by Juanita | Nov 8, 2023 | customer experience, George's Furniture, RV accessories, Tables
Where in the world is George’s Furniture? Over the 50+ years the handcrafted furniture made by George’s craftsmen have traveled all over the United States. From Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia to Massachusetts, Maine and Ohio, even as far as Texas, California and Alaska. All the states, except some Rocky Mountain states have customers that are enjoying the quality of Georges for their homes.
Small furniture store discovered
Otto and Emily found George’s Furniture handmade furniture in Lancaster while searching on the Internet. They were looking for a small business for their furniture purchase instead of the large furniture stores with less quality furniture. While exploring their website gerogesfurniturepa.com they were convinced that the short drive to the showroom was worth their time, Emily and Otto took a trip. What greeted Otto and Emily was impressive.
“I really loved our table,” commented Otto as he lovingly stroked
the table that looked just like their table at home.
Two showrooms full of custom-made solid hardwood furniture. Even the wood working shop, where the furniture made one piece at a time is located. A cherry Windsor style table caught their attention and was their first purchase. A wonderful feature of the table is its ability to extend 14 feet. Even though their dining room could not hold that length now, in the future if the need changes the table can hold up to eight leaves.
Across the Ocean
The family moved to Belgium for Otto’s employment and the table with its leaves traveled across the ocean with the other furniture. During their 5 years in Belgium the table enjoyed the company of guests from Italy, Greece, Poland, Estonia, Britain, and Hungary. Otto and Emily loved opening their table and sharing the beauty of solid hardwood, made in America. The extension table impressed their Belgium friends so much that they had one made for them. The Belgium house with its wooden ceilings and brick and slate roof, complimented the table very well.
Return to America
Later when the family moved back to America, the extension table influenced the design of their next house. The house needed to have a large open area for the table and 4 leaves to open to its full 10 foot length. Recently Otto and Emily came back to upgrade their table leaf storage from a leaf holder designed for the closet to a deluxe 4 leaf storage along with a same size and style cabinet with adjustable shelves to add to their dining set. In the future, chairs will complete their dining room set. Originally Otto thought that George’s chairs had thin spindly rungs and was pleasantly surprised when he sat in the strong 8-sided rung dining chair during his last visit.
Join Otto, his wife Emily and many other satisfied customers as they create their living space furnished with custom handmade heirlooms, individually made by one of George’s craftsmen. Visit the showroom and wood shop in Lancaster County, PA and watch your dreams turn into realities.
by Juanita | Sep 25, 2021 | 50th anniversary, Ava Lee's History Corner, Events, George's Furniture, Gifts, Rocking Chairs
Small Beginning
Beginning in 1969 and for many years after that, George and I had a booth at Springs Folk Festival. We sold our wooden lamps with woven veneer shades and lathe-turned candle holders. Cross-cut stools made from a log with the bark still on the edge added to the collection. However the most popular item were the engraved signs and nameplates. Each sign was made for the customer while they waited. Ray and Gloria Becker assisted with the many customers. Ray sanded and attached chain hangers to the plaques while George did the engraving. Later, as George and his craftsman started making furniture, the collection included tables, chairs, dry sinks, hutches. George’s famous non-tip rocking chairs caught a lot of attention.
The Springs Folk Festival Craft show
The town of Springs, PA is located in the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland. The first weekend in October was the peak for beautiful fall foliage in the area. The stand holders demonstrated their craft which added authenticity to the event. Bus loads of people from Baltimore, Washington DC and Pittsburgh came. On a beautiful Saturday, cars lined up from nearby Grantsville, MD, waiting to find parking in the grass fields around the festival. On rainy days, cars got stuck in the fields and young car parkers needed to push them out of the mud.
