Hardwood lumber has long been a  mainstay  raw material for U.S. furniture makers. Its importance relative to other raw materials, however, has changed significantly during the past 40 to 50 years

Bullard, Steven H

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Stephen F. Austin State UniversitySFA ScholarWorksFaculty Publications Forestry1990Trends of hardwood lumber use in makinghousehold furniture.Steven H. BullardStephen F. Austin State University, Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, bullardsh@sfasu.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/forestryPart of the Forest Sciences CommonsTell us how this article helped you.This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Forestry at SFA ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publicationsby an authorized administrator of SFA ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact cdsscholarworks@sfasu.edu.Recommended CitationBullard, Steven H., "Trends of hardwood lumber use in making household furniture." (1990). Faculty Publications. Paper 74.http://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/forestry/74Trends of Hardwood Lumber Use in Making Household Furniture By Steven H. Bullard Hardwood lumber has long been a "mainstay" raw material for U.S. fur-niture makers. Its importance relative to other raw materials, however, has changed significantly during the past 40 to 50 years. Trends in the use ofhardwood lum-ber for making household furniture are influenced by many factors, but an important point is very clear from past David Larson, of Minnegold Store Fixture Co., says:* "Experience shows that the Profimat planer/ moulder is the profit· able way to· machine four sides simultane-ously:· Production costs will fall at once and profits will rise. Why bother working with your old single-purpose machines anymore? *One year ago the company installed the Weinig Profimat in their workshop. Go ahead! Ask Weinig. The No.1 in moulders. worldwide. ~ Michael Weinig Inc. k::J P.O.Box 5536 312 Meacham Road Statesville, N.C. 28677 Circle Reader Info No 121 years: consumer trends, particularly broad trends in preferences for furni-ture styles, dominate the factors that . influence hardwood lumber use in household furniture. This point is discussed below as" A Lesson from the Past," and is also applied to an "Out-lookforthe Future" for hardwood lum-ber in use in household furniture. Twenty-five years ago, the lead paragraph of an article published in the technical journal of the Forest Products Research Society stated: "Hardwood lumbermen are losing their quality market: the furniture in-dustry. Between 1947 and 1960, this industry made 71 percent more furni-ture with 1 percent less number. Relative 'to production, lumber use in the manufacture of furniture and fix-tures declined by 1. 4 billion board feet! Why?" (Dr. Vernon Robinson, Forest Products Journal, July 1965) Why were "hardwood lumbermen losing their quality market" in the 1950s? Dr. Robinson presented two important reasons- furniture styles were changing, and substitution was taking place with other raw materials. The use of plywood, metals, plastics and other products increased because they were becoming widely available and competitive with hardwood lum-ber in cost and versatility. Perhaps the most important "lesson from the past" in the case, however, is that opportunities to use substitutes for hardwood lumber arose as consumers Furniture Lumber Use Relative to Production (million board feet) += r+~~~~-+~~~~~~~ += r+~+1~~-+~~~+1~~H +~tt~~=tij~j=t!~!j=tjj:j -200 r+~~~~-+~~~N~~H ~r+~+1~~-+~~~+4~~H -- r+~~~~-+~~~~~-l\-1~ ~r+~+1~~-+~~~+1~~1H ·1ooor+~~~~-+~~~~~~H 1930 1940 1950 1960 1930 1940 - 1950 1960 Figure 1 "Lumber use relative to furniture production dropped by 1.4 billion board feet between 1947 and 1960. • "The decrease in relative lumber use coincided with increased popularity of 'modern' furniture styles. • increasingly preferred contemporary the total level of furniture output. The or "modern" furniture styles. The index increased until1947, then de-contemporary furniture styles of the clined dramatically, dropping by 1.4 1950s simply required less hardwood billionboard feetby1960. Throughout lumber than traditional styles such as the time line of the graph, the lumber Early American, Victorian, or the is primarily hardwood (82 percent in "waterfall modern"furniturethat was 1960, for example). popular in the 1930s and early 1940s. The lower part of Figure 1 shows The dramatic effect of changes in why the relative "market loss" oc-furniture styles on lumber consump- curred. Based on furniture style sur-tion by the industry shown in Figure 1 veys of casegoods shown in the Chicago (a composite adapted from two graphs and Grand Rapids m arkets, the originally presented in Dr. Robinson's popularity of"modern" furniture styles article). The top graph in Figure 1 is increased dramatically in the late an index oflumber used in furniture 1940s and early 1950s. Traditional manufacturing in the U.S. relative to furniture styles shown at these mar-1--- - ------------_j__ ____ _____ _____ l kets peaked in popularity in 1940, and Precision Laser Box5654 High Point. North Carolina 27~262 Phone: 919·889·8384 - · -Fax: 919-889-5826 - 4&JI Precision Laser. with Its 48"x 96" table and advanced CAD/CAM programming system. can reproduce from your drawings any parts In wood. plasHc and thin metal using either your material or material supplied by us. CALL US FOR FREE QUOTAnONSI door grilles brackets backsplats chair stretchers mirror frames inlayed veneers fretwork flat parts cuNed