Why Most Commercial Furniture is Crap!

Article - September 26, 2011

I realize I am absolutely preaching to the choir here with this one, but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. In preparation for Mini-Spag’s arrival, Nicole and I spent the weekend moving things around. Actually, I did all the moving and she simply told me where to put stuff. One of the big items being moved was an armoire Nicole and I received as a wedding gift about 10 years ago. The goal was to move it out of the bedroom and into what will be the rug rat’s “play room”. Frankly, its “dark mahogany finish” and traditional styling doesn’t really fit with a child’s play room, but it would certainly serve the purpose and hey…..we already own it.

Now here’s where the fun began. I tilted the armoire back onto my hand truck and started moving it out of the bedroom. I could see my tires were low on air but I was pulling slowly and making good progress. I should also note that my air compressor is now at the shop. One of the things I have been struggling with recently is the prospect of owning TWO of just about everything garage-related. I’m no Frugal Yankee but that’s something I have trouble accepting. Consequently, I have to deal with things like flat tires and a limited range of screw drivers.

But I digress. Everything was going peachy until I reached the carpeted play room. At this point, I was pushing the armoire instead of pulling and I began to realize that one tire was significantly lower on air than the other. Consequently, the armoire started to tip to the side. This was one of those times when things seem to go in slow motion. I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it, so I decided to lower the back of the hand truck in an attempt to help it drop gracefully. Mission accomplished! The armoire dropped a total of about 6″ and then rolled on its side. It was quite an amazing thing to see and I was quite proud of myself. I assumed that any damage would be minimal and easily repaired, or so I thought.

I stood the armoire back up and noticed that there was significant damage. Certainly much more than I would expect from the short fall it experienced. As you can see, the unit is primarily comprised of particle board. Now it should come as no surprise to you that particle board isn’t the best choice for building material, but these pictures do a great job of showing you why. When a nail or screw is stressed, it simply pops out a full divot of material. The lack of grain characteristics means that mechanical fasteners have very little true holding strength. And as you can see, the cabinet couldn’t even sustain a small drop and essentially buckled under its own weight.

I’m sure we all have commercial furniture like this in our homes. I don’t know about you but it is a personal goal of mine to make sure I replace every piece of crap furniture we ever purchased with something I made. In fact, folks who saw me make the Chest of Drawers in the Guild were able to see my critique of a dresser that was from the same set of furniture as this armoire. Now all I need to do is figure out a way to break the bed and the nightstand and we’ll be all set!

Discussion

Chris Wong September 26, 2011 7:52 pm

Yup. This reminds me of an old joke:

Mom walks by the newborn baby’s room and notices Dad standing over the crib, staring intently. She pauses at the doorway and observes his fascination, amazement and wonder. “A penny for your thoughts?” she asks. Dad turns around, “I can’t believe they can make this crib for $39.99!”

Congratulations, Marc and Nicole. I wish the three of you all the best.

Chris

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John F September 26, 2011 8:03 pm

Ok, so what’s wrong with being a frugal Yankee? >:(

First off – good to know that the only thing damaged was a particle board armoire. It could have been worse!

I totally agree with your summary of this type of furniture, but I have to be honest – I feel a heck of a lot better knowing that even you have some in your house. At least, that is, until you figure out how to break all of it without being TOO obvious!

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Simon-Pierre September 26, 2011 8:04 pm

Break the bed! Break the bed! :)

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- Dave September 27, 2011 7:41 am
  
  … with the camera rolling this time. :-)
  
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  - Mike October 6, 2011 5:09 am
    
    I can’t believe he went there… lol
    
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Beechwood Chip September 26, 2011 8:20 pm

Can I get an “Amen” from the choir?!?

I find that the cheap commercial furniture can last many years, sometimes decades, but won’t last through a single move. I can’t tell you the number of pieces of furniture that were fine and dandy until I sold them or gave them away, and then – boom! Just disintegrated during the move.

Not only do mechanical fasteners pull out of particle board, but even if you carefully disassemble everything before moving and re-assemble at the new location, unless you carefully fill the screw-holes with some sort of filler, those holes will be worthless for holding screws.

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scott September 26, 2011 8:23 pm

Now that there is no damage in a test drive…..drive the wheels off it and destroy the bed haha! Bed will be shot and you will have to have a matching night stand with the new bed so its a 2 4 1!

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Frank Speyerer September 26, 2011 8:26 pm

My ‘lil rug rat is 26 years old and it is just now that he appreciates his Dad’s “homemade furniture” over Ikea. Thank the Lord he didn’t want to take Dad’s furniture to undergrad school in Dallas, grad school, in Boston and to the first job at Arizona State. I’m building one rocking horse just in case I will one day be a Grand Dad and a second for our local family night shelter.

