Outdoor Wood Furniture - Check the Method of Construction Before Buying
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Article by: Malcolm Kay Before the advent of mass production, most furniture , To Repot - or Not! was largely handcrafted , WaterWise Gardening - The Basics Required to Create a WaterWise Garden by artisans. Of course, time has moved on and construction techniques, mechanical tools, , Earthworms in the Garden/Earthworm Facts and methods have advanced significantly. But in choosing outdoor furniture, , Growing an Indoor Herb Garden Year-Round it's very important to take note on how the particular item is assembled, how the joints are made, what fixings are used, the strength of the individual components and the quality of the finish. For commercial outdoor furniture, , Riding Lawnmower - Choices are Wide Open which needs to withstand not only the weather , A Quick Guide To Yard Bridges but also mistreatment and neglect, the centuries old joining method of mortice and tenon is still generally preferred. A well-made item of furniture, , The Feng Shui of Trees with mortice and tenon joints will be solid, with tight joints and will last for years. But of course the extra time and care taken in this method of construction means the price will inevitably be higher of the furniture , A Quick Guide To Yard Bridges item. To speed up construction and keep costs down, allot of furniture , Secrets To Beautiful Shade Gardens is now constructed using a dowelled joints. Whilst not as strong as traditional mortice and tenon joints, a dowelled joint can give many years of good service. In fact a lot of furniture , Garden Accessories may use mortice and tenon joints for the main structural elements but dowels for the more decorative elements in the design , Daphnes for Scent and Colour - a perfectly acceptable compromise. Of course any adhesives used should be water , What You Need To Know About Pruning Bonsai Trees resistant, something that is not really possible to check, but generally this does not seem to be a problem in practice, except maybe in really low cost outdoor furniture. , Gardening and Flowers For added strength, some makers will combine brass fittings with dowelled joints to ensure the dowelled joints are pulled together and kept as tight as possible. The cheapest method of construction uses metal , Funniest Pond Stories-Part 1, May 2004 fixings only. Often these are used with kit-set or knock-down self assembly furniture, , Decks For Above Ground Pools: Can Beautify Your Yard As Well as it allows the homeowner to save , 5 Tips On Caring For A Bonsai Tree more money by assembling the product , Buy Flowers Online themselves. The downside is that such furniture , Types Of Palm Trees is generally not as strong and involves regular tightening of the fittings, as they tend to bed , A Quick Guide To Yard Bridges into the wood , The Garden in Winter with continual use of the furniture. , Growing an Indoor Herb Garden Year-Round Also inferior quality fittings may be used which are neither made of corrosion resistant metals , You Say Tomato I Say Mosquito such as brass, nor have a high quality plated finish, so can be subject to rusting or other corrosion at quite an early stage. Another less obvious problem with tables in particular, is swelling of the wood. , Healthy Soils Equal Bountiful Harvest! As wood , US Flags generally expands at a different rate in its longitudinal and tangential planes, this means that as the timber , Teak Furniture - A Cut Above The Rest gets wet or dries out, unsightly gaps can occur at joints, or in the worst cases, the timber , Funniest Pond Stories-Part 1, May 2004 twists out of shape, if the maker has not taken sufficient care at the design , Decks For Above Ground Pools: Can Beautify Your Yard As Well stage. You need to take care for example with some wooden , You Say Tomato I Say Mosquito table tops, if the middle of the table is a more complex design , Keep Your Bird Feeders Filled For The Spring Rush with elements running both straight and perpendicular. Most manufacturers , Keeping Houseplants Alive During Summer Vacation Droughts will leave small expansion gaps at the end of the longitudinal wood , Healthy Soils Equal Bountiful Harvest! sections to allow for some expansion and contraction. With some more stable wood , Planting Trees and Shrubs species such as teak, this is typically not a problem, but with some other species, expansion in both directions can be significantly different and problems can arise. Take note also of the finish of the piece. With certain wood , The Garden in Winter species, the grain of the timber , Waterlilies can be rather coarse, so unless the edges of the piece are sanded well, it's possible to get splinters. Take particular note of the end grain. Many manufacturers , Keeping Houseplants Alive During Summer Vacation Droughts apply a special oil coating or wax to the end grain to prevent the ingress of water , Gardening and Flowers and help to prolong the life of the furniture. , Garden Accessories Most manufacturers , What's In Your Yard will apply some type of initial protective coating, although this is generally a rather basic coating which tends to enhance the colour , Secrets To Beautiful Shade Gardens of the wood , Riding Lawnmower - Choices are Wide Open rather than contributing to any particular preservative properties. , What You Need To Know About Pruning Bonsai Trees To ensure a longer life, it is thus recommended that you give your furniture , Bare Root Roses, What To Look For When Buying a further coating with a good quality decking or furniture , Funniest Pond Stories-Part 1, May 2004 oil very shortly after you purchase the item, and certainly within the first six months of its use. And so, in conclusion, when looking at purchasing outdoor furniture, , Fiberglass Pond Liners the important points to consider (apart from the durability of the wood , Rock Gardens - A Different Kind of Garden species) are the type of joints, the thickness of timber , What's In Your Yard used, the quality of any metal , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (Part 10) Nutrients fixings and the actual design , Outdoor Deck Lighting aspects of the particular piece.Malcolm Kay is the CEO of Intex Pacific Pty. Ltd. an international supplier of landscape , Fiberglass Pond Liners materials including modular decking tiles. , Using Snow Roof Rakes For more information , Planting Trees and Shrubs see http://www.ezydeck.net or http://www.patiomakeover.com |
  
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