Subject: Veneer<\/p>\n
Message: Does your construction use veneers?\u00a0\u00a0I am interested in your shelves and lasting quality is very important to me. Thanks.<\/p>\n
-Dave<\/p>\n
Hi Dave,<\/p>\n
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If quality is important to you, then you are in the right place. Quality is very important to me as well. It is discouraging at times to see so much of the poor quality on the market today. It is everywhere you look, from clothes to coffeemakers and garden hoses. I do not care about how much our competitors are producing, how they are doing it, which Chinese province they are getting their material from, or how cheaply they are selling. I only care about making the best quality floating shelves we are\u00a0capable of producing, using the best materials I can find. Nearly all of the materials used to make the shelves are manufactured here in the USA. The Bamboo and Coconut Palm are Chinese products, there is no domestic equivalent. Naturally the African Mahogany and Teak veneer logs\u00a0are imported,\u00a0but\u00a0the\u00a0logs are\u00a0sliced here, and the only\u00a0plywood core material I will buy is always made in USA. The Chinese plywood is about half the price, but the quality is terrible so I refuse to buy it. Particleboard does not\u00a0pass through any door of this shop on any day no matter where it was made.<\/p>\n
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Some of the floating shelves are veneer, and some are solid material. Reharvested, Coconut Palm, Bamboo, and Woven Strand Bamboo floating shelves are solid, the rest are veneer. The veneer on the top and bottom of the shelf come already pressed onto the sheets that we buy, which is made in USA furniture grade plywood.<\/p>\n
The edges of the floating shelves are then veneered here using .6 mm natural wood veneer. \u00a0The edge veneer is bonded under heat and\u00a0pressure to the assembly instead of contact adhesive. It is more difficult to do it that way, and the finished product looks exactly the same, but there is a difference. Contact adhesive gives easy and fast results for veneering, but then I have seen plenty of times where in a year or so, the bond begins to fail, allowing the edges to lift and the finish of the entire surface to crackle.<\/p>\n
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The finish we apply to the floating\u00a0shelves is catalyzed lacquer, which is a very high quality finish that cures quickly. It is a hard finish with good chemical and scratch resistance.<\/p>\n