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Joao September 26, 2011 10:08 pm

On a baby-related note: We bout our baby furniture from a large, corporate baby store and not only was it made mostly made of MDF, but most of the pieces had problems! The first crib arrived scratched and heavily chipped and had to be returned. The tall dresser came with loose drawer slide screws, making it almost impossible to open the drawers before I fixed it, and finally, on of the night stand’s feet had come off. And I’ve been airing out that room and new furniture for about 5 months and it still has a toxic smell. I even have several special plants in their to help.

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- Mattias in Durham, NC September 30, 2011 8:40 pm
  
  I agree with this. Don’t paint the room either, or use 0 VOC paint.
  
  To IKEA’s credit, lots of that furniture is real wood. It’s at Target where they have the true crap.
  
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- Rick October 3, 2011 6:38 am
  
  mywhiteboard.com – after all, it’s a kid’s room!! Get the roll on type white board and COVER THE WALLS!! ;-)
  
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Erik Gilling September 26, 2011 10:23 pm

Remember kids mahogany is a wood species, not a color.

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- Tom Buhl September 27, 2011 7:43 am
  
  amen to that brother Erik
  
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- mathom7 September 30, 2011 8:58 pm
  
  Since you mention kids. Crayola has disagreed with you since 1949.
  
  http://www.crayola.com/colorce.....nology.cfm
  
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VitalBodies September 26, 2011 10:44 pm

In the rain forest the particle board would also be teaming with mold and thus even more fragile. I find the thrift a great place to pick up seconds on tools. I like to have a BASIC set in the house and in the garage.

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mbole September 27, 2011 3:17 am

Hmmmmm…
As I see this, particleboard itself is not the problem.
Problem is bad construction and using cheapest possible material (there is particle board 7 Eur/square meter and particleboard 20 Eur/sqare meter, just as there is a spruce and walnut)
Particleboard has its bad side, of course (like any other material), but…
If you choose cheapest material, than make construction that is also bad for that material… what can you expect?
I had particleboard closet that was made in 1966, moved several times from one apartment to another (as I remember 6 times), and it was perfectly OK. Two years ago we decided to change it. We didn’t change it because it is worn, but just because it didn’t fit rest of the furniture after renovation.
You mention nails. Nails just didn’t go with particleboard. Big no no! Screws for particleboard should be specifically designed for it (just as screws for wood should be designed for wood).
“European” hinge (as you call it in USA) are designed specifically for particleboard, and there is reason why it is designed that way.
Particleboards weakness on the edges where it is easy to split must be concerned during construction. As you must take care of wood movement when you create something from wood, you must consider other things with particleboard.

God musician can make fine music with trash can.
Bad one can’t make it with Stradivarius.

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- DerekL September 27, 2011 9:52 am
  
  I was thinking much the same thing – treated properly, particle board will last a *very* long time. I have particle board shelves that have been moved multiple times and have lasted nearly two decades.
  
  I’m not so sure a real wood armoire would have fared much better. Yes, it would have been more stoutly built, but it would also have been much heavier and thus the stresses much greater. We dropped a grandfather clock that my father-in-law (a woodworker) built about six or eight inches when we last moved… and it suffered severe damage despite being stoutly built. Shock loads can be surprisingly high even for fairly short drops. (F=MA after all…)
  
  Also, no offense Marc, but a portion of the blame here has to go on your shoulders too… You continued the job even when you noticed your tools weren’t in proper shape.
  
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  - thewoodwhisperer September 27, 2011 10:46 am
    
    A portion? I would say the whole thing is my fault. But that doesn’t negate the point I’m trying to make. The furniture is what it is, but it was my moving it improperly that caused it to take the fall. Like several folks have said, if the piece would have been left alone, it would have served us well for years.
    
    But I would have to disagree on the comparison to a properly built piece of furniture (solid wood or otherwise). With proper joinery and better materials, I really do think it would have been in much better shape after the short fall. And any significant damage would have a sporting chance of being repaired.
    
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  - Stu September 27, 2011 6:39 pm
    
    I gotta say, I am a woodworker, and only now currently work in a shop that does primarily PL and flake-based pieces. I ‘ll bet a weeks wages that anything you can build out of solid wood, built the same way out of flakeboard, WILL be lighter. Flake is heavy stuff and would only be lighter than a really dense hardwood like Hickory or Ipe. AND because of the inherent strength of wood, it’s construction designs can be thinnned, rather than being bound to thickness by the 1/4 inch increments only.
    
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    - Christopher P Dyer October 3, 2011 5:10 pm
      
      I also agree with your weight argument. One of our local woodworkers here was building caskets for his church group and started to use particle board instead of solid wood. He was told to change as it almost took six men to carry an EMPTY casket, let alone one with a corpse in it. I have had customers come in with furniture to match who think the original was real wood because it was so heavy. What they have in their hands which is so heavy is GLUE, not wood
- John B October 1, 2011 1:50 pm
  
  There are different qualities of particle boards. Some much better than others.
  
