How do you know that you are buying good quality furniture

How do you know when you buy good quality wood furniture? It is not really that difficult and you can learn to judge the quality by looking at the finish plus how the furniture is constructed.
The sort of wood used has a great bearing on how long your furniture will last. It can be made of hardwood, softwood, or even engineered wood.
Usually good quality furniture is made out of hardwood coming from deciduous trees such as oak, maples, mahogany, teak, walnut, cherry and birch. The wood will have been air dried and then kiln dried to make sure all the excess moisture is removed.
Coniferous trees such as pine, firs, redwood and cedar produce soft wood. It is however possible to find good quality furniture in these woods too, but these woods are definitely more prone to scratches and dents.
Modern furniture is very rarely built of all wood.Plywood and engineered wood is used extensively mainly because it provides strength and also helps prevent splitting or warping. It can make robust, long lasting and highly attractive furniture when used with high quality veneers.
The way in which a piece is made can contribute greatly to its beauty, functionality and also how long it will last. The joinery and sturdiness of a piece of furniture will often tell you a great deal about its quality.
Tenon and Mortise, also dovetails are two of the oldest methods of putting together furniture and also making the strongest and best looking joints. Good joints may also have dowels or screws, but will never use staples. Any glue used should not be seen outside the joint.
Corner blocks are very often added for the strength and stability of the furniture. These should not be seen from the outside, but bolt together both sides of the interior corners.
A good quality office desk or chest of drawers will have dust panels or maybe thin sheets of wood between the drawers in the body of the chest or desk. This not only makes them structurally stronger but keeps dust apart from clothing or papers.
Back panels that face the wall are generally attached with screws in order to help ensure stability. Backs and unexposed parts should be smooth sanded and fitted together really well. This is a very important feature as only well made furniture will have these details.
Drawers should fit well and glide in and out of the cabinet. They must also have stops to stop the drawer from being pulled out too far. Glides in office furniture such as desks, filing cabinets and computer desks are very important to the functionality of the piece.
Sanding is the first step in the very important finishing process, and a good piece will be so smooth so that when you run your hand over it there should be no rough patches. Sanding across the wood grain also produces very unattractive results like dark lines across the surface. Wood not sanded properly will not take the stain evenly.
A good stain will enhance the beauty of wood and adds colour to it. High quality staining should be very even, without any dark spots. The sides and of course the ends should be of the same shade.
Finishes range from high gloss to matte. A good high quality finish is satin smooth and completely free of rough spots etc. Look for depth and richness in the finish, which will come from several coats of finish with sanding between each coat. High quality pieces are also finished on the back and even on the underside as well to reduce the chances of swelling or shrinking.
I good quality piece of furniture, whether it be for office furniture or a special item of furniture your home will most definitely turn out to be an investment and will certainly outlive much of the mass produced furniture that it manufactured today.