Tip # 3 Good quality wood doesn’t warp or wobble.
An extremely important thing to look for in wood furniture is that it is not warped.
In fact, that is a very strong indicator of poor quality wood because solid pieces of solid wood (fine wood) go through an intensive leveling process, so they should not warp.
On the other hand, wood pieces should be solid and compact, and should never shake or feel flimsy to the touch.
Another thing you can look out for (although it is more difficult and not always the case) is that often recycled wood pieces tend to change dimensions with temperature, i.e. they are very unstable.
Doors, for example, expand and don’t close well in hot weather, and contract and close more easily in cold weather.
So, we observe that good quality woods are almost always stable or very stable.
Tip # 4 Look at the finishes
Good quality wood is often impregnable and porous so substances such as varnishes are better absorbed.
The wood then takes on better colorations and is better protected from the elements. Therefore, when you have the furniture in front of you, try to make a small line with your fingernails so that you can see if the paint falls off easily.
If the paint falls off easily, the same will happen with other substances that protect the wood and therefore that piece will be more prone to wear and tear.
Also, keep in mind that even some of the finest woods do not resist water well and therefore become waterproofed with various chemical agents.
So, you can pour a little water on the wood and if it is of good quality, there should not be any change in the coloring of the furniture or its consistency.
Tip #5 Not only wood matters
The upholstery of fine wood furniture should be up to par, therefore, the stitching and the quality of the fabrics should be excellent otherwise you better not risk your money.
Another thing you should look out for, especially when buying sofas or chairs, is the quality of the foam the cushions are made of.
This will matter because in a high-quality piece of furniture the foam is compact, firm, yet soft and doesn’t fall apart easily.
Also, it is almost always separated by compartments, which prevents the foam from collapsing under constant use.
Tip # 6 Furniture should always be made of the same wood.
When buying a piece of furniture, always look at the entire length of the piece. Does the wood look the same color throughout the entire surface?
Are there any distinct patches of color? If the answer is yes in at least one of the cases, it is most likely plywood, which we already mentioned is not necessarily a bad thing.
However, genuine solid wood is not uniform throughout and often has small changes in color and texture.
Also, a piece of natural wood furniture should only have one wood, Cherry, Ash, Oak, etc.
Whereas plywood is composed of several types of wood at once.
Tip # 7 Be cautious of very low prices
Fine woods are unfortunately very scarce, either because they are becoming extinct due to excessive logging or because of the deterioration of their habitat.
In either case, commercially they are very difficult to obtain; hence they are very expensive.
Therefore, you should be suspicious if you are offered “fine wood” at very low prices.
Likewise, keep in mind that plywood pieces, although they may be of good quality, do not retain their value; on the contrary, their price decreases over time.
In contrast, genuine solid woods are like wine, their value increases over time, precisely because of their rarity.
Tip # 8 How heavy is the wood?
A common belief is that solid wood is heavier than prefabricated wood, which is true in some cases, but not always.
Some synthetic or pre-fabricated wood pieces can be heavier than others made of fine wood.
This happens because prefabricated woods are often sold as plywood (remember the sandwich example?) so the sheets of wood are glued together, which increases the weight of the pieces.
Therefore, you might be looking at two pieces, one made of solid wood and the other with prefabricated wood that could be much heavier.
However, the quality of prefabricated wood and especially its strength would be much lower.
So, don’t use weight as the only indicator of wood quality.
Remember, there are also genuine woods that are not heavy, such as cherry wood which is quite light and thin.
Tip # 9 look for curves
Pay close attention to the curved parts of furniture such as the backs of chairs or the edges of some tables.
The mere fact that the wood pieces have a natural curvature suggests that the wood was probably steam-bent.
This means that the piece of wood was bent under the heat and moisture of steam.
The grain of the wood is then modified into the desired shape and never returns to its original shape when it cools.
That is why solid wood has a natural look that cannot be replicated in plywood.
Also, look for wrinkles or bulges where the curves are most pronounced, as they sometimes hide surface fractures in the wood, reducing the strength of the piece.
The latter can be seen in lower-quality pieces.
Tip # 10 Beware of wood that is too uniform in appearance.
This may sound counterintuitive, but genuine wood doesn’t look perfect.
In fact, for most if not all wood connoisseurs, furniture and other products made from solid wood should ideally highlight the natural “imperfections” of the material.
So, you shouldn’t be surprised if natural wood looks aged and a bit more subdued in tone than prefinished wood.
In addition, artificial wood tends to have the same texture over the entire surface, while natural wood, by contrast, may have some slight changes in tone and texture.
These natural “imperfections” are the characteristics that collectors look for when they want to acquire a piece of solid wood (a fact to know, in case you have an antique you would like to sell).
Remember that solid wood increases its value over time as the oldest pieces are historical works that can evoke past eras where, for example, existed woods that are now extinct.