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duckkisser September 27, 2011 5:01 am

marc i say you take a sledge hammer and destroy the cheap furniture now! not later. once you have the kid in the house you wont be able to walk into living room caring a 20 pound hammer and crack. pieces of particle board and bent metal flying through the air. please video this as i love to watch things go boom.

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Tom Iovino September 27, 2011 5:40 am

Thus – when people ask me why I build furniture instead of buying it from Ikea… This is my answer…

Nice life lesson, Marc. Showing again why woodworking is making life safer for rugrats everywhere!

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Claude Stewart September 27, 2011 6:05 am

I just bought a commercial grade bed yesterday. I sure it will be crap but I’m just too busy to make one. Maybe later. This is how it gets’ in your home. It’ll probably be 10 yrs. before I get to making one.

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TimV September 27, 2011 6:17 am

So, how are you going to fix that?

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- thewoodwhisperer September 27, 2011 6:45 am
  
  With a sledge hammer and a circular saw. :)
  
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  - jordan September 30, 2011 2:06 pm
    
    marc thats just a fun way to fix stuff that brakes i do it all the time
    
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Will September 27, 2011 6:22 am

I agree with Beechwood Chip, you simply can’t move the stuff. Breaking it down and then putting it back together does help, but it’s always loose afterwards. MOving it assembled will almost always see major breakage. I wonder if you some of that damage occurred even before the 6″ drop. As for having two sets of tools, I totally understand what you mean. Why not get a cheap bike floor pump and use that to inflate your hand truck tires or other small jobs. When you really need a compressor you can borrow it from the shop. I doubt you’ll want to get two sets of brad nailers etc. for the occasional job at home.

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Dan Fox September 27, 2011 6:23 am

It looks like the Wood Whisperer has a new project – start building!

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Glenn September 27, 2011 6:37 am

What I have found is that a nice bead of glue during the assembly helps immensely. I have a cheapo TV stand with a 32″ HD tube set on it ( 200-ish pounds), and when I built it, I made sure to glue all the seams before I screwed the fasteners together. It didn’t even creak when I stood on it.

Yes it is cheap, but with a little help, it can be much greater than expected.

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Dave Ray September 27, 2011 7:46 am

Mark, take some comfort in the fact that you and the people on this site can build good solid furniture, think about the poor guy who just keeps paying good money to replace junk with junk. Your site and others like it help to educate the public.

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Tom Buhl September 27, 2011 8:05 am

Dropped a small hunk of bubinga on the cement garage floor yesterday from waist height. Worried I might have cracked the garage floor, but it was ok. Whew!

There is a place for particle board and such, but maybe not around a klutz like myself.

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BigguyZ September 27, 2011 8:30 am

Breaking the bed should be fun if you do it right. ;)

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Parker B September 27, 2011 8:33 am

Where would you like me to send the sledge hammer?

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Charlton September 27, 2011 8:36 am

Images of your table saw tipping over flashed in my head when I read your text here. I’m surprised that anyone would buy furniture for a guy making a living off of woodworking—though maybe this wasn’t the case 10 years ago.

Can’t wait for you to get to your armoire project…and your bed project….and your nightstand project. :)

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Jerry September 27, 2011 8:45 am

Having grown up with father and now brother in the retail furniture business, I’m seen a lot of commercial furniture. You can buy good commercial furniture but you will pay the price. A good armoire may run you $2-3K in a high mid range line. That will be wood / furniture grade ply. On the other hand, you can go low end and pay $699 for the same thing. Junk.

After selling first, Ethan Allen line many years ago, then Drexel Heritage, Pennsylvania House and other high-mid brands, my brother started to make plans to open an Ashley store in a neighboring town. Stuff is junk but it is what sells. My wife and I visited one — i was amazed. The show room pieces showed wear just from customers casual contact. Most of the show faces are particle board covered with paper veneer with imprinted wood grain and a coat of lacquer. BTW, my brother said that Ashley buys both China and domestic made furniture. Believe it or not but the better grade stuff comes from China.

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Joegrafics September 27, 2011 9:06 am

The title of the article should be “Why Cheep Comercial Furniture Is Crap”. You get what you pay for!

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- thewoodwhisperer September 27, 2011 9:22 am
  
  That’s not necessarily true. I can show you many examples of expensive furniture that is basically crap. Unfortunately, price isn’t really a good measure of quality anymore.
  
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Rob Cottle September 27, 2011 9:14 am

I agree 100% Do not like store bought items – My goal will be that one day all my household items are built by my hands or my Fathers Hands.

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Jay Bear September 27, 2011 9:21 am

When we moved into our house about five years ago my wife and I purchased what we though was an nice bedroom furniture set. This was before my serious entry into the wood working world. Since then I have noticed that this furniture is of seriously less quality that original perceived. Finished, joinery and materials are all lacking. Just dusting it during cleaning time and all this becomes very apparent. With the birth of our first child I was determine to find quality furniture and found it in a maple set that was built to my expectations. Unfortunately the lone that I?m still paying for on it reminds me of the quality every day.

