The common belief that solid wood construction
is superior to veneered construction is just not true. The
more elegant and finer standards of construction are five-
to seven ply laminates using rare and beautiful face veneers.
Remember, Egyptians first recognized that woods, when sliced
from a log or section of a tree, produced designs. Perhaps,
being the first merchants, they also worried about “the
bottom line”, and must have recognized cost differences.
The great beauty of wood is better revealed when it is sliced
as veneer sections rather than cut as solid sections. Solid
lumber does not possess the strength, stability or beauty
of matched veneered panels for building quality furniture.
That is a fact.
The chart on the facing page gives you
an outline of the construction of a quality wood panel,
so you can appreciate the care good manufacturers take in
producing our finest furniture. If it isn't done this way,
it just simply Inn’t veneer panel. A producer can
lay-up a venery panel with three-ply and a cheap core, but
the result is a cheap veneer panel. The difference between
good and bad is not a mysterious secret. It takes many steps,
each done to perfection, to create a perfect whole. It is
possible to cut corners in the production process. And it
may be true that some of the steps are not very important,
in the sense that the piece will not fall down, but eliminate
those steps and you have an item that is just not as good.
