Most respondents preferred solid
wood furniture to veneer construction (Table 2). About 93 percent of
respondents would like domestically
made furniture and 80 percent of that
group did not like imported furniture.
Customers also preferred character
marked furniture to clear grain.
Almost half of respondents preferred delivery within three to four
weeks, and 22 percent wanted delivery
within six weeks of their order.
Preferred wood
attributes
Preferred attributes
Solid wood
Veneer construction
Both solid wood & veneer
U.S. made
Imported
Both U. S. made & imported
Character marks
Clear grain
Both marks and clear
Light finishes
Dark finishes
Both light and dark
Percent of
respondents
72.5
12. 5
15.0
80.5
7. 3
12. 2
60.0
27.5
12. 5
35.0
35.0
30.0
Solid wood and U.S.-made construction were
the most wanted attributes.
Assembling wormy sycamore table at the
Hodges Wood Products Laboratory at North
Carolina State. (Harry Watt, project leader)
These survey results are preliminary findings about customer perceptions of the use of underutilized species in furniture. Similar surveys will
be conducted at other home/furniture
shows to get a better and much larger
sample of customers to understand
The authors wish to thank the USDA
and USFS’s Wood Education and
Resource Center in Princeton, W.Va.,
for their support of the project and to the
respondents. For more information contact
Harry Watt, hwwatt@ncsu.edu.
retailer and homeowner preferences
for furniture made with underutilized
species. ●