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Scottish Iain September 27, 2011 9:50 am

See what happened the last time you tried to break a bed!

As for crap furniture. I blame the Swedish :-)
Oh, and us for buying it.
Guilty as charged!

On a serious note, I find you do tend to get what you pay for on the high street whether it’s a screw driver or a piece of furniture. We seem to live in a cheap throw away world these days.

It’s the main reason I had to stop being a commercial (small time one man workshop) woodworker and re-join the “real wold”. Sadly

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SlingBlade September 27, 2011 10:31 am

Whew!

I’m just relieved to see that someone else has as much dust on top of their cheap armoire as my wife and I do! :)

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Rick September 27, 2011 1:40 pm

Look on the bright side. Break it down further and you’ll have some very nice templates for that new armoire!

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Ken September 27, 2011 2:45 pm

My dad made a crib that was used by my two brothers and I . Each time he took it apart and stored it until the next kid came along. I inherited it and all three of my children used it. Again it was broke down and stored between kids. Now my grandson is using it and when I set it up for my Daughter in Law she thanked me for the new crib. I didn’t want to tell her it was sixty years old LOL. Of course my son recognized it. That is the difference between well crafted handmade furniture and what you buy today.

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- Chris October 1, 2011 1:09 pm
  
  that is awesome. i would love for my son to give his kids furniture i made.
  
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Jack September 27, 2011 3:22 pm

Yep, if you know you are purchasing non-wood furniture, it happens.

We did purchase some manufactured amior’s some time ago, at a ‘antique store’. They were 10+ years old but shipped in a container from Europe where they were about to be scrapped, and sold here a ‘antique’. They have been solid wood with panels of plywood. Reasonable finish, OK style, but hey, otherwise I would have purchased press-board (in whatever for it is .. MDF, press-board, chipboard, etc). They have held up well to being moved (both around the house, and cross country since we have had them). So not all ‘manufactured furniture’ is crap. But all the cheap and some of the more expensive is.

We use one in our bedroom now (old house, VERY small closets) and another as computer equipment storage.

I wish we could all afford to make or commission our own good furniture, but life, economics, and timing normally keeps us from it.

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servant74 September 27, 2011 3:29 pm

Ken,

That’s great. Just keep it in the family and make any ‘safety upgrades’ needed. We hear about all the recalls and it is now ‘illegal’ to sell many kinds of kids furniture (anything from finish to architectural / engineering issues). Even though we all love the older furniture, to keep using it and for future generations, we need to keep the kids safety in mind.

I don’t want to rain on anyones parade, but re-checking current safety regulations and doing what makes good sense for safety, I think we can all support.

… I know we used stuff that would be outlawed now. Hey, I still remember standing up on the front bench seat in the 1948 Plymouth as a little kid. No safety belt let alone safety seat in the state at that time. Some of those things, as much as I hate being told what to do, have made sense and saved lives.

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- johnny September 30, 2011 7:50 pm
  
  cheap ikea &*%^, mass produced particle board furniture is neither great nor functional. it is crap, pure and simple. we’ve all been fed this consumerism to a point where even so called “woodworkers” are buying this disposable crap. i’ll say it again… crap. the funny thing is… even for those who can’t turn a screwdriver, and are on a tight budget, your options for that bed or bookshelf are not ikea – end all be all. i guarantee there is someone handy in your hood that can match the price and hand make something 100X as nice as some store bought crap. money is not what people are lacking these days, it’s integrity, ingenuity, and a sense of value in the understated and undervalued talent in PEOPLE…your neighbors, you and I! F___ corporate furniture and keep it local. get real people. keep up the awesome work marc!
  
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jHop September 27, 2011 3:40 pm

If you are looking for “excuses” to do new bedroom furniture…. Just state that the bed and nightstand no longer go with anything, and rather than try to match the paper veneer, you’re just going to build a whole set.

As for trying to make reasons to do new bedroom furniture, you can take apart the nightstand (preferably only slightly violently) and claim the damage as part of the inherent flaws of the material, so justifiably you can make new furniture that fits an appropriate nature of the new bedroom. and since you are redoing the style slash theme of the new bedroom, you can just replace the bed with a new one, and sell the old one to pay for a small air compressor.

(And since Nicole does read this, i didn’t suggest any of this.)

As an aside, though, I’d think that you’re going to need to get a “hobby” set of tools, primarily smaller ones for around the house usage. I’d think mostly cordless should do it. For air inflation, go with the bike pumps. It’s eco friendly (no power used other than human), and planning ahead for family bike rides.

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- thewoodwhisperer September 27, 2011 7:28 pm
  
  Good tips man. I do need a bike pump. I’m looking at four flat tires in the garage, lol.
  