Food brings crowds
Several other attractions were the food made by the Amish and Mennonite cooks. Homemade bread baked in an old-time beehive-shaped bake oven. Then covered with a generous helping of apple butter, made in a large copper kettle over a fire. Special “festival sausage” made with the “whole pig”, hams and all kinds of other local favorites. As business grew, George focused his attention more at home. In recent years, the next generation owners decided to attend the Sugarloaf Craft Festivals near cities like Philadelphia, New York, Washington DC and Baltimore.
by Juanita | Dec 28, 2020 | Ava Lee's History Corner, customer experience, Customization, George's Furniture
David and Angela loved getting away from the stress of the office and the hustle and bustle of life in New Jersey. They enjoyed traveling to Lancaster County to the peace and tranquility of Amish and Mennonite farmland. Their favorite place to stay was the Cameron Estate Inn and Restaurant, Mount Joy, PA. The inn keepers, Abe and Betty Groff, were a delight to talk to which is the main reason why David and Angela’s return year after year.
Hand Engraved Road Signs
Traveling the Lancaster country roads, they often found hand-engraved road signs – George’s Woodcrafts- during their sight-seeing. David and Angela would pass by wooden signs thinking they did not need any birdhouses or small wood crafts. Finally one day they picked up an AAA travel guide and decided to check out George’s Woodcrafts. Were they surprised? George’s did not make birdhouses at all. Beautifully hand-crafted beds, dressers, long extension tables, smaller breakfast tables, tall tables were on display. Desks, bookcases, chairs, rocking chairs, benches, anything one could imagine greeted them-all specially designed to their special dimensions.
Small space challenge solved
Special dimensions were the challenge David and Angela faced. Their small house presented many problems for finding furniture that fit within the space. The search was over. They remember George Martin’s love for design and sharing of his unique designed rocker that did not tip over. He quickly pushed himself way back and it stopped. They could not forget this amazing design. Later a rocking chair found its way into their home. After sharing the history of the rocking chair, George proceeded to begin designing a small shelf that would mount to the side of the Finnegan’s bed.
Natural skill in designing
George’s did not need a picture of design from. He would listen to the customer’s needs and space requirements, then design and draw out a sketch of what was in his mind. David was embarrassed about how much time George devoted to them, designing their little bed side shelf, even this other customers around. The genuine desire to created and solve needs was why the Finnegan’s continued kept coming back for many more pieces of furniture over the years. Each room of their homes has at least one piece of furniture-except the bathroom.
George’s Legacy
Even though George has passed away, his daughter, son-in-law and skilled craftsmen carry the legacy of listening to customers’ needs and creating signed, dated, made by one craftsman, cherished hardwood heirlooms for over 50 years. Visit George’s showroom and see for yourself the Lancaster County quality of that drew David and Angela and captured their hearts.
by Juanita | Aug 9, 2019 | Ava Lee's History Corner, Furniture Care, Rocking Chairs, Tables
What do you love about your antique furniture? Sentimentality & nostalgia. Those nostalgic feelings probably trigger wonderful memories with your family. Maybe it reminds you of visiting for Christmas as a child or bringing your children over to play baseball in the yard with their grandparents. That is why it is so important to craft furniture that can withstand the years, the memories, the horseplay so you & your families can have visible mementos of those experiences. (Plus, it helps that our furniture is also super comfortable & durable!)
Even though antique furniture lasts longer than low quality furniture it also deteriorates. Some of the biggest causes of weakness in antique furniture include poor adjustability to extremes in humidity, weak joints or low-quality workmanship. In fact, today I want to share with you 3 of the biggest issues we see in antique furniture & how we design our furniture differently to avoid those problems.
Humidity
One of the most common issues you may see in wood antique furniture is wear & tear due to changing humidity. Dry Forced Air heat will dry out furniture in the winter while damp summer weather provides extra moisture. Considering these two extremes, all joints are constructed with movement in mind. Wood is dried in George’s kilns and furniture is constructed in a humidity-controlled environment similar to most homes. This helps the furniture expand and contract as one unit. When the furniture can respond to humidity as one unit, it is more protected from warping or weakness.
Weak joints
Let’s talk about rung joints. Maybe not a typical topic of conversation until you sit in a chair and the rung pops out leaving your chair in pieces. Aside from the frustration & inconvenience, this can become an expensive situation when your only solution is gluing the rungs for the rest of its life or replacing the chair. We avoid this situation from the beginning with our method of attaching rung joints. We give special attention to our sanding for each rung joint. When completed, the glued wood joint is stronger than the wood itself. George’s chairs have held up over years of hard use. It also saves us wasting time repairing older chairs.
