Harmony Cedar Furniture

Mass-manufactured Cedar Chest

A Harmony Cedar Chest

Many cedar chests are created from “fake wood”.

Some of the “fake woods” used include:

Veneer, which is a thin coating of genuine wood glued on top of pressed board.

Pressed Wood, which is created from pressed wood chips and formed into solid boards (like plywood).

“Select hardwoods”, which means that some parts of the cedar chest are created from genuine lumber, but the majority is artificial.

Click above for a photograph of a mass-manufactured cedar chest. Note the use of veneer to cover the pressed wood beneath.

The problem is that “fake wood” is not very durable, and is never as attractive as genuine hardwoods.

Try as they might, the best chemists cannot duplicate the delicate beauty of genuine hardwood.

Pressed wood and veneer do not look ‘new’ for very long. Scratches and dents quickly accumulate, and cannot be repaired.

A mass-manufactuted cedar chest is also very vulnerable to water damage. A small amount of water can ruin the veneer, causing spotting and peeling.

Water damage on a mass-manufactured cedar chest. This damage was sustained as standing water peeled away at the veneer.

Each cedar chest is created from natural hardwoods.

We use solid cuts of genuine lumber in each cedar chest.

Our hardwoods are locally grown and harvested. The wood is seasoned for 12-16 months before it is ready to create your handcrafted cedar chest.

These Black Walnut boards are in the process of “seasoning”. This helps to dry the wood, and allows our craftsmen to bring out the grain fully.

The advantage of genuine hardwood is that it can be sanded and refinished, if it is damaged. Our cedar chests are intended to be a living part of your home and family.

While accidents and rough use can damage a Harmony Cedar Chest, properly treated hardwoods like ours can resist damage much better than "fake wood".

More importantly, a handcrafted cedar chest is beautiful! Nothing beats the beauty of natural wood.

Southern Minnesota is the land of the "Little House in the Big Woods", and a place where many hardwoods have grown for generations.

Our cherry, walnut, and oak sources are something of a source of pride to the Amish community, since they know they are some of the best remaining stands of these great woods.

Most cedar chests are machine-made in large batches.

A mass-manufactured cedar chest is generally joined together with glue, plus some nails and metal endpieces.

Nails and metal endpieces lack the grips that screws do, and thus can slip out and begin weakening the joints.

Seasonal variations in humidity and temperature are very hard on the glue used to hold the joints together, and the connections can begin slipping without proper metal joinery.

Mass-manufactured cedar chests are not built to withstand the natural wear-and-tear necessary to become an heirloom piece. Additionally, because they are created in large batches, there is little attention to detail. Small errors can easily slip through, damage can occur while in warehouse storage, while design flaws can contribute to the problem.

One common problem of mass-manufactured chests is the joinery of panels. Many are created from glued-on pressed wood, and do not allow the chest to "breathe" under natural variations in heat and humidity. This also detracts from the strength of the chest, as the glued-on panels do not have the strength of a properly-made colum.

Having access to amazing stands of hardwood, as our Amish craftsman do, is very important when building a quality cedar chest. But building to last involves more than just having the right wood that's been properly prepared - it involves a lot of knowledge, patience, and commitment.

Time honored methods of building fine furniture do take a lot more time to assemble. But a well-constructed cedar chest that will last forever has to have this kind of construction, rather than being simply joined together by tool and machine.

To join our chests together, we use screws and wood glue to join the parts (rather than nails). Nails can work out of a cedar chest over time due to changes in humidity.

We also assemble the panels on our cedar chests with an eye towards durability. The panels are fully recessed into the styles next to them, and are allowed to 'float' or have room to expand over time. This prevents natural changes from temperature and humidity from placing excessive stress on the cedar chest. Our cedar chest designs are well-researched, and intended to create high-quality, long-lasting family heirlooms.

  

The great care that comes from handcrafting completes the design. When things are made by the hands and eyes of a real person, they can feel and see things a machine cannot. And when those eyes are those of an Amish craftsman who takes the time to build in the way he learned from his father so many years ago, the process of making an heirloom has begun before the cedar chest is even started.

And so it goes, from father to son, the right way to make a piece of furniture or a cedar chest that can stand the test of time. Building to last is not something you can find in machine made furniture, because it requires this gentle yet firm touch. It is something that can only be taught, not written about. The apprenticeships of the Amish craftsmen who build our chests are part of the process of standing up over time, because the process itself has already stood up over time.

That's what makes each handcrafted cedar chest from Harmony Cedar special, and how you know it is built to last - because it has already stood the most important test of time.