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  - Tom Buhl September 27, 2011 8:02 pm
    
    Just keep in mind that all store bought bike pumps are crap. You can make your own and it will last for generations.
    Or, borrow a neighbors until it breaks.
    
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    - Will September 28, 2011 12:34 pm
      
      I disagree. I’m an avid biker and need to keep my tires at 110 PSI. I have a relatively inexpensive floor bike pump I bought from Nashbar that has lasted just fine. I think it was only $25 or something. Of course using it to inflate my car’s tires is a royal PITA. :-)
    - Tom Buhl September 28, 2011 3:42 pm
      
      Will, my wife is also a biker and has Nashbar on speed dial. Was just kidding on the commercial pumps. I’ve had (have) good and a few not so swell over the years. Ride on.
  - Chris October 1, 2011 1:11 pm
    
    garage sale pancake compressor.
    
    or get a bigger one for the shop and bring that one home.
    
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- NicoleSpag September 30, 2011 1:48 pm
  
  Oh I read more than people realize :)
  
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Ken September 27, 2011 4:04 pm

Servant 74,
I agree with you 100%. I did exactly what you suggest before I put my first child in the crib and again before my grandson. I think most of the safety regulations were developed because of shoddy workmanship and engineering that used inferior products. You should see some of the cheap lift mechanisms used today. Same thing with the space between spindles. Many of today’s products barely pass saftey regs, rather than set the standard.

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Ken September 27, 2011 4:44 pm

Just a note to you Mark. You can no longer have cribs with sides that move up or down. They have to be fixed. That is the way all cribs were 40 years ago. The lift sides is a relatively new thing. Another thing is that for more than 30 years there were no new standards. It wasn’t until the cheap hardware cause untold suffering that they changed the standard to outlaw slides that slid down. So when you make your crib:-) make it solid.

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John September 27, 2011 6:11 pm

At least you didn’t buy it in the first place ;) Can’t wait for your video where you build a new one!

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Brian September 27, 2011 6:36 pm

Particle man, particle man
Doing the things a particle can
What’s he like? It’s not important
Particle man

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- jHop September 28, 2011 9:19 am
  
  Right up there with Istanbul, not Constantinople!!!!!
  
  And so very appropriate!
  
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Wood Screamer September 28, 2011 3:21 am

Congrats Marc! I hope your kid takes up woodworking if not I’m up for adoption :)

Few years back my brother bought a bedroom’s worth of furniture from ikea. All the furniture fell apart except for trash can which was made from plastic. Moral of the story never buy junk from ikea. I do like their designs but never their quality.

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Ben Johnson September 28, 2011 6:45 am

This may have already been said but I’m sorry…. As a guy, you should be able to figure out a way certain “rocking” could be initiated to break the bed…

….again sorry to Nicole. I just had to say it.

…so are the “Junior Whisperer” onesies coming out soon? I got one from a different site for my daughter and it’s REALLY cute. Congrats again. You’ll love the little guy being around.

Ben

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- thewoodwhisperer September 28, 2011 7:03 am
  
  LOL TWW onesies sound hilarious….. I’ll talk to the “product committee”. :)
  
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Texfire September 28, 2011 10:05 am

I have a dream that eventually most of my furniture will be handmade, with nary a speck of particle board to be found. But I’m looking to replace my college era shelves first, they break every time I look at time wrong.

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Dean September 28, 2011 10:27 am

Why wait for the bed and nightstand to break? Build their replacement now and donate the old bed and nightstand to someone who needs them. Of course there is the issue of transportation to the new owners. Hmmm….

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Dave Sperry September 28, 2011 6:03 pm

We refer to the particle board stuff as “curb furniture.” You use it a couple years and then take it out to the curb for garbage pickup.

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desi September 29, 2011 11:23 am

Good story! I got into wood working because I’d see a piece of furniture I liked, but upon close inspection it was mostly particle board with a picture of wood grain. I’m sure the hardware cost more than the “wood”. So instead of buying that junk I spent the money on tools and materials. Now, about 12 yrs later I’ve made the majority of the furniture in my home. A few more pieces to go.

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Jason September 29, 2011 4:54 pm

2 words, Beaver Puke.

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marc September 29, 2011 5:58 pm

it reminds me of a quote i read recently “that i hope to one day have every piece of furniture in my house be custom made”

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Ross September 30, 2011 6:44 am

Moving cheap furniture sucks. Some of the comments above hit the nail right on the head; cheap furniture is great and very functional, until you have to move it. I recently completed a move and no less than five furniture items were damaged or ruined. Looking around the house, the only things that didn’t get damaged or destroyed were the items that were solid wood. Anything consisting of particle board got messed up somehow.

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bigfish October 1, 2011 7:09 pm

As for breaking the bed – I can think of one activity if done with enough vigor may work for you……It may have to wait awhile though…..

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Kevin October 2, 2011 6:21 am

I love the room-store add right below the article.LOL

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Mike G October 2, 2011 9:54 pm

Marc, that is why you are the Wood Whisperer, and not the Particle Board Whisperer!

