Oak Furniture Land - how's this for hype ?

[RogerS]

I really think you guys are being unrealistic and mostly just being picky.

I'm assuming that you were being ironic.

The stuff is hideously designed and hideously made.

But it is cheap. 'Cheap' as in every connotation of the word.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

For Mr and Mrs average "don't know much about wood" it is re-writing craftsmanship.

It makes a solid sound if you tap it. It is heavy. It is demonstrably real wood (albeit lots of small pieces of). And in the UK, at least, oak is possibly perceived by many as the "king" of woods. They are cheap and clearly differentiated from Ikea. What's not to like?

It is only the inhabitants of this forum + those with a lot of spare dosh + a few with taste but no money who can generally appreciate or buy real skill and craftsmanship. The real risk is that in years to come people will aspire to OFL, not realising that it is crudely constructed from poor quality materials with a poor level of finish.

But it would be wrong to be wholly dismissive - it fills a market niche for those who like the chunky country look on a limited budget.

 

[RogerS]

At last....the ASA has upheld a complaint about the 'No veneer in 'ere' TV advert and told them to stop. Result !!!!

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/1 ... is_banned/

 

[Eric The Viking]

When they say "solid hardwood" they're presumably only including the bits around the woodworm holes...
... They are a few "munchie" tales of woe to be read after judicious Googling.

I have a new slogan, "No Oak Furniture Land objects in 'ere!" However rude one wants to be about Ikea stuff, at least it doesn't come with its own tenants.

 

[lee celtic]

I work for a mid budget furniture manufacturer, we make bedroom furniture out of coated chip and MDF board for many high street shops and even more internet based companies and I can say having been a self employed maker and working in mass production.

You get what you pay for..

However...

If you are getting what you paid for..ie. paid cheap got cheap.. paid a lot got a lot.. then it's all good.

What gets me is when people pay a lot for rubbish.. I've been working with this company for 8 years and in that time I've seen the turnover go up 4 fold and would say the life span of an item in normal use is around 5 years.. but I've also seen repeat purchases after 2 (mainly for colour change) and seen items over ten years old still looking good. These days it is all about the look, old school pine goes to high gloss shine then back again. My own taste is for thick heavy traditional furniture and as such all my stuff is solid pitch pine reclaimed from old buildings. My dining table was a couple of roof beams from a local chapel. But not everyone can build it themselves and these days very few can afford custom made..

There have always been tiers in purchasing furniture, I remember Gillows selling really expensive stuff and MFI at the other end..

After a behind the scenes tour at a stately home a National trust restorer showed me that Chippendale never polished or coated anything you couldn't see, inside draws, under rails were all left as bare timber. Many items were made of pine with Mahogany Veneer added (though it was hand cut thick stuff) Then you move to Utility furniture that had the thinnest veneer ever over pine cores to make the most of post war supplies...

I think it's harsh to judge any company for supplying what people want to buy.

On the other hand miss representing what you are selling to make people want to buy it is wrong.

I wouldn't buy from OFL because the adverts do my head in... but I like the meatballs at Ikea.

 

[tomatwark]

We make solid wood furniture now and then, but most of the stuff we make is usually a combination of manufactured board and solid wood.

I have always thought that OFL is sailing around the edges of the trade descriptions act with they way the describe the make up of their stuff.

I am always straight with my customers and have never had problem.

As I point out to customers if the likes of Chippendale had access to the range of manufactured boards we have today they would have used them, but instead used Pine as their Ply, MDF and Chipboard.

 

[Wizard9999]

I see "100% solid hardwood" has been replaced with "100% real hardwood" as an overarching slogan. Individual ranges refer to "solid hardwood" but omit the "100%" and the dining tables refer to "realhardwood" so I guess they are the only pieces using the "oak wrap". Sneaky, but now probably acceptable to the ASA I guess. The word veneer doesn't seem to feature anywhere on their site.

Terry.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I've had dealings with the ASA, over adverts trying to dupe older people into buying stupidly-expensive electric heaters, claiming they somehow saved them money. They agreed with me, just, but didn't do much more than wave a finger at the company concerned.

The ASA can't see a hair without trying to split it.

And yet one of this morning's big stories is about protecting gamblers from online casino-type companies. Not the ASA, admittedly, but even so.

 

[RobinBHM]

Mcdonalds always make me laugh with their 'made from 100% pure beef'.

I suppose furniture land could say 'made from 100% pure hardwood' -just add some oak wrap, glue, pallet wood etc etc.

I actually dont have a problem with oak furniture land. It uses a lot of the tree up and ok its not the best timber selection, with lots of sap, worm holes, knots etc, but nevertheless the prices are on a par with quality pine furniture that was in fashion 20 years ago and it offers furniture constructed in solid oak at a price point that is affordable to the average punter.

