Outdoor Wood Furniture - Check the Method of Construction Before Buying

Article by: Malcolm Kay

Before the advent of mass production, most furniture , Water Lilies - How and When to Divide and Fertilize was largely handcrafted , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (part 13) Oxygen by artisans. Of course, time has moved on and construction techniques, mechanical tools, , How to Grow Strawberries and methods have advanced significantly. But in choosing outdoor furniture, , Garden Accessories 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, , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (part 13) Oxygen which needs to withstand not only the weather , Sunflowers but also mistreatment and neglect, the centuries old joining method of mortice and tenon is still generally preferred. A well-made item of furniture, , Wooden You Like to Know? A Primer to Wood Outdoor Furnishings 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 , Tips for Preparing a Planting Bed item.

To speed up construction and keep costs down, allot of furniture , To Repot - or Not! 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 , Decorative Concrete - The Beginnings may use mortice and tenon joints for the main structural elements but dowels for the more decorative elements in the design , Riding Lawn Mowers Parts - a perfectly acceptable compromise. Of course any adhesives used should be water , Mix Perennials into Your Garden for Staying Power 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. , Everything You need to Know to Set up Your Square Foot Garden

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 , How To Plan A Garden fixings only. Often these are used with kit-set or knock-down self assembly furniture, , Mix Perennials into Your Garden for Staying Power as it allows the homeowner to save , Our History with Blueberries - Reviving Their Home-Grown and Local Farm Status more money by assembling the product , Everything You need to Know to Set up Your Square Foot Garden themselves. The downside is that such furniture , Water Conservation in the Garden - Use a Rain Barrel to Harvest Rainwater is generally not as strong and involves regular tightening of the fittings, as they tend to bed , Mix Perennials into Your Garden for Staying Power into the wood , The Magic Plant Copier with continual use of the furniture. , How to Grow Chocolate Cosmos Also inferior quality fittings may be used which are neither made of corrosion resistant metals , Tick Removal 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. , Lose That Ugly Algae! As wood , Tick Removal generally expands at a different rate in its longitudinal and tangential planes, this means that as the timber , Everything You need to Know to Set up Your Square Foot Garden gets wet or dries out, unsightly gaps can occur at joints, or in the worst cases, the timber , How To Build A Patio Cover twists out of shape, if the maker has not taken sufficient care at the design , Redwood Outdoor Decor: Relax This Season With Furniture You Can Trust stage. You need to take care for example with some wooden , Pruning Trees table tops, if the middle of the table is a more complex design , Everything You need to Know to Set up Your Square Foot Garden with elements running both straight and perpendicular. Most manufacturers , Controlling Aphids will leave small expansion gaps at the end of the longitudinal wood , Things You Should Consider When Buying Your First Garden Leaf Blower sections to allow for some expansion and contraction. With some more stable wood , How to Grow Chocolate Cosmos 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 , Sunflowers species, the grain of the timber , Tips for Preparing a Planting Bed 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 , Specialty Trees - A Beginner's Guide apply a special oil coating or wax to the end grain to prevent the ingress of water , Understanding Integrated Pest Management and help to prolong the life of the furniture. , Tick Removal Most manufacturers , To Repot - or Not! will apply some type of initial protective coating, although this is generally a rather basic coating which tends to enhance the colour , Spruce Budworm of the wood , Everything You need to Know to Set up Your Square Foot Garden rather than contributing to any particular preservative properties. , Everything You need to Know to Set up Your Square Foot Garden To ensure a longer life, it is thus recommended that you give your furniture , Specialty Trees - A Beginner's Guide a further coating with a good quality decking or furniture , Wooden You Like to Know? A Primer to Wood Outdoor Furnishings 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, , Waterfall Gardens the important points to consider (apart from the durability of the wood , Understanding Integrated Pest Management species) are the type of joints, the thickness of timber , How to Make a Simple Homemade Aeroponics System used, the quality of any metal , Shrub Roses and Climbing Roses fixings and the actual design , Spruce Budworm aspects of the particular piece.

Malcolm Kay is the CEO of Intex Pacific Pty. Ltd. an international supplier of landscape , The Magic Plant Copier materials including modular decking tiles. , Ticks For more information , Sunflowers see http://www.ezydeck.net or http://www.patiomakeover.com

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Outdoor Wood Furniture - Check the Method of Construction Before Buying

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