Stanley Furniture
To The Trade

Materials

Materials

Stanley Furniture is hand-crafted from fine quality woods, and often incorporates other quality construction materials such as aluminum, steel, glass, plastic, leather, and marble. Since wood is the main component, we’ll focus on how it’s used to make fine quality furniture.

Hardwood

Refers to all leaf-bearing trees rather than any degree of hardness. Those most often used in furniture construction include ash, birch, butternut, cherry, gum, mahogany, maple, oak, pecan, rosewood, teak, walnut and yellow poplar.

Woods for Frame Construction

Ash, gum and yellow poplar are often used in frame construction and other interior areas for their strength, stability and shock absorption qualities.

Softwood

Trees with needles or foliage that remains green year round. These include cedar, fir, pine and spruce.

Woods for Exterior Surface

Cabinet woods are those used on exterior surfaces and must be carefully worked, carved, finished and polished. Cabinet woods include birch, cherry, mahogany, maple, oak, pecan and walnut.

Wood Preparation

Wood contains natural moisture that accounts for as much as one-third of the total weight of lumber when it is first received. “Curing” lumber requires tremendous care and expertise.

Our wood is air dried three to six months, depending on its thickness; then placed in a dry kiln for two to eight weeks. Moisture content of six to eight percent assures the stability of finished furniture, in either humid or desert climates.

After the lumber is properly dried, it is planed and cut to various widths and lengths, then matched for color. Even within the same tree, color varies greatly.