About Our Asian Furniture Construction The majority of our furniture is made with mortise and tenon joinery and without the use of nails. Have you ever purchased a piece of furniture that begins to loosen and wobble after a just few years? Take a look and you will most likely find it was fastened with nails. Through use nails begin to pull from boards and quickly become looser and looser, and are difficult to repair. Screws on the other hand, when fastened securely into sturdy wood, will stay in place far longer and can be re tightened if needed. -Mortise and tenon joinery are among the strongest joints in furniture making. There are two basic parts, the mortise, which is a recessed cut, and the tenon, which is basically a solid peg (think Legos). Fit them together and fasten with a screw or an additional peg and you've just made furniture that will last for generations. -English dovetail drawers are not only sturdiest construction technique but allow for more storage than commonly used French dovetail drawers English dovetail drawers are a form of tenon joinery recognizable by interlocking triangle pattern shown to the right. - Drawer bottoms - Our drawer bottoms are reinforced with solid wood center cross pieces. About the Materials All of the wood (mostly Mahogany or rosewood) used to make the products we carry is either re-claimed wood or wood harvested from plantation grown trees. The result is beautiful Asian furniture pieces that don't leave an ugly scar on the earth. -Reclaimed wood comes from sources such as old houses, bridges and railroads that are torn down and sold in scraps. The wood is then treated and re-finished before it is reborn as furniture. Reclaimed wood not only saves trees and utilizes waste but is actually stronger than new wood because aging naturally decreases water content in wood. The result is wood that is far less likely to warp, expand or contract making it a more durable and environmentally friendly choice. -We use Plantation grown Mahogany to make our Mahogany furniture sourced from plantations that are regulated by the Indonesian government vs. harvested from virgin forests. These plantations continually plant new trees and are not permitted to expand. The result is high quality Mahogany without the continued destruction of earths remaining forests. Mahogany is among the most beautiful and durable woods on the planet.
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