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Rick October 3, 2011 6:43 am

Marc, I am now spread between Tulsa and Houston. My daughter is finishing her senior year, and I couldn’t see moving her. So she and my daughter are in Tulsa, I work in Houston and get home on weekends.

I was going to try to set up a “mini-shop” in an apt in Houston, but found the same thing – I was going to need 2 of a lot of things.

Started by trying to take a minimal set that I could do some “hand-work” but still found the need for my chisels, etc., at my shop in Tulsa.

No go. Took stuff back home, will settle for tool-withdrawal on weeknights, work when I can on the weekends!

OH WELL!!

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Drew October 3, 2011 7:28 am

If you’re planning on building anything you better get it done now before the baby comes. Between my job, working on our 1889 Victorian, and the kid, I have almost 0 shop time, and still haven’t finished the crib/bed set I started building before he was born, and he’s almost 2 now. (Although in my defense, I actually finished the construction, but then completely f’ed up one of the pieces finishing it, and got so bummed out I haven’t touched the project in a couple months.)

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Rajesh Patel October 3, 2011 7:44 am

Being ex-military we learned that particle board furniture was only good to 1-2 set-ups and 1 move it definately won’t have a life expectancy that is longer….if you can afford it and have the equipment and desire make your own. It is a better and prideful endeavor…Thanks Rajesh

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Dan Pleska October 3, 2011 10:13 am

Yes Marc. Been there, done that, might even have a t-shirt ;). I too am trying to replace all the crap furniture. The best to you and Nicole.

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Scott October 3, 2011 11:22 am

Buying the cheap, mass-produced furniture is all well and good – as long as the consumer knows what they are getting beforehand. Particle board stuff does serve a purpose, most newlyweds would be living with milk crates were it not for this kind of stuff. We all have to start somewhere. Having said that, I work at a store that sells furniture for all of the major manufacturers as well as the smaller custom-build, or boutique shops. Ashley, Lazy Boy, Coaster on the cheap end; Stanely, Bogdon & Gross, Art Bathe on the other end.

Where I am most disgusted is in the consumer being sold a bill of goods from companies like Ashley, who claim they make “fine furniture” I’ve seen everything in their line (all three levels) and it is down right scary! All of their stuff comes either from Malaysia, China or Viet Nam. 90% of it is pressed paper with a photofinish (wood grain appearing decals) instead of veneer. when the customers come to pick up their purchases, they are always – to a man – shocked at the lack of quality in what they have purchased. The vast majority of our complaints comes from the people who have bought this stuff. And the mark-up on this crap is insane. An Ashley rep once told me that the prices are set so extremely high so the customer thinks they are buying the good stuff partially because of the price. You know, the more you pay, the better it is? To call this stuff fine furniture ought to be worth some jail time.

Just saying…

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Wayne October 3, 2011 11:41 am

A work colleague of mine managed to get a really good deal from a UK furniture store delivery driver over here (ok – Harveys ;-)) He had turned up at a neighbours to deliver a dining room table and found there was a slight ‘ding’ on the table. They then refused delivery. Instead of taking this back to the warehouse he offered it to my colleague at a really heavily discounted price – to which he snapped it up!
The interesting thing came out from this driver was that anything that gets refused for what ever reason actually goes through a shredder! Apparently this was a regular ‘returns policy’
That certainly says a lot for the quality of this stuff and care and attention that goes into construction.

One thing to watch out for is that Price certainly doesn’t reflect build quality these days (did it ever?)

Me – I steer clear of them now.

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Christopher P Dyer October 3, 2011 4:55 pm

Particle Board….sigh; The Mennonite term for it here in Ontario is “hingle misht” which translates into chicken manure! It apply describes both its appearance and its usefulness. And don’t mention water! A wet diaper quickly stashed in your wardrobe (as surprise company arrives!) destroys any and all exposed surfaces. Why would they ever use it for counter tops in kitchens and bathrooms!!! Rant, rant, rant…Sorry guys

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Hank Jones October 4, 2011 11:20 am

Particle board is an offense to any self-respecting builder. Any woodworking plans that call for it should be summarily burned in the town square!

Congrats on the wee one!

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- Christopher P Dyer October 4, 2011 11:27 am
  
  The Salem particle board hunts?!?!?!?!
  
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jHop October 4, 2011 7:33 pm

Now, I cannot condemn particle board. My father made a set of shelves designed to be knocked down for moving out of particle board. Perhaps 18 inch square openings, egg crate style construction (or maybe a better description is torsion box half laps without the skins), and it’s still around.

the basic design is a cutout half the length of the board, and slightly wider than the width, with a matching cutout on the crossing board on the opposite side. This shelf has supported double stacked hardwood books, been sitting in water from a leaky basement, and survived a wandering rabbit. (former pet, not style of construction) And is now over 30 years old.

