Expected during the winter period is a range of Venetian Mirrors and bevelled ornate mirrors from the small Occasional to complete floor to ceiling wall filling grandiose range toppers.

Other timbers you may find in the manufacture of sleigh beds and four posters on the high street.

Hevea – Grown in plantations in Hawaii the predominant tree used for natural rubber harvests for the worlds supply Hevea trees generally stop producing latex after 20-25 years they are then felled and re-planted due to the long term suppressed prices for rubber supply has increased and further uses for it found with its lower market price. Appearance similar to Oak and Teak. Pale cream to a yellowish brown mostly a straight uniform grain.

Alder - The third most important timber exported from America and Canada similar in value to Douglas Fir. Reddish in appearance

The Heirloom Beds finish is a NC lacquer based finish used for decades for its protective qualities and ability to showcase the grain and character of the timber it is used on but there is no such thing as a plain old NC lacquer. Think of a Steinway piano finish and you’re on the right track

In fact, the formulations of NC lacquer vary more widely than do pre-cat formulations. The co-resins employed in NC can be maleic, acrylic, urethane, phenolic, natural resins, alkyds, and so on. Each of the resins used to formulate a lacquer has its strengths and weaknesses. So great care is taken when choosing the lacquer its composition but equal care is taken over the thinners used, they too can vary in quality. A great deal has been invested in the equipment and training to reach the finish we achieve on our sleigh beds and four poster beds as well as our other bedroom furniture. Applying our finish is actually a 14 step process taking a week to complete though we have explained the 8 fundamental steps. To help put the skill required to finish our sleigh bedsteads and wooden four posters into perspective consider the following –

If you took your pride and joy car to be sprayed your likely to ask around for referrals and recommendations as it’s more widely understood that this is a time served apprentice acquired skill taking approximately two years. This how ever is spraying non porous surfaces that enable even dry rates a standard base colour as well as generally flat and gently curving shapes. Take for example the detailed carving on our Queen Anne Four Poster canopy bed quite the opposite and finishing in corners of the sleigh beds or any corner is more difficult. Also bear in mind that natural solid timber in our beds will not have an even colour but varied, evening out these differences (but not completely!) mixing stains with the finish over that directly applied to the timber this is a fine art in its self.

Have you ever seen these descriptions in brochures catalogues and websites –?

‘Solid timber’ - As long as there is some solid timber it’s a true statement but it does not exclude the use of man made materials.

‘Solid Oak and real Oak Veneers’ - If its solid oak why would you have Oak veneers?? What type of Oak in there sleigh beds and four poster beds is it French, Chinese, American, Polish, English

Real wood veneers – As though this is a treat! Because it’s usually plastic engineered veneers which are very convincing. You can find sleigh beds with plastic veneers that will fool most applying real timber veneers on a mass production basis is fraught with many difficulties as it is a skilled process. To duplicate it through plant and equipment is too difficult when dealing with anything other than small flat surfaces which is why the plastic veneers are used and why pre veneered flat wood products are brought into the production site and cut and manufactured accordingly.

New to our range of Sleigh Beds is the ‘Lansdowne Sleigh Bed’ designed with a number of features and preferences in mind. First of all for those of you around 6ft tall you probably experience hitting your head or feet on the head and footboard which is disconcerting and uncomfortable. The mattress height will sit flush at the corners and above the sweeping side rails and footboard.
Also for those who want a higher sleeping level the Lansdowne is the perfect choice certainly not your sleigh bed design something a little different with an art deco influence in its design.
This higher mattress height obviously also helps those of us for whom the hips and knees prefer not to be challenged first thing in the morning but gently woken up!

Progress always dictates change and is introduced to bring additional benefits, but for who’s benefit is the question. In modern day manufacturing solid timber has been largely left behind Pine Birch and Poplar are the remaining favoured timber of choice but in the main, chipboard at its worst MDF and ply predominantly lie beneath paint and veneers on the sleigh beds in our high street.

When you look closely at sleigh beds in the department stores check for the largest piece of solid timber, birch, pine, alder, is dominant but unlikely to be used in large areas as these beds do not incorporate traditional cabinet methods of construction to accommodate them. Instead you will find screws wood glue shamefully staples (you read correctly!) and brackets but few joints. And bear in mind wood glue can dry out.

The one joint you do find is the infamous dovetail but when you look you will find precision machine cut joints in draw fronts and no where else neither are you likely to find any other joints most importantly the cornerstone of cabinet chassis joints the mortise and tenon. Why is this??

Because sadly high street retailers and mass manufacturers know that it’s the most well known joint and know that people will often look for it as a sign of quality manufacture.

Why is MDF and ply so popular in the manufacture of modern day ‘wooden’ furniture?
Put very simply its cheap and it does not move and this is a very key point it can be supplied to factories in pre cut sizes, removing a cut and a process when mass manufacturing translates as large cost savings.

MDF and ply as it does not move can be used in a very different way when manufacturing, it does not require the time consuming cabinet methods of furniture construction that often involve a hand made process and even if automated takes many more processes.

Real timber particularly in large pieces will move you can not stop it, put simply you can not stop nature think of an external wood door have you ever owned or walked through one or more and found after many years without movement you find the door sticking?
As mentioned you can not stop it but you can minimise it and accommodate it. The first step is seasoning timber allowing a slow process of drying naturally this is an area where many get the wrong impression of seasoned timber.

Just because timber is seasoned does not prevent movement and remember seasoned timber will only dry to the moisture levels of the environment it is in. Often people have a romantic notion of large planks drying naturally in a barn for years and that this timber is the best to use for manufacture of furniture this is a common mistake. Timber such as this will still need kiln drying, your home will have lower moisture content than that barn! Our timber is seasoned and kiln dried down to 8%.

The next step is to utilise traditional cabinet furniture making techniques from opposing grain directions to floating panels to mitred tenon mortise dovetail joints amongst other methods. These are all techniques you will find in our four poster beds sleigh beds and furniture in addition to fine carving.

These methods are used for strength and longevity integrating timber together bear in mind this is how furniture was made many years ago and all the antiques will incorporate these methods. They last!

Ask your self this simple question can you see that sleigh bed or wardrobe from the so called posh high street stores being a future antique?

The only environmentally friendly message associated with MDF is that the bark and whole of the tree is used and that FSC timbers are the main ingredient. However energy expended and chemicals used to manufacture MDF make quite a mockery of this MDF and PLY leave a huge carbon footprint.

MDF – Medium Density Fibreboard is a hard board made from wood fibres normally pine birch and larch broken down through wood pulping shredding techniques and further so to fibre level through several steam pressure processes. Glues and urea formaldehyde is used in conjunction with heat and pressure processes are used to manufacture the final product. Bare MDF will release Urea Formaldehyde slowly so do make sure that it is sealed completely beneath paint or lacquer wax will not work you should not be able to see any bare MDF.