Here’s a good article by furniture “detective” Fred Taylor that I read on another furniture related website he writes for. I feel it is relevant for any advice you may be seeking…make sure the person knows what they are talking about! I will answer your questions and give you free advice on the subject of furniture and antiques, so please don’t hesitate to contact me. I love to talk about furniture…how to identify what’s good, how to buy it, maintain it and even sell it if you desire. Call or write Bill Oakley at 860-350-6410 or Bill@OakleyRestoration.com.

Gluing a small piece of veneer into a loose mortise before gluing in the tenon will create a tight wood joint. This is a repair that passes the “smell test.” (Fred Taylor photo)

Need some advice about furniture? Want to know how to repair that chair or fix that ugly spot on the table top? Have a question about the properties of a specific finish or what stripper to use on a tough project? Finding advice about furniture issues is about as hard as catching a cold in January. Getting good advice is sometimes a little more difficult, but it can be done with some attention to detail and some hard work.

The first place to go is, obviously, the library if you are fortunate enough to live in a major metro area with good public services. But even then, how long will you have to devote to the search to find the specific answer to your specific question? Probably a lot longer than you are willing to wait.

So who do you ask? Most of us don’t know enough about a specific subject to ask the penetrating questions of an “expert” that would reveal the depth (or lack of it) of his or her knowledge. If we knew that much, we wouldn’t need their help. It’s sort of like going to the doctor. You don’t understand everything that’s said but you trust the practitioner. The same holds true for advice about furniture. You need a source you can trust, someone with a track record that can easily be verified or with a public image established over long years of good work. But you also need one more important thing. You need to apply the “smell test” to any advice you receive.

What the heck is the smell test? It’s that old sixth sense that kicks in when something isn’t quite right. It’s like buying milk just before the expiration date on the carton. The dating tells you it’s good and the store guarantees its products, but just in case you check it anyway—you give it the “smell test” just to be sure. The same cautionary approach is often wisely used when accepting advice about your furniture. The source may be reputable, the advice sounds perfectly reasonable and acceptable, the outcome appears to be desirable. But does it pass the smell test? Is it a common-sense answer? Do you feel comfortable with it?

I ran across just such a case recently in an advice column on furniture care and repair written by a columnist for a major metropolitan publication. The original question had to do with repairing the chronically loose joints on a set of 45-year-old wooden dining chairs. The chairs reportedly had to be disassembled and reglued every five years. What was the long-term solution? The “expert” suggested four possible solutions, three of which included the addition of metal of some sort to the wooden chair joints:

• The only non-metal solution involved the use of epoxy glue rather than wood glue. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t hold a loose joint any better than white school glue would hold it. It would just guarantee that the next time the chair needed repair (because there will be a next time) the structural components of the chair, the legs and stretchers will shatter instead of the joints opening up cleanly.

• The first suggested metal application was the use of turnbuckles and wires to secure the chair legs and frame. That would certainly look upscale in a formal dining room setting and eventually the chair would just fall apart.

• The next suggestion was to use a perforated metal strap known as Mr. Grip in the holes of the loose joints. The rough metal would hold the stretcher tight – until it just rips out again, this time tearing up the end of the stretcher. That was a variation of a construction technique called the “LOCK-JOINT” used in chairs in the late 1920s made by the Colonial Manufacturing Company of High Point, N.C. They used a metal fishhook-like device to secure joints. It worked great until the wood shrank, the joint got loose and the steel split rivet ripped open the joint. You don’t see many Colonial Manufacturing chairs around today.

• The final metal application was the use of small brass screws inserted into the joints. The screws were a bad enough idea to start with, but the brass-screw idea was even worse. Brass screws don’t have the strength to stand up to that sort of stress. They will snap before the wood does.

The point is that the “expert” giving all this advice had obviously never successfully repaired a wooden chair in his life. This was demonstrated by his total lack of understanding of wood joints. His approach to the repair problem just didn’t pass the smell test.

