New sofa HM or Century

We are in the market for new sofas. We believe we narrowed our choices down to HM and Century. We are looking for fabric. My main concern is how the frames compare to one another. I am not concerned about the ecstatics on the outside. I am really concerned with build quality.

Both are good and well-developed. Neither is subject to frame and spring up failures.

Century Signature is solid hardwood. Century Cornerstone is plywood.

Hancock and Moore is solid hardwood except on motion furniture and Your Way pieces, which are plywood based.

I did not realize the Your Way pieces were plywood. Interesting. I assume that's because it's easier to work with for customizations.

Thanks, so would say it’s worth going with the signature collection over the cornerstone? Plywood for some reason concerns me it will not be as strong as hardwood.

Read into this thread and you can see photos of both the solid maple frame plant, and the motion plant (# 3) where the motion and Your Way is made of Russian Birch plywood.

http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...re-s-Factories

Don't assume plywood is always inferior - though the perception is generally that it is. As in most things you can buy or source, there is cheap plywood and expensive kinds. There are things you can do with Plywood that make the frame MUCH stronger than solid hardwood, especially on arm joints attached to frames where solid hardwood can split out. From a quality builder, you won't see frame or suspension failures in either, the return rate on frames is something like 1 in 20,000. I might have a loose frame joint once every ten years on a piece, and when that occurs the wood "squeaks" or makes noise at the joint.

There are three issues in the solid wood furniture frame builds:

1) Workers. It's very difficult to find wood workers in todays' employment force. If you go into H&M's solid wood frame factory, the average age there is probably 55 years old. Those are unwanted jobs and this is a major problem going forward as the workforce ages out.

2) Time. It takes far longer to build a solid wood frame. And time is money that comes back to the consumer in the costs of goods. While I don't have the time/study sheets, my guess is that it takes ten times longer to make half a dozen frames from solid vs plywood, as the later is cut out by a high speed CNC machine.

3) Material cost. Solid maple and Solid ash are quite a bit more costly than plywoods.

Personally, I would not be concerned about the kind of frames used from a reputable manufacturer. They do their engineering studies and they hold up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by drcollie

Read into this thread and you can see photos of both the solid maple frame plant, and the motion plant (# 3) where the motion and Your Way is made of Russian Birch plywood.

http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...re-s-Factories

Don't assume plywood is always inferior - though the perception is generally that it is. As in most things you can buy or source, there is cheap plywood and expensive kinds. There are things you can do with Plywood that make the frame MUCH stronger than solid hardwood, especially on arm joints attached to frames where solid hardwood can split out. From a quality builder, you won't see frame or suspension failures in either, the return rate on frames is something like 1 in 20,000. I might have a loose frame joint once every ten years on a piece, and when that occurs the wood "squeaks" or makes noise at the joint.

There are three issues in the solid wood furniture frame builds:

1) Workers. It's very difficult to find wood workers in todays' employment force. If you go into H&M's solid wood frame factory, the average age there is probably 55 years old. Those are unwanted jobs and this is a major problem going forward as the workforce ages out.

2) Time. It takes far longer to build a solid wood frame. And time is money that comes back to the consumer in the costs of goods. While I don't have the time/study sheets, my guess is that it takes ten times longer to make half a dozen frames from solid vs plywood, as the later is cut out by a high speed CNC machine.

3) Material cost. Solid maple and Solid ash are quite a bit more costly than plywoods.

Personally, I would not be concerned about the kind of frames used from a reputable manufacturer. They do their engineering studies and they hold up.

---

Thanks that was a good thread.

Yeah, you are quite right. Build quality is the most important aspect of a sofa