Why Does Amish Furniture Use Old Growth Wood?

The Amish are meticulous in the sourcing and crafting of their furniture. They only use the best, seasoned, old growth hardwood in their pieces. They utilize patterns that have been handed down through the generations and perfected over time. Each piece is handmade under the careful eye of a seasoned craftsman. Amish furniture has become popular because it is not only beautiful but durable and heirloom quality. Most of those attributes relate directly to the use of old growth hardwood.

Amish Furniture Doesn’t Get Much Tougher Than This

Old growth wood is among the toughest of woods on the planet. The mechanisms that enable a tree to survive for decades and even hundreds of years, each season adding growth and bulk to its form, makes for a fiber that is desirable for its durability. These trees are denser and have often been cultivated by generations of the same family. Milled in the quarter sawn or plain sawn methods, Amish furniture withstands decades of hard use by an active family while still retaining its form and luster. When a building made of old growth wood is torn down, the wood is a hot commodity as it can be repurposed make more times before it has no life left in it. This is one of the reasons that reclaimed barn wood pieces are so popular.

Rot and Bug Resistant

Due to the rigid structure of old growth wood, the tough fiber that has stood through countless seasons of the changeable weather common in Amish settled areas, it is less prone to rot. The same softness that makes new growth wood pliable makes it susceptible to taking on moisture and swelling. A well-seasoned piece of old growth wood has an intrinsic resistance to water–no wood is completely rot proof but old growth wood attempts to be. Another benefit of the rigid structure of old growth wood is that insects such as termites have a hard time finding a purchase in this wood. It would take a mighty determined infestation to chew through a piece of old growth wood furniture and as insects, like most of nature, tend to take the path of least resistance, they are going to go for softer woods that are easier to consume and digest before they will attempt something as unyielding as old growth wood.

Heirloom Beauty

Last but not least of the reasons the Amish utilize old growth hardwood in their furniture is the natural beauty of the wood and heirloom quality of the finished pieces. The Amish believe in hard work but they see no reason for extraneous work when simple would do just fine. The dense fibers of the old growth hardwood add a unique shimmer and sheen to each piece of furniture, giving it a unique, yet uniform appearance. Amish furniture was likely made originally to furnish the homes of large Amish families and needs to last through the years. Through this process, the craftsmanship was perfected and Amish and non-Amish alike reap the benefits.