where fine furniture is made by an antique

There are many reasons why Saw'em, Sand'em & Screw'em sets the standard for quality in all of our products.  We start by hand-selecting the finest traditional and exotic hardwoods available.  We use time-tested old-world construction techniques to ensure our products not only look phenomenal, but hold up under daily use and last for years to come.  After all, that's what is expected of  heirloom-quality furniture.

Saw'em, Sand'em & Screw'em may not be the least expensive wood shop available to you, therefore, we thought it best to give you an idea of what we do to ensure the quality of your project.  Custom design and superb quality are the reasons you came to us in the first place, right?

In every case we endeavor to deliver a competitive price without sacrificing the quality standards outlined below. 

Click on the diamonds below to see the details.

• Selecting wood:

  • Wood comes from saw mills, rough cut and banded in units consisting of approximately 1,500 board feet.  Although each board is graded prior to leaving the saw mill, many get damaged in the packing and shipping process, or warp and crack due to drying or storage in the elements.

  • Most woodshops order a sufficient quantity of wood to build their customer's project.  The wood simply comes off the top of the unit, including the good, the bad and the ugly.  Most suppliers will not permit the woodworker to sort through the units.

  • Saw'em, Sand'em & Screw'em has made arrangements that permit us to hand-select individual boards meeting the highest quality standards.  We leave the bad and the ugly in the pile, not in your project.

• Grades of wood:

  • Wood comes in varying grades such as Number 1 Common, Number 2 Common, Shop Grade, Superior, Select and Better, etc.  Depending on the species of wood and the producing saw mill, the term used to describe the top quality will vary.  As an example, Superior may be the top quality alder and Select and Better may be the top quality maple.

  • Most woodshops ask the customer to select a grade of wood with higher prices for higher grades.  Hopefully, the customer understands the grading process and understands exactly what they will be getting.

  • Saw'em, Sand'em & Screw'em only uses the top grade of wood, regardless of the species.  Our customers know they will be getting the very best.

• Initial preparation of wood:

  • Trees don't grow straight so the boards cut from them are not straight.  Quality furniture lumber is produced rough cut, doesn't have straight edges and surfaces are coarse.  To end up with a 3/4" furniture grade board, you must use a planer to cut away the rough surface from a 1" board. 

  • Most woodshops pay their suppliers to plane the boards.  Suppliers use a large machine to plane an equal amount from each side of the 1" board in one pass, reducing it to 3/4" which will be used in the finished project.  This process is fast and cheap.  The problem with this method is the best side of the board was never selected, and additional planing to reveal the best surface is no longer possible since the board is already at 3/4" and cannot be further reduced.

  • Saw'em, Sand'em & Screw'em mills all our client's lumber here in our shop.  First, we inspect each board, and make an initial "best side" selection.  We plane each board at least 5 times, taking less than 1/16" with each pass.  Each board is inspected each time it is sent through the planer and each time we make another "best side" selection.  Obviously, this process in neither fast nor cheap, but you will see the difference in your project.

• Joinery:

  • Every piece of furniture is an assembly of individual pieces of wood.  There are several methods of putting the pieces together, ranging from fast-high-production methods to the timeless old-world craftsmanship used in fine furniture and antiques.

  • Most woodshops go for the fast high-production method, simply butting two pieces of wood together with glue and a couple of screws.  You can see this process if you look at a typical drawer in a friend's kitchen.  Moreover, that drawer is most likely particle board covered with melamine (a plastic film product).

  • Saw'em, Sand'em & Screw'em uses the timeless old-world craftsmanship method.  We manufacture the pieces using traditional joinery, such as dovetail, mortise-and-tenon, dado, rabbet, lap, bridle and other strong mechanical joints prior to applying high-quality glue to the finished joint.  And yes, as our name implies, we occasionally use screws.

• Drawers:

  • Drawers are a very important part of any piece of furniture or cabinet.  They sometimes hold considerable weight, get daily use, and frequently take abuse.

  • Most woodshops manufacture drawers using white melamine-covered particle board with simple butt joints glued and screwed together.

  • Saw'em, Sand'em & Screw'em manufactures all drawer fronts, sides and backs from solid eastern maple.  All four corners are dovetailed and the bottoms are made from 1/2" maple plywood rather than the normal 1/4" used throughout the industry.  The contrasting dovetails are not only beautiful to look at, but are very strong and lasts a lifetime.  All drawers will have full extension Blum premium concealed runners.  BLUMOTION is integrated inside the drawer runner providing smooth and silent self closing over the last 2" of the action.

There are many other things that go into our products to ensure top quality:

4. Our persistence in using only time-honored and proven construction techniques.

3. Our insistence in using only the finest available woods and the best materials and hardware.

2. Our love of quality furniture and the fact that we build each piece as if it were going into our own house.

1. Most of all .... pride. 

[ Home ]