A general overview of what everyone should know before commissioning custom wood work.

Wood Movement

Most people are under the impression that wood is a static material like metal or stone. The fact of the matter is that solid woods have the potential of moving radially ( across the grain ) up to 1/8" per foot of width. That means if you have two feet of solid wood width, there is potential movement of 1/4" expansion and contraction depending on atmospheric conditions. Conversely, in the same atmospheric conditions, solid wood movement in length is negligible. The best way to visualize this is to imagine a tree as millions of tiny soda straws filled with water. All these straws are standing on end and are closely bundled. When the tree is cut into lumber and dried, the cells or straws lose their moisture and collapse. Being long cell structure most of the shrinkage is in the width of the board. The shrinkage in length is so small in comparison it may be hard to measure.

Even after it is properly dried, the cell structure of wood will always retain some moisture. The addition or loss of moisture from the atmosphere will either shrink or expand the wood across the grain. One of my primary jobs as a woodworker is to account for all this wood movement. There are many ways to handle the problem, I can use joinery that allows movement, or I can minimizing or eliminate the movement by using wood substrates. The most common solution to wood movement is to build large structures and carcasses with wide dimensions out of plywood or composite materials with strategic placement of solid wood . This allows for large carcasses construction that would surely fail, at least cosmetically if not structurally, if they were built of solid wood.

Substrates

There are some common impressions that solid wood construction is a higher quality than construction using a veneer ply or worse yet a particle board substrate. In some cases that may be true, however, I believe that there are no bad materials there are just bad uses of materials. I would not recommend a solid wood cabinet carcass on any project except for maybe a small furniture type piece. The reason for this is simple, there will be inordinate wood movement in the carcass and the expense of solid wood construction would blow your mind. There are a number of substrate materials that I commonly use to keep construction cost within reason and wood movement to a minimum. First a definition of substrates as used in my construction is in order. A substrate is a material that is structurally stable, has the surface of choice but the core is not actually made of that surface material. That means that walnut plywood is a real walnut veneer with a plywood center. That ply center is commonly made of Douglas fir engineered and glued in thin crossgrain layers that minimizes wood movement. Other substrate materials that I commonly use are melamine board and medium density fiberboard (MDF). The melamine board I use is a fine grain pine particle core substrate with a colored melamine face. This material makes wonderful cabinet interiors and I use it extensively in entertainment center background carcasses, closed case interiors and drawer bottoms. It has superior wear characteristics, is easy to maintain, is scratch resistant, comes in a variety of colors, has good structural characteristics and is reasonably priced. Medium density fiberboard (MDF) is another substrate I use. MDF is a highly refined cousin to the dreaded particle board. The difference is that the material is a fiber instead of a particle and is made of pine instead of whatever happens to be in the dumpster that day. As a result the face of MDF is very smooth and flat which makes it a great substrate for painted pieces. Another great benefit of MDF is that it can be profiled or shaped on its edge much like solid wood. Some of the most expensive lacquered and trick finished pieces I build are made of MDF.

Construction

The difference between quality custom work and average production or industry standard work can be dramatic. Attention to detail is what makes custom work so different from a similar looking production shop or factory project. Every single part of all the projects I build is custom cut from raw stock material. Then each part is hand fit or joined. Since my background is in designing and fabricating handmade furniture, all my work including large scale cabinet type pieces contain what I consider to be proper construction technique and materials. Materials and construction change from project to project but I have found that even my minimum standards far exceed industry standards. The next time you are in an expensive Southern California house, open a cabinet or pull out a drawer if you know what you are looking at you will be surprised at how mediocre they are.

Woodworking joinery is a trade in itself and I won’t spend time describing the hundreds of ways that it could be done and which one is better. The joinery I use can be as sophisticated as hand cut dovetails or as simple as glue and staples. In general I like to use clean and simple joints that give me the strength and longevity I am after. I will tailor the construction to the budget, use and service that each piece is designed and executed for.

Hardware

There are thousands of pieces of hardware available to the woodworking industry. Style and personal preference will determine cosmetic hardware like pulls and handles. Function , service, performance, ease of installation and a host of other criteria determine the type of hardware used for hinges, drawer guides, pocket door slides and other moving hardware. Experience has taught me that you can not save money using inexpensive functional hardware. I use Accuride brand drawer slides and pocket door hardware and Blum European style hinges in almost of all the casework I do. With these hardware systems I can do any style I choose with dependable results. These hardware systems allow for easy adjustment and perfect alignment of all the door and drawer fronts on each piece. For traditional furniture I have suppliers that provide authentic reproduction hardware and high quality solid brass, copper, bronze, and steel appropriate for the style we are executing.

Wood Choices

There are many choices of colors and finishes and ways to execute them. It has been my experience that the best choice for a custom piece is a natural wood with a clear hand rubbed lacquer finish. My first recommendation is always to look for a wood that is readily available in solid and ply form that meets the color criteria for the project. These woods are ( light to dark ) maple, white birch, pine, natural birch, red oak, white oak, cherry, mahogany, and walnut. ( Click here to see wood samples ) My second choice is to pick a good staining wood and stain to the desired color. This is appropriate when we are matching existing work and when natural woods do not appeal to the client. The problem with stain jobs is that with the extra time and money it takes to do the stain you can usually pay for the premium dark woods. Natural wood pieces will always retain their integrity are easy to repair and you can easily match them in the future. This does not mean that you can not use exotic or unusual woods and finishes, just be aware of the extra labor, service and expense that it may require.

Finish

Every wood project will have a look determined by the wood and finish used. There are unlimited cosmetic finish choices from faux stone and marble to simple stains and natural woods with clear coats. Prices and construction will be very different with paint grade as opposed to stain grade. Paint grade work is defined by the finish and is generally work that will have an opaque paint type finish. Stain grade work is when the background wood and the finish used are both visible. The construction of paint grade work is usually less expensive than stain grade because of the less costly materials and joinery used. That savings however can be negated by using an expensive finish such as faux goatskin or any number of labor intensive finishes. Stain grade construction is generally more labor intensive because the more expensive background woods show through the finish.

Finish topcoat materials are determined by the wood , desired cosmetics, serviceability, ease of application and other considerations. I like lacquer for most finishes and use several types. Lacquer brings out the natural beauty of wood with the least amount of energy. When water resistance or hardness is an issue we can use some of the newer formulas of water based polyurethane with good results. Oil finishes are sometimes appropriate but are labor intensive and don’t have the serviceability of lacquer or urethane. Wax finishes can be used for pine pieces to give them a traditional look and feel, this finish is not very serviceable and requires maintenance to look good over time. Faux and trick finishes are available as well. They are labor intensive and therefore more costly, some of that expense can be balanced by the less expensive construction and materials used for these pieces.

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