Help with Solid Wood Furniture

The_Bloodster

I recently bought some Solid Wood furniture from the Hampshire range in Argos and I'm a bit disappointed with it. I thought rather than buying cheaper furniture I'd buy the Solid Wood variety. After spending over £300 on 3 pieces of living furniture I was disappointed to see how easily it can get scratched.

Within a day it had on small dents on the top of the table and a small scratch and all I did was put some kids toys on it!! Since having the furniture about a month the table now has a scratch on the side and the Sideboard cupboard shelf has loads of scratches on it from pulling a lego box in and out.

I want to know if this is the case with all Solid Wood furniture? For me it seems that this isnt protected enough for everyday use. Previously I had black ash furntiure which was made with chipboard (I think) and the covering on that never scratched in the 10 years I had it even with a youngster about.

Argos say they will replace it as they think it may have not been protected properly but for me I can't see all three pieces suffering the same way and if I kept it 1, 2 or 10 years down the road what sort of state is that going to be in!!

Has anyone got any views?

sarahlouise210

Is it Pine ?? Pine dents and scratches very easily as it is a soft wood. Chipbourd hass a laminate on it that is quite stong but looks worse if it is chipped as the underneath is a different colour.

superscotsman

You can probably protect it yourself with several coats of polyurithane varnish. That's pretty tough. If you want real wood furniture, (perhaps you might wait for the kids to grow a bit) you will find that if you do a David Dickinson you will find that an antique will not cost a great deal more than a repro. I have even known one or two cases where the real mccoy has cost less than the repro. The stuff in Argos is crap. Someone recently gave me a catalogue from the much vaunted Ikea. I don't know what the Swedish word is: in Danish it is sludder.

The_Bloodster

Thanks for your views I just thought I was being unreasonable. Yes it is pine furniture so it seems as if I would be much better off with the covered chipboard style furniture whilst my son is young. When playing it can get bashed a bit I just wanted something a bit more solid than the norm really.

I think I will probably be going back to Argos and getting a refund which they have already offered and probably buy some other flat pack furniture from them which seems to last me much longer and can be a bit cheaper.