An oak furniture land sideboard placed in a nicely decorated and well dressed room would look great. in solid timber It should take quite a few knocks. It may be made in a million pieces but that probably means it is more stable, not less. Bes to avoid any with woodworm though!

 

[kdampney]

The thing I don't get is why nearly all oak furniture makers use the same oval drawer-pulls, which (to my fingers) feel cheap and sharp-edged?

Examples:
Top Funiture - Sideboard

OFL - Sideboard

Oak Furniture King - Console Table

Mercers Furniture - Bedside Cabinet

Are they a particular 'French rustic' style, or just the cheapest? Or is all the furniture from the same supplier?

 

[Eric The Viking]

I think OFL say on their web site somewhere that they source finished products from abroad. So, presumably it's all from the same supplier - not unlikely.

We bought a bedroom suite from Laura Ashley about three years ago. It had the manufacturer's name and stickers on it, so I looked them up, only to find the range they did for LA proudly displayed on their web site, along with other ranges for other big department store names. I think they were Latvian (or Lithuanian - can't remember exactly), and the furniture was none the worse for that. TO be fair, It's not great quality, but it is good enough, and very much nicer than the random set of stuff we had previously.

If you think about it, producing the sort of furniture in the posting above, to me almost indistinguishable from OFL's products, in the very high volumes necessary, probably needs a big investment in the production line. It makes a lot of sense that they'll sell to anyone who'll buy in bulk.

 

[YorkshireMartin]

Is OFL not the company who import factory seconds/returns from the far east and sell them as new?

Thought I read that somewhere but I may be mistaken.

 

[tomatwark]

Rather than buying seconds


I suspect it is more of the case that the buyers from OFL will go to the factory and say how much the want to pay and what quality the will accept for the price and other retailers may well go to the same factory and pay a little more but expect slightly higher quality.

Much like the factory that makes Quansheng planes.

 

[Bodgers]

To play devils advocate here.. My mother in law came into some money a while back, and completely decked out her bedroom (wardrobe, bed, drawers, side tables etc.) from this place. She is delighted with the stuff. She has never owned hardwood furniture before, so this a huge step up. Yes, this stuff is made from multiple laminations (with questionable grain matching) but to her it is fine, and she wouldn't notice until you pointed it out. Most people wouldn't. What is important is that it is massively better than flimsy self assembly chip board junk. No issues with warping etc. - presumably because there are so many laminations (!) I am happy because I haven't been asked to make furniture, and she is happy because she has oak. Everyone is happy.


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[RogerS]

The thing I don't get is why nearly all oak furniture makers use the same oval drawer-pulls, which (to my fingers) feel cheap and sharp-edged?

.....

You've answered it in your post ! They are cheap (and nasty).

 

[otter]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Anyone else got an advert for the very same company at the bottom of the page of this thread?

 

[bugbear]

And yet nobody (that I know) has a problem with kitchen counter tops being made up (glued up) of smaller pieces.

BugBear

 

[RogerS]

And yet nobody (that I know) has a problem with kitchen counter tops being made up (glued up) of smaller pieces.

BugBear

The counter tops I've seen have much larger pieces than those I can see in the OFL stuff. Also using small pieces of wood to glue together to make drawer fronts is pretty naff IMO and tatty

 

[Bodgers]

And yet nobody (that I know) has a problem with kitchen counter tops being made up (glued up) of smaller pieces.

BugBear

The counter tops I've seen have much larger pieces than those I can see in the OFL stuff. Also using small pieces of wood to glue together to make drawer fronts is pretty naff IMO and tatty

In fairness, for the money, it isn't that bad.

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[RogerS]

And yet nobody (that I know) has a problem with kitchen counter tops being made up (glued up) of smaller pieces.

BugBear

The counter tops I've seen have much larger pieces than those I can see in the OFL stuff. Also using small pieces of wood to glue together to make drawer fronts is pretty naff IMO and tatty

In fairness, for the money, it isn't that bad.

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Trouble is it distorts people's perceptions and disavows any concept of aesthetics. People start to think that this is the price that they only need to pay for a piece of furniture regardless as to whether or not it has been glued together from bits of scrap (Oak Furniture Land) or lovingly and skilfully made by a cabinet maker.

Case in point...I had a guy call me up who wanted a new table top from oak for his coffee table. I priced it up (and wasted a lot of timing in doing so) and when I gave him the not-unreasonable price (given that he wanted it in as few pieces as possible) he fell off his chair. When asked what he was expecting to pay ...£20 was the answer".

It's our society that's at fault. People want cheap. They know the cost of everything and the value of SFA.