Solid oak?

The term Solid oak in furniture should be as it sounds... Solid.

But...

I keep finding myself looking at handmade furniture in shops which are listed as a solid oak table or solid oak chairs that are not solid oak. Solid in my mind is made using one whole solid piece of timber, not many strips glued together to form a thicker piece.

This one table I have in mind was listed as solid oak. It was a lovely looking kitchen table, pretty grain patterns, a strong 2" thick top, and straight chunky legs. Very nice. But it was not solid like it says it is. Upon closer inspection every section of it was strips glued together. The whole table and it was £1300. I was a little disappointed to be honest, which I keep finding myself when looking around at "solid" furniture.

Maybe it is just because I know I use fully solid timber for my work and maybe expect things to be the same.

Quality made products will far exceed products of "not so good" quality. If any of you are out and about, have a closer look if you are thinking about buying solid wood items. Maybe you are totally happy with these types are products and if so, Fantastic. But just keep an eye out for things that are not what they say they are.

Frankenstein furniture.

As well as wanting to make gorgeous new oak furniture from scratch I have recently started thinking up ideas which will combine many pieces of furniture together to create something different. Not necessary beautiful furniture, again just going with a different feel.

I will soon be setting myself a small challenge to have a go at this idea. I am thinking everything I will use must be pre owned and only obtained at places like car boot sales, freecycle or homeless charities like Emmaus. A small amount of cash per project and a limited number of pieces to use.

So for example. I will have £20 to get 3 pieces of furniture from Sundays car boot sale. Then create something by combining them all together.

I am thinking this side of what I'm creating only using recycled materials. Nothing new at all. Apart from glue and maybe fixings!

Some very crazy things running through my head with this in mind at the moment! Lets get this started!