So don’t tell me all particle board is garbage. Just be careful you know what you are doing with it. Supported correctly (as in, shorter lengths), particle board will not show how much it sags.

But mass produced products made from particle board, yes, I agree, are almost always destined to start your bonfires.

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Mo Theron October 4, 2011 9:16 pm

Marc, my woodworking skills is nothing to be admired so I’m sometimes forced into buying furniture. We have a oak store in town” imported from china” that at least have some solid furniture that mostly solid part an very litle veneer. We have not purchased a lot of furniture but I try to make sure it does not contain any chipboard. Hopfully with you help and guidance I will be able to build some Home made furniture . Have fun moving stuff, you might be moving it a couple time before mini Marc arrives.

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John October 6, 2011 5:57 pm

Marc, what does your shipping department think about the mini-Spag on the way? You can get rid of “pre-loved’ diapers by using them as shipping filler.

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- thewoodwhisperer October 6, 2011 7:04 pm
  
  they are pretty excited as you can imagine. :) And I like the diaper idea. Waste not want not. :)
  
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Steven Reckner October 7, 2011 5:41 am

What I find even more worse is when you pay a ton of money for kitchen cabinets. My mom bought a some very expensive cabinets for their new house back in 1995, all these years later after i found my passion for woodworking i went back and looked closely at her cabinets which now are falling apart. They are mostly made of particle board! and veneer and glue and fake crap that can never hold up. The people who made and sold these cabinets were printing money and are long gone. It is not hard to learn the basics of woodworking and building your own cabinets do it with real wood you will never regret it!

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- Charlton October 7, 2011 8:27 am
  
  I’m, by no means, a fan of particleboard-based furniture nor am I a cabinet maker but based on my visits to Wood Web, particleboard actually seems perfectly acceptable for the carcasses in kitchen cabinets—high end or otherwise. Having things fall apart could be more an indicator of construction rather than the actual raw materials used.
  
  I think we should be careful about making blanket statements and slamming things like particleboard outright. Like all things, there are places where it will excel and places where it will fail. I personally wouldn’t build my cabinet carcasses using solid wood based on my reading but, again, I’m not a cabinet maker.
  
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Pat October 8, 2011 1:40 am

Something about particle board in furniture that just isn’t right. It’s partially why I started woodworking. Atleast it gave you a idea for a new project!!!

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Chet October 10, 2011 8:59 am

Marc,

Glad to hear you didn’t crush a toe or something. I have two compressors. The one in my shop and a small “Husky” one I bought on sale from Home Depot for 89 bucks. The little on comes in handy all the time. I keep it in the garage and it can be used to run the finish nailer, inflate everything from tires to basketballs, its handly.

My wife and I found a baby bedroom set made from actual maple. It has dovetailed drawes and everything. Is it as nice as I would make… No, but it was on time for the baby and of high quality. So, you can find stuff out there, but it ain’t cheap.

To me it seems like all commercial furnature is either total crap or really really expensive. There isn’t any middle anymore.

Good luck with the wee little one.

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Frank October 10, 2011 9:02 am

I have been saying for a long time that the only thing the mass produced commercial furniture makers are good at is finishing. They are good at making things look nice, in a picture or the store displays, but once you start dissecting them or even just looking closely, operating the equipment, anybody with a discerning mind can tell the poor quality of this stuff. But, you get what you pay for. While it is possible to make supremely high quality furniture yourself for cheap, I would argue that even the expert woodworker, when making “fine” furniture, will pay top dollar sometimes, mainly for materials. I would say this is worth it, however. You can definitely spend WAY too much money on crap if you’re aren’t careful. Even before I got into this woodworking stuff, upon moving to where I currently live, I took a serious shopping trip through all the “nice, name brand stores” with intent to buy, but after seeing the prices and realizing even then that the stuff just wasn’t that great, I got very disillusioned with anything mass produced. Then I discovered woodworking and the wood whisperer and I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT! AMEN! :)

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Peter Bernhardt October 22, 2011 9:03 am

As I write this on my particle board desk, I am of the same goal – to replace all of this junk furniture with things I make.

One thing I get a perverse joy seeing is furniture of this type left on the street with a “free” sign on it. No one wants it, and it doesn’t take more than a few days, or a good rain, for it to come apart.

Twenty-five years ago I built my daughter’s first bed and a toy chest out of clear pine, It has survived several moves – including a x-country move. The pieces have a few dents and scratches that give them character, but they’re as sturdy as the day they were finished.

Cheers. Wishing you and Nicole all the best with the new baby.

