A PROFESSIONAL EYE ON WOODEN TV STANDS
This website lists informative reviews, compares brands and shows the best tv stands deals online. Here you will be able to find actual news.
While price and aesthetics are certainly important, there are a number of factors that should go into selecting a new TV stand. While not immediately obvious to the average consumer, these three areas will make a dramatic difference in the quality and longevity of wooden TV stands.
Try to make your selection from a store with accessible display models, whenever possible. This will allow a much more comprehensive assessment of each variety's design, materials, and joints.
Substrate material makes a huge difference in durability and preferred joinery techniques. Unless clearly written on the box, look around the back of the unit to determine what kind of material is in use. Each common variety has strengths and weaknesses, and you'll want to be able to assess whether or not these have been taken into account in the design of the piece.
Next, you'll want to examine visible joints where possible and determine which strategies have been used in their construction. Machined joints, such as tongue and groove-style connections, or mortise and tenon style joints are to be preferred. Avoid pieces which rely on screws, especially in particle board, or locking tabs.
With foreknowledge and a few additional assembly tips, it's easy to select good values among the range of inferior options.
IS THIS UNIT BUILT TO LAST?
With any furniture purchase, you want to evaluate whether the design and construction of a piece is conducive to long and reliable service. This is especially important with wooden TV stands, as failure in the field could damage or destroy your television, incurring several times the purchase price of a better-construction unit in replacement costs for a new TV.
See if your unit features a strong backing material, preferably MDF or plywood rather than low-density fiberboard or cardboard. Backing material keeps the unit square under load and distributes weight evenly across the joints. Make sure it's not simply attached in the corners, but in as many ways and places as possible. Once the stand begins to shift out of square, failure is inevitable.
Material selection and joinery is another important factor, though difficult to evaluate without direct inspection. Whenever possible, try to select your purchase from a physical, brick-and-mortar store with display models you can examine before making a selection.
IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE THAT COUNTS
Owing to the increased materials and manufacturing cost of solid wood units, most wooden TV stands are instead made from a veneered substrate. This can be either plywood, MDF, particle board, or a combination thereof.
MDF, or medium density fiberboard, is a heavy, brown material without grain. It's made by compressing a mixture of glue, sawdust, and wood fiber. While dimensionally stable and resilient under pressure, MDF is extremely vulnerable to water damage and most varieties don't hold machined joints well.
Particle board is another option, but one to be avoided whenever possible. Composed of wood chips and glue, sandwiched between backing material and subjected to extreme pressure, it shares many of the features and vulnerabilities of MDF. In addition, however, particle board is very poorly suited to machined joints.
The most versatile substrates are layered combinations, but these are rare. You want to examine the joinery and design of each unit, to see if the weaknesses of each type of substrate has been taken into account.
AN EYE ON JOINERY
Not all pieces are created equal. The joinery techniques used in different manufacturer's wooden TV stands make a huge difference in durability and longevity.
Try to avoid pieces which use either pre-drilled screws, plastic connector pieces, or locking tabs to hold joint tension. Screws, depending on substrate, will rarely perform well in positions requiring them to resist flexing force. Plastic connectors are just a terrible idea in any situation: plastic has a much lower shear strength than either wood or metal, and withholds the option of strengthening critical joints with glue. Locking tabs, finally, will loosen over time and allow the stand to warp, wobble, or collapse entirely.
To be preferred are manufacturers who use machined joints or mortise and tenon variants when assembling wooden TV stands. Biscuit, tongue and groove, or dowel joints are common, strong options, and units designed this way will remain durable for much longer in the field.
ASSEMBLY WITHOUT TEARS
Assembling wooden TV stands doesn't need to be difficult or stressful. With a simple tricks up your sleeve, you'll be able to achieve more durable results with less fuss or mess.
First, try to assemble your purchase in a clean, spacious area where you will be reasonable free from interruption. Children or dogs, trying to either help or compete for focus, can quickly turn a project sour.
Hardwood, tile, or linoleum floors make the best assembly surfaces, as it will be easier to keep track of components and ensure that your pieces are lining up correctly.
Take a moment before you begin to look through the entire instruction manual and identify each component by sight. Organize your tools, parts, and connectors carefully, and don't let them wander; putting down a required tool where it was last used inevitably leads to its getting lost.
While it sounds odd, try to visualize the entire process of assembling your wooden TV stand before you begin. It's a good way to identify confusing steps or possible errors before you're elbows-deep in the project.
Many people take to have wooden TV stands than glass or metal TV stand. Although made of wood, they can be very practical and can be modern as well as traditional in design. Wooden TV stands comes in a wide variety of styles and finishes. Wooden TV stands can be decorative to your room even when they are used as TV stands. When buying a wooden stand make sure of the size of your TV and that it supports the weight of the television. If you are having extra accessories like DVD player and other gadgets, it is better to buy a wooden TV stand that has shelves for accommodating that.