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The solid woods that we use
At Berrydesign we are proud to be able to work in a choice of timbers -namely Solid Oak, Solid Walnut, Solid Maple, Solid Cherry wood and Solid Beech all of which can be used both “entirely” on a piece of furniture, or as an “accent” to help highlight a design feature (such as can be seen on the Ellipse table).
We are currently working in these main group of timbers, which are very carefully sourced and selected, kiln dried using the most modern techniques available, and then machined to our exacting standards.
We typically work in thicknesses of 28-30mm, 34-36mm, 42-44mm,54-56mm and then by using specially developed construction techniques we can also "create" thicknesses of 54mm and 85mm(stunning!)
Solid Oak: Sourced and selected from carefully forested areas of Europe, to provide a pale and subtly selected grain, as opposed to lower grades which allow great fluctuation in colour and a more “rural” appearance.
Oak is both strong and subtle when sourced in this way, and allows furniture to be made in our palest as well as our warmer finishes.
I would say that Solid Oak is my favourite timber and allows furniture to be made and styled to our highest standards.
From the mighty Oak tree we can make Solid Oak dining and kitchen tables up to 400cm long and its appearance suits both fine and our thicker sections.
Oak holds its colour very well with age, darkening by approx 3 to 5% dependant on the wood finish used.
Solid Oak is the basis for all of our price lists.
Solid Beech: This most traditional furniture making timber which is both dense and hardwearing and has the advantage of costing 9% less than our Oak furniture. We are now launching two ways of making our Beech furniture. “Lightly Steamed” which is Beech selected for an even and warm colour, and now our “Wild Beech” which like our Walnut selection, which has proved so popular , features two tones of timber selection which really shows the wood grain and provides a more “lively” and natural appearance than the “Lightly Steamed” Beech wood.
We can make tables up to 320cm in length in Solid Beech.
Watch the web site for fresh details on this exciting new addition to our furniture making - or just contact us directly by email.
Solid Maple: We work very carefully with Maple to provide as “pale” a wood as possible, in principle free from the browns that you often see in lower grades of Maple.
Its paleness allows for architectural lines to be designed, with furniture floating in its light colouration.
Solid Maple is a beautiful timber to combine with other woods.
Table and Cabinet lengths of up to 340cm are possible with Maple.
Maple in Sandwood oil remains incredibly white and matt, but when oiled with Strawood, allows more warm to develop with a change of approx 5 to 8%.
Solid Maple is about 18% more than the price of Solid Oak.
Solid American Cherry: A beautiful timber that starts life as a pale timber with hints of green and then matures to the warm Cherry tones that we all know. Cherry wood is not as dense as the other hardwoods that we work in but is a truly beautiful wood and can be finished in all of our polishes, achieving excellent results.
Cherry can be used in work up to 320cm in length, and shows quite a high degree of figure within the grain, especially as the solid wood matures. The only cautionary note it to be sure to not keep ornaments on your new furniture for a fixed period of time, as it can result in "shadowing" underneath fruit bowls etc, due to an uneven distribution of light.
Solid Cherry is approximately 22% more expensive than Oak.
Solid Walnut: A sensuous timber allowing furniture to become a piece of jewellery when combined with our designs. We select Walnut to be either our
“Classic” selection which when we grade all of the darker pieces of Walnut and then carefully joint them together, or our “Wild” selection of Walnut where we combine the pale Sapwood of the young tree
with the rich and chocolaty colours of the mature heartwood.
American Walnut can allow furniture of up to 320cm to be made in one continuous piece of wood.
Solid Walnut should be polished in our Strawood polish to bring out fully the lustre of the wood grain. Allow for the wood colour to mature and deepen by about 15 to 20% when compared to freshly completed furniture.
Solid “Wild” Walnut is abut 28% more than Solid Oak and when “Classically” selected about 32% more than Oak. Expensive I know but lovely!
The polishes that we use
When you visit our barn Showroom you
will see all the furniture in its “pure”
unpolished state allowing you to choose which specific
finish you prefer to give you the look and feel that
you like.
We can polish most timbers to any colour
you like but we prefer to work with the wood
finishes we have specially developed in-house, which
have been rigorously tested on our ever-changing kitchen
table .
We strongly believe that a finish should
always allow you to “feel” the wood and
we spend hours hand sanding and hand polishing in our
workshop to achieve this result. Each piece is sanded
and polished 3 times over 3 consecutive days to achieve
the smoothest possible finish.
The chart reflects a typical table use
in a family kitchen being used everyday.
The weaker finishes are not really recommended for this
sort of use but can be lovely on sideboards, bookcases
etc
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