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JohnT October 22, 2011 8:16 pm

You know, normally I agree that cheap furniture is crap, however I was super excited today. I found somebody had tossed out a corner cabinet thing (not really sure what it was) and some 1/2 inch ply. I grabbed the wood and took it home because I wanted to made a “free” base for the router table top I am making. I took everything apart, removed all the screws and cam bolts. Then I cut dadoes into the sides, cut the door into shelves, and glued glued and screwed it all together. Then I used the 1/2 ply and screwed it to the back, and wound up with a solid piece to mount my top to. Not exactly heirloom quality, but it looks decent and again cost me nothing except the five minutes to grab it from the curb and run it home. The best part? No sanding since it is laminated. ; ) Now to just find another white laminated piece so I can add doors.

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mark Myers November 8, 2011 3:29 pm

for all the bad said about MDF… and certainly true… you made your torsion box work table out of it. If you droppe your torsion box, it would probably hold together. lol

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- thewoodwhisperer November 8, 2011 4:48 pm
  
  I wouldn’t take that bet. Given the weight of the unit, a 3 foot fall would probably be pretty damaging.
  
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Dean November 9, 2011 2:16 pm

I?ve copied and pasted below what I found under George Walker?s website ?Design Matter? under a tab labeled ?Warning?.

?Warning

Reading this blog and my column ?Design Matters? may pose some health risks. Continued exposure to the content in this blog may result in serious side effects should you venture into a ?Big Box? furniture store. Side effects may vary but may include: nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, and in severe cases convulsions. Even in cases of mild reactions it is known to cause embarrassing and uncontrolled verbal outbursts which may cause you to be escorted from the premises. Side effects are temporary and usually disappear shortly after leaving the store. Prolonged exposure to mass-produced ugly furniture may even result in death, though ongoing studies are still not conclusive.?

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Graham January 11, 2012 11:48 am

I agree. Commercial furniture is fine UNTIL you move it. One little slip and the thin veneer of cheapness shines through as what happened here. I too am trying to replace it all with my own hand made furniture.

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Dale January 13, 2012 3:26 pm

I went out to buy top of the line dining room suite, told the salesman I did not want to buy anything with particle board in it, solid wood only. He took me to the top floor where all the (high end) furniture was. I went under the table took out my pocket knife ( like any good wood man would) and notched the underside to reveal, yup you guessed it particle board. He informed me much to my surprise that if the item was more than 70 or 80% real wood then it could be called “All wood construction”. Needless to say I had my dining room suite made by a craftsman.

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StanleyBD January 20, 2012 9:10 am

Mark, I am amased and disapointed with you. I wonder how your wife puts up with your blaitnent procrastination. All your “Crap” shuld be replaced by now. Hee hee. ;~)

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Beth Perry March 6, 2012 10:02 pm

My son showed up the other day with a garage sale find that his girlfriend purchased for $15, a pair of nightstands in all their particle board veneered glory. One of the drawers was broken and he asked me if I could fix it. I said yes and proceeded to throw both nightstands in the trash. Needless to say, the new pair is being constructed as we speak. Cabinet grade ply for the carcass, walnut face frames, ambrosia maple drawer fronts plus ambrosia maple live edge tops. Slight upgrade? You bet. Likely to end up as a $15 garage sale find? I hope not.

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Bob March 27, 2012 8:41 am

As I read this story I found myself hoping that whoever gave you the armorie 10 years ago didn’t read this story and see you calling their gift a “piece of crap”. I do agree with your assesment of commercial furnature but someone might be sensitive to your description of their gift. LOL

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- thewoodwhisperer March 27, 2012 9:09 am
  
  Don’t worry. My Mom knows it is crap. She hates buying commercial furniture now. :)
  
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Bob March 27, 2012 9:13 am

On another note, that is some major damage for a 6″ drop. I dropped a table top from 7′ once (on to concrete no less) and didn’t do that much damage.

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Kevin April 10, 2012 9:46 pm

I too am not a fan of particle board and would love to make all the furniture in my home from solid wood, however… I don’t have that kind of time or skill. What I can do is find old solid wood pieces and refinish them! I have a nice collection of pieces that all tell an individual story. People tell me that I’m being “green”… I see it as getting good quality on the cheap.

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Shaun May 28, 2012 10:30 pm

I am just beginning the epic adventure that is woodworking. I have done exactly 2 projects a shoe dresser and a cutting board made from you video. Just from those 2 project my wife says it has taken the joy out of her reading the Ikea catalog. Looks like I am going to have a lot of projects.

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Dennis July 13, 2012 11:00 am

That kind of junk make it hard for people to realize the cost of quility furniture.

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Kevin J September 5, 2014 12:19 pm

My family has stayed at Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury, IN. ALL of the furniture in the whole building was SOLID oak, built to last. It was wonderful. I’m not saying that particle board gives off bad vibes; But I certainly felt de-stressed. Every piece was genuine, trust-worthy, and what it claimed to be. To me, particle board, especially when covered with wood-grain-like-paper, is something that is masquerading as wood and will eventually disappoint.

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frank January 24, 2016 4:22 pm

Yes, it’s junk. It also costs an arm and a leg!!!

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Why Most Commercial Furniture is Crap!

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