If a wood joint is chronically loose it’s because the wooden components of the joint don’t fit right. The fix is to make them fit. If the hole—the mortise—is worn bigger or the stretcher—the tenon—has been reduced by wear or abrasion, or both, the answer is to fill the void in the joint with some sort of wood that will have the same reaction to glue, stress, temperature and humidity that the original wood will have. No metal application will match that. After cleaning out old glue, wrap a thin piece of veneer around the tenon or insert it into the mortise to create a tight wood joint when the parts are assembled. Make the wood work with you—don’t work against it—by adding foreign material like metal.

The solution should pass the smell test.

One comment I hear from customers all the time is, “I wish I had called you before I bought this… I didn’t know what bad shape it was in and how much it would cost to fix.” So, next time you’re shopping for a piece of furniture call me first for a free consult and some suggestions on where to get better furniture at a better price. I want to make my customers “educated consumers” who get the most for their money!

The old hidden broken chair joint!

What’s the real truth about furniture quality today?

What furniture manufacturers don’t want you to know…

“Don’t believe everything you’re told and only half of what you see” I’ll bet that that you’ve heard a version of that line before and I can tell you that it applies to buying and caring for furniture too!

Over the 20 plus years of my experience restoring, repairing, finishing and making furniture I have developed an understanding of what quality is and how it can not only save you a lot of money, but also make you a lot of money too!

When you’re shopping to buy new furniture do you really know what to look for? How do you assess the quality of the piece? What’s a dovetail? Is veneer good or bad? How about construction? What’s the difference between plywood and solid wood construction and is solid wood always better?

What about the finish? What is the purpose of a finish on furniture? Is one finish better than another? Can you really “feed” the wood? How do I take care of the finish? What’s a good polish to use? How can I hide the scratches on my dining chairs? How can I remove candle wax from my table? The list goes on and on… These are just a few of the multitude of questions I hear everyday from people just like you.

This blog entry will begin to explore these questions in a series of posts which I’m currently writing and I am making it my mission to help educate everyone who wants to know how to become a smart furniture customer so they can make the smartest decisions when looking at and purchasing furniture. Not a week goes by when I don’t see someone with a recently purchased new piece of furniture that already has some needed repair or finish problem. Not only as a “furniture person” but just as an American consumer, I am sorely disappointed in the quality of the new furniture that is being sold to the unsuspecting public. I can’t say that I blame the consumers for buying these items because they usually look pretty nice in a showroom. But when you understand what quality is and compare it to these inadequately made pieces you can understand my disappointment.

In my opinion one of the main reasons for this decline  is the lack of quality American made furniture being made and sold today. Many of the great furniture factories of the mid-20th century have closed and/or they have moved operations overseas to China and Indonesia so they can have a better “bottom line.” And quality has been pushed aside for lower consumer prices and higher profits which translates to cheaper raw materials and construction methods. I see some of the wood used in this furniture isn’t much better than the soft white wood used to make shipping pallets! Now you may think that I am overstating this to be facetious, but I’m not far off in my comparison.

I’m going to step down off my soapbox for now, but I hope you can see that I am passionate about this issue and feel that most consumers are being taken advantage of with misrepresenting sales techniques and lack of information on comparisons between quality and inferior furniture. Remember that “the best consumer is an educated consumer,” and as I’ve said, my mission is to make you a better educated consumer!

Please let me know your thoughts or any experiences you may have when shopping for new furniture and post your comments below.

Made in the USA?                                 These days, probably not!

This past month or so in Connecticut has been a difficult and snowy one to say the least. We’ve had more major snow storms than I can remember. The plowed snow is piled into mountains ten feet tall everywhere you look and of course the ice built up right along with all the snow! Clearing ice and snow has taken it’s toll on many of us including myself. I’ve been laid up for the past 2 weeks with a back injury, but I’m finally up and around once again and able to think straight enough to post on my blog. I wanted to talk briefly today about quality manufactured furniture. I hope this gives you something to think about next time you are looking to buy furniture. There’s a lot of high quality “pre-owned” furniture out there that can be had for a song.