parts die board clock parts ~ the index of relative wood use peaked seven years later. The lag is probably due to several factors. The markets are wholesale markets, and they may lag behind or they may even precede true changes in consumer preferences. Also, early 1940s styles of "modern" furniture tended to use much more wood per piece than modern furniture of the late 1940s and 1950s. Since 1960, the relative use of hardwood lumber for furniture pro-duction has continued to be directly influenced by prevailing furniture styles. Figure 2 illustrates trends in the relative use of hardwood lumber, softwood lumber and composite pan-els in household furniture production. The figure is based on information compiled by Dr. William Luppold of the USDA Forest Service in West Vir-ginia. The figure tends to reinforce the "lesson from the past" of the 1950s-that style is a dominant factor in the relative use of raw materials in furni-ture, including the use of hardwood lumber. The impact of style trends is Circle Reader Info No 117 20 Modern Woodworking/December 1990 ;L{i-2) Relative Use of Wood Materials in Household Furniture (1963=100) 300 CC MF 0~ ITE P1I'NE LS 250 I 200 / J 150 V SC FrVVC OC LL ME EF -100 -~--~--- -~--- -1--i"""" 50 0 1965 1970 Figure 2 shown in Figure 2 by the drop in rela-tive use of composite panels in the 1970s, and by the reversal of the his-toric trend of declining relative use of hardwood lumber. These trends seem to be due to an increase in the popu-larity of traditional furniture styles; as stated by Dr. Luppold: "Since hardwood lumber prices have increased as fast or faster than the prices of competing products, the in-crease in lumber use probably stems from consumer desires for more hard-wood lumber rather than furnit ure manufacturers efforts to reduce costs." Since furniture styles and "con-sumer desires" have been a dominant factor in hardwood lumber use in the past, what are the current trends in styles and "desires," and what do they portend for hardwood lumber use in furniture in the 1990s? Traditional furniture styles con-tinued to increase in popularity through the 1980s, and recent surveys at national markets show that tradi-tional styles of furniture remain in strong demand by consumers. Since occasional tables are pur-chased more frequently than other, larger pieces of furniture, demand trends in occasional tables have come to be considered leading indicators of ov~rall trends in furniture style. Since the late 1970s, and increasing per-centage of the wood occasional tables shown at national markets have been in traditional rather than contempo-rary styles (surveys by R.D. Behm Co., Vancouver, WA, for the Northwest Hardwoods Division ofW eyerhaeuser ). What furniture designs wiU be popular in the 1990s? If occasional table demand is a leading indicator, traditional styles will continue to be popular, oak lumber will maintain its strong demand, and cherry, mahogany, pine and walnut-pecan woods will in-crease in popularity. The promotional campaign for solid hardwood furniture sponsored by the Hardwood Manufacturers Association HJI RDWC 0[ Ll~M ~EF 1975 1980 is an additional, positive factor for hardwood use in the 1990s. The cam-paign has been well-organized and well-designed; it emphasizes invest-ment value, durability and other qualities of solid hardwood furniture that U.S. consumers are expected to increasingly prefer in the 1990s. Although traditional furniture styles have increased in popularity in recent years, it should also be em-phasized that no one "dominant theme" has emerged as a strong trend in style for the 1990s. Several prominent fur-niture designers, for example, have emphasized that overall comfort and function will be more important to consumers than specific styles. "Mix-and-match/' or what designers have called "eclecticism," is expected to dominate consumers' furniture buying in the 1990s. This "trend" is important to hardwood lumber pro-cessors and users. However, since the ability to "mix-and-match" is a clear attribute of hardwood furniture, an attribute also highlighted in the campaign to promote solid hardwood furniture by the Hardwood Manufac-turers Association. Just as in the past, many factors will influence the relative importance ofhardwood lumber in U.S. furniture production in coming years. Timber availability, lumber prices, lumber export markets and furniture imports are a few ofthe issues that will directly influence U.S. manufacturers' pro-duction decisions. Although many factors influence manufacturers' deci-sions, household furniture is ulti-mately a consumer product, and if re-cent trends in consumer preferences are a prologue to the future in this industry, hardwood lumber will con-tinue to be in strong demand for household furniture throughout the 1990s.D (Dr. Bullard is associate professor of forestry economics at Mississippi State University. His various published reports are available by writing Dr. Bullard, P.O. Drawer FR, Mississippi State, MS, 39762.) ''DOES MY COMPU-GAUGE OPTIMIZER SAVE ME MONEY?" "YOU BET! That's why I'm buying six more!'' VITAL STATISTICS: PRODUCT: Kitchen Cabinet Doors, Drawer Fronts, and Face Framing LOCATION: Jacksonville, Arkansas PLANT SIZE: 90,000 sq. ft./250 Employees LUMBER VOLUME: 40,000 bd. ft. per day SPECIES: Red Oak, White Oak, Hickory Circle Reader Info No 148 Modern Woodworking/December 1990 21 

Trends of hardwood lumber use in making household furniture.

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Trends of hardwood lumber use in making household furniture.

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