Alleluia. Our best furniture companies were mostly manufactured in S.C. Companies like Henredon, created the best and finest furniture. Finishing alone was around a 20+ step finishing process that involved all hand labor and took around 25 steps to sand, finish, lacquer, sand, finish, lacquer, sand, finish, lacquer—any furntire that they made. Baker was tops. Henredon also. It is the lacquer finish, not a polyurethane (plastic) process.Henredon has been gone since 2018. Baker Furniture, another best-in-the-world company, is now owned by a chineez company. America used to be the source for the high-end yacht manufacturing, until papa bush put a luxury tax on yachts and that industry got up and left.
America used to lead in high-end manufacturing and including furniture, so high-end that the furniture from these and other companies were and still are—valuable collectibles. The influx of knock-down furniture from Ikea, dept stores, which have also gone down (Marshall Fields/Chicago is gone) and furniture from catalogs has done tremendous damage, but it also speaks of the increasing squeeze put on all levels of culture, where it takes everything now to pay insurance, mortgage and put food on the table and gas in the car.
It was not this way. The best furniture now is in the collectible range. It is also true that at least in the Chicago burbs, the burbs were built by the finest craftsman who came over from Europe. Poles, Czechs, Italians and others, built the old burbs of Chicago. Master builders, Tuckpointers, Bricklayers and Finishers. Every skillset was expert.
Our wood is now harvested too soon, making 2x4's less stable and the pores more open rather than dense. Every homebuilding segment has gone downhill due to mass production and people needing to just exist, rather than to live well.
And pine was not the choice wood as it is soft. This country was built upon the huge chestnuts and oaks that grew here. 10 stories tall or 100 ft tall. Dense trees on the East coast. Beautiful. They are so appreciated by those who know, that there is a Chestnut Society dedicated to bringing them back to the East Coast..
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Alleluia. Our best furniture companies were mostly manufactured in S.C. Companies like Henredon, created the best and finest furniture. Finishing alone was around a 20+ step finishing process that involved all hand labor and took around 25 steps to sand, finish, lacquer, sand, finish, lacquer, sand, finish, lacquer—any furntire that they made. Baker was tops. Henredon also. It is the lacquer finish, not a polyurethane (plastic) process.Henredon has been gone since 2018. Baker Furniture, another best-in-the-world company, is now owned by a chineez company. America used to be the source for the high-end yacht manufacturing, until papa bush put a luxury tax on yachts and that industry got up and left.
America used to lead in high-end manufacturing and including furniture, so high-end that the furniture from these and other companies were and still are—valuable collectibles. The influx of knock-down furniture from Ikea, dept stores, which have also gone down (Marshall Fields/Chicago is gone) and furniture from catalogs has done tremendous damage, but it also speaks of the increasing squeeze put on all levels of culture, where it takes everything now to pay insurance, mortgage and put food on the table and gas in the car.
It was not this way. The best furniture now is in the collectible range. It is also true that at least in the Chicago burbs, the burbs were built by the finest craftsman who came over from Europe. Poles, Czechs, Italians and others, built the old burbs of Chicago. Master builders, Tuckpointers, Bricklayers and Finishers. Every skillset was expert.
Our wood is now harvested too soon, making 2x4's less stable and the pores more open rather than dense. Every homebuilding segment has gone downhill due to mass production and people needing to just exist, rather than to live well.
And pine was not the choice wood as it is soft. This country was built upon the huge chestnuts and oaks that grew here. 10 stories tall or 100 ft tall. Dense trees on the East coast. Beautiful. They are so appreciated by those who know, that there is a Chestnut Society dedicated to bringing them back to the East Coast..