Buying furniture manufactured in the USA prior to the 1970’s is a smart purchase. American manufacturers made some of the best furniture anywhere using quality wood, more traditional construction methods and “old world” craftsmanship that cannot be found in factory made furniture anymore today. Most new furniture that you see for sale in stores is manufactured in China and other parts of Asia. Why you ask? Mostly because of the cheap labor costs. But that’s not the only cheap thing about this furniture. To cut costs and “add to the bottom line” these companies have chose to use a lower (cheap) quality of wood, inferior (cheap) finish materials and the general construction is really awful (cheap… I’m sounding like a bird!) Most new manufactured furniture today won’t be around in 20 years, heck 10 years, because it will have fallen apart before then! It will also have no value.

Mid-century Demi Lune Cabinet

I call it “disposable furniture.” Now I know that every piece of furniture you own and buy doesn’t have to be the best out there (unless you’re a connoisseur) and I understand that sometimes you need a desk for the kid’s room or an inexpensive bookcase for the den and that’s okay to buy a piece that you may use for a shorter term to serve your purpose. But why not consider alternate sources to acquire it from. Garage and tag sales, especially in upscale neighborhoods can be a gold mine of quality older furniture to be had for a fraction of that inexpensive “disposable furniture” you were considering. Consignment stores are also good places to look for the piece you need for the corner of the living room. And don’t be afraid to go to local auctions. There are some great bargains waiting to be had for sometimes next to nothing! Don’t be intimidated about bidding either. It’s actually a lot of fun. Just be careful you might get addicted to the thrill of winning!

Another way of looking at buying “pre-owned” furniture is that you’re being “green.” Yes, you’re recycling! Instead of the furniture being discarded and ending up in a land fill, you can give it a new life…and maybe a new look too. It’s usually well worth it to invest in repairing, refinishing or restoring that good piece because it will hold it’s value much better than the new, low quality products being pushed upon Americans in the mass marketing of furniture today. (Don’t be “dumbed-down” by what sellers and advertisers are telling you is “a great deal.”) Demand better quality than they’re selling and if they don’t offer it, go elsewhere!.

Invest in America

Think of buying “pre-owned” furniture and fixing it up as “investing in America!” Either buy products made here or if it’s pre-owned and they need repairs or refinishing, you’re giving work to and supporting a local American business. Don’t get me wrong, I think there are some great things about imports, but we just seem to have to much importing and not enough exporting (or supporting local businesses). Stop exporting your money!

Please post a comment and let me know where you have found some good deal and great pieces in your area. There usually a funny story or adventure behind every great find. Happy hunting!

Bill

American antique slant lid desk

I get asked “How much is my furniture worth?” so many times every week that I thought I should try and give this a quick and “easy” answer! I guess that I’m trying to simplify a more complex subject, but here goes. The first thing I ask anyone wanting to know the value of something is, ” why do you want to know what it’s worth?” I ask this first because there are several different “levels of value” for any  item. One level is the “replacement cost” (or value). This is what it would cost to go out and buy either the exact same item or one of comparable form. This is generally the highest value or price and what is used for insurance replacement cost.

Another level of value is the “fair market value.” The FMV is the price a knowledgeable buyer would pay the seller for an items which is honestly represented and neither the buyer or seller has an advantage. The sale is considered an orderly liquidation without any stress or time constraints influencing the sale.  There is a longer, more technical definition of FMV used by both the insurance industry and professional appraisers that breaks this down even further, but we don’t need to go there now. To understand the FMV of an item you need to look at sales of similar or comparable items in the marketplaces such as auction houses and internet sales venues like eBay and LiveAuctioneers.com. Today, being able to use the internet to research item descriptions and values makes it fairly easy to understand what you have and how much it’s worth. It just takes knowing what you have and where to search for comparables to see the values.

Researching the FMV is a good idea to decide what price you may want to sell an item for, but it’s important that you are comparing similar items. If you’re not sure what you have, seek the help of someone more knowledgeable or even pay a professional for a consultation if you think the item may be valuable. Many times just by sending some good digital pictures to dealers in your area or even outside your area you may be able to get some free information and feedback. Though I always remind those looking to sell an item that they are generally wholesaling the item, so don’t expect to get anything near a retail value.

