What makes Young America furniture the safest and most durable you can buy?
It's simple.
 

1. We start with the best quality materials.
2. We design each piece with a fanatical attention to detail.
3. We build each piece to meet or exceed industry safety standards.

Here's a quick look at what sets Young America apart from the rest.

 

Construction Strength		Strength & Durability	Safety	Convenience
	Mortise and tenon construction
	Dovetail construction
Listen and Feel		Strength & Durability	Safety	Convenience
	Furniture should be strong and silent. Pieces should remain sturdy and quiet when you place your hand on top and try to rock it.
Fit and Finish		Strength & Durability	Safety	Convenience
	A custom multi-step, lead-free and formaldehyde-free finish process
	All exposed surfaces (including interior areas) are sanded smooth
	Doors and drawers open and close easily and sit flush when closed
Drawers		Strength & Durability	Safety	Convenience
	Solid wood drawer sides, backs and bottoms
	Heavy-duty metal drawer guides with automatic drawer stops prevent dangerous spills and guarantee smooth drawer "glide" for many years
	Dust panels to seal each unit and keep your kids socks separate from their sweat shirts.
Beds		Strength & Durability	Safety	Convenience
	Solid hardwood square posts as thick as 3 inches provide stability
	Warp-free plywood bed rails secured through bed posts with steel bolts
	Guard rails and bunk bed ladders secured with screws, not hooks
	Wood slat-roll mattress supports; no need for box springs or "bunkie boards"
	Hi-lo adjustable locking system allows beds to work safely with or without a box spring
Adjustable levelers		Strength & Durability	Safety	Convenience
	Adjustable inserts eliminate wobbly furniture in older homes where the floors may not be exactly level

MATERIALS

Which wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

At Young America, we "chuck" any wood that does not meet our strict quality guidelines. Every piece of furniture we make starts with only the best wood for a combination of strength, beauty and character. No two pieces of wood are the same and that's how you know you're looking at real wood products. But it's not just about choosing the best wood, it's about choosing the right kind of wood and preparing it to stand up to everyday life in your child's room.

The Right Wood

Hardwood
Strange, but the term "hardwood" actually has nothing to do with the degree of hardness. Actually, it refers to all leaf-bearing trees. The types of hardwood you're most likely to find used in youth furniture include cherry, oak, ash, birch, beech, maple, poplar.

Softwood
Softwood comes from trees with needles or foliage that remain green all year round. Almost all softwood used in youth furniture is pine.

We like to use poplar for frame construction and other interior or weight-bearing parts for their exceptional strength, stability and shock absorption qualities.

For exterior surfaces that are going to be specially worked, carved, finished or polished, we choose from a variety of options depending upon the design and finish we are looking to achieve.

Hardwood or softwood, there's no wrong choice. Each species has its own distinctive natural characteristics that create a unique and beautiful design once an appropriate finish is applied.

Getting Ready

After the wood is selected, we carefully prepare it to withstand heat, humidity and wear. Some woods must be air dried for 6 months before spending the next 2 months "cooking" in a special kiln to achieve the ideal moisture content. Like aging fine wine, it is a long, precisely controlled process that requires expertise and patience, but the results are well worth it.

Once the lumber has been properly prepared, it is cut into smaller pieces and planed, or smoothed. Then, the pieces are sorted and matched for color. Only the best will become Young America furniture.

Solid vs. Veneered Wood Construction

The words "solid" and "veneer" as used in the furniture industry may cause more confusion for today's furniture consumer than any other product specification. Why? Both types of construction use real wood. Unfortunately, the word "veneer" still conjures images of inexpensive wall paneling or laminate kitchen counter tops that were popular in the 1970's. For many, "veneer furniture" is synonymous with something "fake." The perception that veneered wood is synthetic or of a lesser quality is simply not true.

Wood veneering is used in about 80% of all wood furniture sold today, from the least to the most expensive brands. Veneer is solid wood... or we should say it once was. Veneer comes from solid wood that has been split into very thin layers. In veneer wood construction, these layers of wood are permanently bonded together in plies. They are then affixed to flat synthetic surfaces which hold no moisture, never expand or contract, and, therefore are designed to never warp or split. The flat surfaces underneath the wood veneer stay flat and smooth due to the fact that they are not living, breathing, natural resources like solid wood. These surfaces provide exceptional strength and versatility. The wood veneer lies on top and allows for the beauty of matching and repeating grain patterns that are impossible with solid lumber.

"Solid" is used to describe furniture with drawer fronts, tops, panels, and other surfaces made from one piece of wood. Solid wood surfaces are composed of thicker wood planks, permanently bonded together, side-by-side. This type of solid wood construction prevents the moisture content in solid wood from causing splitting or warping when the temperature or humidity changes causing the wood to naturally expand or contract. It also provides some decorative variation in the color of a finished piece.