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 | Jul 11, 2018 | George's Furniture
At George’s Furniture, every piece of furniture is made from high-quality hardwood and is crafted from start to finish by one of our highly-skilled craftsmen. The use of hardwood for our furniture is especially crucial for our business as it ensures longevity and durability for each and every customer for years to come. Hardwood is the optimal material for our furniture here at George’s.
Throughout Pennsylvania, there is a plethora of renewable hardwood lumber that can be turned into high-value finished products with very low environmental impact. Non-renewable resources like steel, plastic, aluminum and other metals have a much higher environmental impact than using renewable products like hardwood.
Not only is wood a sustainable and renewable resource but purchasing wood furniture from a locally-run and USA based company boosts the local economy and provides American jobs in the forest products industry.
Hardwood is also durable, natural, and draws people into the beauty of the real wood with its color variation and character.
With George’s, you will have a beautiful natural design that fits any room and will last for generations to come.
by Juanita | Apr 12, 2018 | Customization
One of the major characteristics of George’s Furniture pieces is the natural beauty of the hardwood we choose for each piece. Our wood is harvested from native trees at just the right time each year. From slow-drying in our kiln, to constructing each piece by hand by our experienced craftsmen to your exact specifications. Throughout this meticulous assembly, precise hand sanding ensures proper fit and finish.
One way in which our customers customize their handmade pieces is by choosing the type of wood they’d like to use to match the look and feel of their home. While we have a beautiful variety of woods to choose from, the most popular choices are our natural black walnut blend, black walnut, cherry, and red oak.
The natural black walnut blend is natural walnut using both the dark inner wood with the lighter outer wood section revealing a beautiful color combination. The center part of the tree (heartwood) is dark brown in color, while the ten (10) outer layers of sapwood are a light off-white color. Our craftsmen choose the boards that have both the sapwood and heartwood grain of the walnut tree. As we carefully arrange the boards to create a unique natural flow of grain, the beauty of this particular wood just shines.
Our black walnut is air dried. Air drying is less stressful on the wood itself, keeping the natural beauty of color variation. This particular wood choice is usually finished with clear water-resistant finish, to let its natural beauty exposed without staining. Black walnut has a flowing, feathery grain.
Cherry wood is naturally lighter red in color with a beautiful flowing grain. We typically stain this gorgeous choice of wood, and our customers have approximately 15 different stains to choose from—from light red to dark red, and everything in between. This rich looking result is very popular among George’s Furniture customers.
Finally, red oak has a distinct, bold grain. Again, while it’s naturally light golden in color, our customers are able to choose from about 15 different stains for this hardwood choice. The stain highlights the darker part of the grain. Also important to note is that red oak is 15% heavier.
Stop into George’s Furniture today to customize your dream furniture! You can even schedule a tour of our woodshop.
by Juanita | Apr 5, 2018 | Customization, George's Furniture
At George’s Furniture, each handcrafted, hardwood piece goes on a thorough journey before taking its place in a customer’s home. We begin by harvesting native trees and slow-drying the rough sawn lumber in house. Our kiln reduces stress cracks which occur when accelerating the drying process. The slow-drying process also prevents loose joints, splitting, and warping. Our craftsmen are extremely careful in caring for every single piece of furniture produced in our woodshop.
Lovingly Handcrafted, From Start to Finish
Once the wood has been slowly dried, construction takes place. From start to finish, our talented craftsmen take particular care in creating each chair, table, stool, etc. by hand. Our furniture is cut, lathed, and sanded by hand to the exact specifications from our customers.
Hand Staining
Before final inspection, your hardwood furniture is assembled and taken to our special staining station. 
Our craftsman hand rubs your specified color into the wood of your choice.
Spray on First Coat of Finish
Once the stain has dried thoroughly and completely, the piece is taken into the dust-free spray booth where two coats of premium-quality clear, water-resistant finish are applied to all sides of the piece—including top, bottom, outside, and inside—sealing and protecting this long-lasting piece from moisture and other elements when exposed to natural wear throughout its lifetime.
Dry – Hand Sand – Second Clear Coat
The first coat of finish is dried and sanded, and the second coat is followed by a close inspection to ensure smoothness and full coverage.
Our Most Popular Finishes
- Natural black walnut blend (black walnut heartwood and sapwood) pictured
- Cherry wood with cinnamon stain
- Cherry wood with dark mahogany stain
Each piece at George’s Furniture is carefully inspected to make sure it meets our high standards. Call us today to take a tour of our furniture store in Lancaster, PA! Tour our woodshop and showroom so that you can see our furniture making process in real-time—as well as the finished products!
by Juanita | Feb 15, 2018 | George's Furniture, Team Bio
Meet the President
Before becoming the President of George’s Furniture, Chris Horst spent ten years in the automotive engineering industry in the 90s and early 2000s. He has now been working for George’s for 12 years. Chris married George’s daughter, Juanita, in July of 2000 and became part of the family business. In 2008, Chris and Juanita decided to take over the family business causing a change in careers for Chris.
Learning Woodworking
During the first three years, Chris learned the craft itself. He trained directly with a master craftsman and developed a passion for woodworking and the beauty of hardwood furniture.
Chris says, “Knowing what goes into each piece gives you an appreciation for the skill and craftsmanship that is needed to design and craft a dream piece of furniture for our customers. Our customers become part of the business and a part of our family.”
Chris loves to see the customers’ reactions when they see their handcrafted furniture for the first time. It makes all the hard work that goes into each individual piece well worth it.
Favorite Design
The project Chris enjoyed the most was designing and building a special bookcase for a small apartment which allowed cables to run through the unit, hidden by the woodwork and attached to the apartment wall for stability.
In His Free Time
In his free time, Chris teaches a homeschooled Physics class once a week. He also enjoys reading and taking trips in the outdoors—including camping, biking, and hiking.