Until next time…happy hunting!

Bill

You’ve heard the saying “less is more,”  well it definitely applies to cleaning and caring for  your furniture finishes. Whether it’s an older antique piece having a shellac or wax finish or a newer piece of furniture with a modern lacquer finish, “less IS more.” By this I mean that you don’t need to buy all sorts of sprays and polishes to keep your furniture looking good. The first thing to do is simply dust it. Keeping the dust off will help keep the finish in the best condition for the long haul. This doesn’t mean you have to continually be dusting,  just  use a soft cloth every other week and gently wipe the dust off. You can use a little clean water to lightly dampen the cloth and it will pick up the dust quicker and keep it on the cloth instead of pushing it around the surface of your furniture. I also think that the Swiffer® brand dusters work well and you don’t need to use any sprays  to attract the dust.

The second thing you can do is to use a clean, soft cotton tee shirt type of cloth along with some water to which you add a little dish soap to clean a surface that might be dirty. Regular dish soap (no ammonia please!) is just fine, but you can use Murphy® Oil Soap or Simple Green® in a diluted state to clean a dirty surface, especially on kitchen cabinet surfaces. I keep the mix in a spray bottle for easy use and storage.

The third thing you can do to care for the finish is lightly buff the cleaned surface dry with another clean soft cloth. I have found that the microfiber cloths available in auto supply stores and Costco to work very well for this and they’re nice and soft, no scratching! That’s about all there is to my easy care furniture cleaning and maintenance. I’ll follow up in a future post on how to use paste wax for older finishes and a good spray wax I found a while back that is both easy to use and maintains a nice looking finish.

I’d like to hear from you if you have any special ways to take care of your furniture that I may have not heard of or tried. Maybe even an “old family recipe” that you like to use!

Until next time…

Bill Oakley

An important thing to learn which will help determine if a piece of furniture is an older “antique” is if a dovetail drawer joint was cut by hand or by a machine. It’s fairly easy to tell the difference with a quick look at them. A machine cut dovetail drawer has evenly spaced pins and tails, all looking the same. The earliest machine cut dovetail joints were at the end of the 19th century and are common on much of todays furniture. On the other hand, a hand cut dovetail joint has a finer, thinner look and generally are not perfectly spaced. Hand cut joints date back to the early Egyptian times and are still used today by some custom furniture makers. When you see this hand-cut type of dovetail on a drawer or cabinet case you can be pretty sure that along with “aged” looking wood that the item was made prior to 1870. Keep this in mind when looking for real “period” antique furniture. Happy hunting!

Bill Oakley

Machine Cut Dovetail Joint

Hand Cut Dovetail Joint

1950's Reproduction of a Solid Cherry Chippendale Chest of Drawers

Vintage & antique furniture is eco-friendly and green. That’s only the first good thing I have to say about buying vintage 20th Century and older furniture. Think about it, if you buy used furniture, you’re recycling instead of having it tossed into a landfill somewhere. That’s good. Secondly, and even better is the fact that most furniture made before the 1970′s is much better made in regards to the wood quality and craftsmanship. I’ll bet that almost any of the “disposable” new furniture bought today will be worthless, falling apart and in the trash within 10 years. A third fact is that sadly the once thriving furniture manufacturing business in the United States has now moved overseas for the most part. Like so many products sold today, a lot of furniture is made in China or South East Asia. We have lost a generation of skilled craftsmen to this rude fact, let alone millions of jobs associated with the whole furniture industry. A fourth reason why it’s better to buy old is the price. Along with getting a much better quality item, you are paying a fraction of what it would cost new in a retail environment. The fifth and final reason why you should buy vintage or antique is that you may even make a profit if you sell it sometime down the road. Yes, there’s a good chance that it will not only hold it’s value, but depending on what is in style (and demand) in the future you will be able to sell the item for more than you paid…and who knows maybe you even found an “attic treasure” and will make a small fortune on it! Who knows…it happens. Happy hunting!

Bill Oakley