What are Your TV Beds Made Out Of?

Introduction to our lumber

In a world of melamine and particle board furniture, it is near impossible to find a company that does things the old fashioned way by using real wood. All wood used in our TV Lift Footboards and nightstands are made out of real, sustainably sourced, American grown wood. Real wood offers a quality and warmth that simply cannot be matched with melamine or any other faux-wood material. We understand that our TV Lift Footboards aren’t a small purchase, so we go the extra mile to ensure that it is the highest quality from the mechanisms we use to the boards that we work with.

All of the trim that we use is simply solid wood cut from a tree, all of the panels are custom designed furniture grade plywood. Furniture grade plywood is where tradition meets technology. It is a 7-band-ply structure that has a 3 band core of solid northwestern white woods, with crisscross grains to ensure stability and to keep the large panels from warping. The next layer on either side of the core is a thin layer of high quality medium density fiber. This creates a smooth surface without air pockets to give the top layers of hardwood a perfect surface to adhere to. We initially looked into replacing the MDF layers with more hardwood (as is common in Chinese made furniture) and found that the air pockets in the wood make the board easy to damage and seriously diminish the quality, so we chose to do it the right way and stick with the furniture grade plywood. These two all-wood products work together to ensure that you have the highest quality piece of furniture out there.

Which species of wood are used?

For most of our customers, we use alder wood to build our TV Lift Footboards. Alder wood is commonly used in hardwood furniture as well as electric guitars, most notably those manufactured by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, who have been building the bodies of their electric guitars with Alder wood since the 50’s. Alder wood is a hard wood, less dense than oak or maple which makes it light and workable while still being extremely durable. If you aren’t familiar with alder, then you may be familiar with birch wood, these woods are very similar and are actually commonly used together in cabinetry.

Right now alder is so popular because it offers consistent tone, with a smooth, less prominent, closed grain; which is desired in furniture these days. Alder can be found with many knots and cracks or clear of imperfections. We use clear alder but do have access to knotty alder if desired. Another huge benefit to Alder is its stainability. It accepts stain so well that it can look like a number of different woods that tend to be more expensive like cherry or walnut.

For some of our more modern designs, we use African Mahogany. Mahogany has a more linear and exotic grain pattern that complements a simple, contemporary grain. It’s important to note that the plywood we use on our Mahogany beds follows the exact same pattern as all of our ply; it has seven layers of wood that has been carefully layered with Mahogany being the bookends. This way, you get the durability and stability of our real wood plywood with the look and depth of real Mahogany.

Finally, we have recently introduced a whitewash on Red Oak. This Oak is very durable and dense, and it is grown here in the USA. Once again, it is all real wood, with a combination of solid wood trim and a furniture grade plywood body.

We have access to other wood species that are not listed here, so if you are interested in another type of wood, give us a call at 801-901-8249 and we’re more-than happy to look into different options for you.

 

The benefits of real wood furniture-grade plywood

Occasionally, we speak with a customer who has heard that plywood is an inferior construction material. Typically, they inform us that we are cutting corners to reduce costs by building our beds from plywood rather than building from pure solid wood. This is completely untrue. In fact, as lumber mills grade the logs they are processing, they reserve the very best logs to be used to make plywood.

Plywood has been used for hundreds of years. It was first developed as a way to overcome some of the natural weaknesses and shortcomings in solid wood. It is stronger, sturdier, and more stable than solid wood; without sacrificing the beauty of real wood. We manufacture everything in Utah, which has very low humidity. If we ship a piece of furniture to Florida, California, or any other location with high humidity, it becomes susceptible to warping, splitting, cupping, and twisting. This is why we use our specially designed furniture grade plywood: it is dependable, strong, and will not bend or bow over time.

Natural tendencies of solid wood

Are we killing the forest?

 

We at Wildwood TV Lift Furniture understand that the quite literally depend on the forest to make a living. That being said, we have no interest in working with wood suppliers that aren’t socially responsible, that is why we work with Intermountain Lumber, and Sierra Forest Products who use sustainable techniques to ensure that our forests outlive us. Instead of pulling lumber from natural forests these companies get their wood from groves that have specifically been planted for harvest. Every tree that is cut down is then replaced with a new tree that will grow to maturity before being harvested. All of the wood used in our products are grown, harvested and treated right here in the USA. For more information about this sustainable source for wood you can look into the Hardwood Forestry Fund, “Through tree planting and implementation of forest management techniques on public land, the Hardwood Forestry Fund promotes hardwood timber growth, management, environmental education, and wise use of our nation’s renewable forest resources”

 

So what is the take away?

We at Wildwood TV Lift Furniture use only the highest quality of hardwoods and furniture grade ply woods to ensure that you are absolutely thrilled with your TV Lift Footboard. We have no interest in doing things the quick-easy-cheap way, we want you to have a product that lasts as long as you do. We use the wood we use because of its workability, adaptability, durability and style. We work with our lumber suppliers to ensure that all of the wood used in our furniture is sustainably sourced and has no negative impacts on the world around us. We know that if go the extra mile in sourcing the best wood available, you will love the product and be able to use it for years and years.

 

 

Sources

Fender. (2018). What are the tonal differences on solid body guitars, between Alder, Ash, Poplar, Basswood, Mahogany and Maple?. [online] Available at: https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/articles/212775146-What-are-the-tonal-differences-on-solid-body-guitars-between-Alder-Ash-Poplar-Basswood-Mahogany-and-Maple- [Accessed 15 Jun. 2018].

Hardwoodforestryfund.org. (2018). Hardwood Forestry Fund – Forest Management Since 1990. [online] Available at: http://www.hardwoodforestryfund.org/ [Accessed 15 Jun. 2018].

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