Warped or Stressed Wood
This is caused by wood that is not properly dried before it is protected completely by a finish to slow the change in moisture content during the life of the furniture. The wood needs to be dried to 8% moisture content. Through the planing and sanding process, the wood is ready to be used to build the furniture.
George’s understands that natural wood furniture will continue to breath causing slight expansion and contraction throughout its lifetime. All joints are assembled to allow for this movement in the wood, removing the possibility of loosening of joints and even cracks in the wood itself. Our custom sprayed finish allows wood movement to occur over the complete unit evenly throughout its life.
How Strong Your Table will Be
Our unique way to demonstration table strength. One year we took all our craftsmen along with their families into our showroom and extended one of our tables. We started having 2 people at a time climb up and stand on the table. We continued 2 by 2, the younger kids started laughing, until all 14 people stood on the table, totaling 1,900 pounds in weight, almost a ton. The center legs prevailed.
Non-Tip Rocker
You can especially see the strength of high-quality wood in our non-tip rockers. When George was small, he was having so much fun rocking in his rocking chair that he tipped it right over. After recovering from the fall, he promised his mother that he would build a rocker that would not tip over. George built that rocker and now there are 7 different sizes from a child’s rocker to a rocker for the large people (300-400 lbs.) Large or small, tall or short, there is a rocker designed for you that does not tip over.
Ready for strong, heirloom furniture that does not wear with age or bad construction?
George’s unwavering commitment to building strong, hardwood, heirloom furniture continues with each new design. Each piece is signed and dated by its maker and finished with a water-resistant finish. Bring your ideas and desires for functional furniture and George’s craftsmen will make those dreams come true. Call us or request a consult as soon as you are ready to jump in to designing your own high-quality furniture.
by Juanita | Apr 19, 2019 | Customization, George's Furniture
Amish Communities
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana are home to the largest Amish Communities in the United States. The Amish lifestyle consists of plain clothes, horse and buggy, no electricity, one-room schoolhouses, and farming. Over the years they developed a reputation for their quality quilts, furniture, baked goods, and produce. In fact, in 2015, about 8.34 million visitors to Lancaster County directly spent $1.97 billion, creating a total tourism impact of $2.64 billion in the county.
Quality Compromised
Over time, marketing replaced craftsmanship. While a few Amish craftsmen are still producing quality furniture, many stores market Amish furniture devoid of the quality buyers expect. As the perception of the quality Amish furniture increases, the natural result is an increase in demand. This increase brought new systems and processes which dropped the quality of the product. They compromised when materials such as cheaper stains, protective coatings, glue, or hardware. They left the old process of construction behind while newer methods of cheap assembly take over. These newer methods, which use assembly lines and computerized machines, compromise excellence for the convenience of efficiency. Consequently, the quality of hardwood furniture is lost along with the buyers ability to customize their product.
Furniture Experts
Furniture experts pinpoint pieces displaying true quality, handmade Amish furniture. The untrained eye, however, sees little or no distinction. While Amish craftsmen are talented, rarely is the resulting piece considered by furniture experts as constructed by a Master Craftsman. Why does this matter? Furniture crafted by a Master Craftsman ultimately become heirlooms.
Master Craftsmen
Heirlooms are pieces constructed to withstand the test of time and passed down to the next generation. 
Furniture designed, crafted, and assembled by master craftsmen endure the normal wear and tear of daily life. While George’s craftsmen are not Amish furniture makers, we are Master Craftsmen. George’s master craftsmen build each piece to suit the needs of the buyer now and in the future. Forever cherished assets.
George’s Difference
At George’s Furniture, one craftsman uniquely crafted each piece – signed and dated. 100% Pennsylvania hardwood construction—no plywood here! Each item is built-to-order, custom made to your specifications. Visit our showrooms and see the furniture manufacturing! Time-tested construction for over 50 years…that’s the George’s difference.
