STANDARDS—HOW WE DO THINGS 

Unless we agree otherwise, Desert Craftsmen construction is of air dried white oak, with mortise and tenon joints pinned with contrasting wooden dowels, tusk and tenon joints, or box joints as appropriate to the application. The intent is to use as little technology as possible in our furniture. We therefore use no metal fasteners except for latches, and hinges where surface- mounting is necessary.

We try to use quarter-sawn oak for all visible surfaces as it is dimensionally stable, interesting visually, and takes the most benefit from the amonia-fumed finishing we use. It is, however, about twice as expensive as plain-sawn oak. Therefore, if all agree, we will substitute plain-sawn oak for less conspicuous parts, or for all where a less dramatic piece is wanted.

There are seven phases of our standard finishing process:

1. After final dry assembly, each piece is sanded with 60-grit sand paper to assure the best possible fit. It is then disassembled and each stick is sanded with 120-grit, then 180-grit abrasives.
2. The piece is then glued, assembled and clamped to its final configuration. When the glue is well set, we scrape off any excess and give a final sanding with 320-grit paper.
3. The piece is then sealed in an airtight cabinet with other pieces at the same stage of completion and exposed to the fumes of 26 baume aqua ammonia for a period of 12 to 48 hours. How long is a complex judgement call, and is influenced by temperature, humidity, and the area of oak being fumed at the time. It's more art than science and more black magic than either art or science.
4. When the fuming is complete, the pieces are set out in the fresh air for a day. That ammonia is nasty stuff, and better to let the wind return its nitrogen to the planetary pool.
5. Once airing is complete, the piece is given one coat of one-pound cut garnet-grade shellac. This seals the wood, sets the color, and provides a good surface for the next step.
6. Three coats of water-based urethane varnish are applied, with sanding between the coats with abrasive mesh pads.
7. The final step is to apply three coats of black-pigmented paste wax. The wax is applied with mesh pads before buffing with terry cloth rags.

Our standard finish produces furniture with clear yet soft edges, a rich, warm golden brown color, and a silken feel to the hand.

Special Treatments and Finishes

We can, within limits, finish our projects in any way you want. To be sure, the ideal Arts & Crafts finish is ammonia fuming, which produces a warm golden brown tone ranging from dark golden to just a bit lighter than milk chocolate. But as noted elsewhere, it's more art than science, but more witchcraft than either art or science. So if you need an exact color, to match other pieces, for example, we may need to use stains, dyes, or some combination with or without initial fuming. We'll need a sample, but we'll be able to get very, very close to the exact color you want. This will likely entail a price adjustment upward.

As was pointed out elsewhere, we think waxed satin varnish gives the surface appearance most consistent with our idea of what Arts & Crafts furniture ought to look like. If you don't agree, we'll finish your commission as you specify. Your options include no varnish, just wax; satin, matte or gloss varnish, waxed or not; or another technique as you specify. You may be looking at a price adjustment, maybe up, maybe down.

Likewise, the furniture we make for you is new...but it doesn't have to look like it. If you have other, older, pieces to match, we can distress and 'age' your commission to look very similar. We'll need photos and descriptions. While this process gives us wonderful therapy, it also requires intense care and control to get the effect desired. It is therefore costly.

The Color Palette:

Not Fumed, Waxed Only.

Not fumed, with shellac and wax.

Not fumed, with varnish and wax.

Not fumed, with shellac.

Not fumed, with varnish.

Not fumed, sanded.

Fumed, waxed only.

Fumed, with shellac and wax.

Fumed, with varnish and wax.

Fumed, with shellac.

Fumed, with varnish.

Fumed and sanded.

Upholstered pieces are another place where the variations in the finished product are endless. For leather upholstery, we'll send you swatches of what we have available. Pick one and tell us what it is and we're in business. The options are vast if the upholstery is fabric. We'll need some guidance on color and pattern, and again we'll send you samples of what we can find. In either case, if you don't like what we can get, we'll be happy to use any material you provide and give you a corresponding discount.

A Note on Materials

As we've said often, the wood we prefer to use for the visible parts of our projects is quarter sawn white oak. We'll use other woods on request. But oak and most other solid woods are too expensive to use where it can't be seen and appreciated. They're also less stable than other readily available alternatives, too. So where appropriate we use high grade plywood and hardboard. That improves our quality and reduces our costs...and therefore our prices.

We limit ourselves to 19th Century technology and materials except where newer materials improve our products without changing their appearance. There are two notable examples. Modern glues work vastly better than the hide glues from days of yore, so that's what we use. And while we use shellac to set color and seal our projects, water based urethane varnish gives us a smoother, harder and tougher finish than either multiple coats of shellac or old time varnish.

Reality Rears Its Head

Desert Craftmen tends to stick rather closely to the accepted Arts & Crafts "vocabulary". We are, however, in business. And while the Arts & Crafts ayatollahs can decree doctinal purity, we can't. And won't. So if you want it and if it's more or less Arts & Crafts, we'll make it for you. Gladly. But if it has spindly cabriole legs, drips frou-frou, or involves white enamel and gold leaf, frankly, we'd rather not.

Delivery Time

Custom craftsmanship takes time, both for your project and for those that came in ahead of you. But time is valuable, too. So we'll do our best to deliver your commission in a timely manner consistent with good work. We tend to run with a backlog of three to six weeks before we can start a new project. If it's of concern to you we'll ballpark a delivery date before we start work.