Reducing Your Furniture Footprint: Hardwoods Offer the Most Sustainable Furniture Option

american-hardwood

Source: Canary Cabinets via Pinterest

Sustainability is a hot topic for many people that are looking to commission a piece of custom furniture today. As a fine furniture maker in Boston, I work with a number of eco-friendly materials to craft furniture and find that some of the best environmentally friendly choices are American hardwoods.

Recently, there has been some controversy as to if American hardwoods truly offer a sustainable resource. The facts are undeniable that hardwoods are indeed a sustainable material to use in furniture making as Congress passed resolutions in 2009 and 2010 to recognize the American hardwood industry as environmentally preferable. Imported wood substitutes simply do not have the quality control standards that the American hardwood industry has in place and therefore potentially do not offer the same environmental advantages.

Something else to keep in mind is that furniture production using natural wood is more energy efficient as the process is often limited to running a saw blade and using the kiln for drying. Also, there tends to be less waste when making furniture with hardwoods versus other materials because much of the unused material can be repurposed for other uses, such as tree bark becoming mulch and sawdust being used for animal bedding.

So as you begin your search for a fine furniture maker in Boston that uses sustainable materials, please keep me in mind. If you have any questions about that materials that I work with most often or about commissioning a custom piece of furniture, please contact me.

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