Something that should give us all pause is the ongoing flight of skilled manufacturing jobs from America. It’s been happening for decades now, but the pace has accelerated dramatically during the past few years. It isn’t just the auto manufacturers who are closing plants either. If you check the labels, everything from the toys your children play with to the sink in your kitchen, Armoires in your bedrooms and the shoes on your feet are likely made in China. There’s reason to think about this situation, not just because of the jobs that are at stake or the skills that are disappearing offshore, but also because of the increasing rarity of high quality, heirloom grade products. Consider a company like Furniture Traditions. An American manufacturer of home furnishings, this firm’s artisans use traditional techniques that used to be commonplace but are becoming rare as furniture manufacturers continually move toward higher volume production and cheaper products. Whether it’s a spindle bed, nightstand or Wall beds, heirloom quality furniture is built to be a functional showpiece that lasts; it’s an investment. Firms in this class produce bench made furniture, meaning that a highly skilled craftsman individually works on each piece -you can actually determine exactly who built the furniture by locating their signature! Construction features the strength of 3/4 inch plywood backs, countersunk screws and Northern Red Oak. With this â€no-flex†construction and bench made attention to detail, you can remove the drawers from a dresser, put them on their side and stand on them without doing any damage. It’s not just the strength of construction that makes American-built heirloom quality furniture stand out from the mass produced offerings from overseas. Take Armoires from Furniture Traditions and a discount furniture retailer and put them side by side. You’ll immediately notice the difference. Doors open and shut more smoothly and with less gaps, there’s no paper, plastic or fake veneer on the heirloom piece and while you can likely lift the discount version yourself (thanks to pressboard backing and use of pine), there’s no way that Oak Armoire’s moving without help. You could do the same thing with Wall beds, except it’s difficult to even find a product like this from the lower end and self-assembly companies. Wall beds are complicated and with their structural requirements, would be difficult to manufacture and ship cheaply. You can certainly find some nice examples made in America from Red Oak, though.
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