At Irion, we work hard to capture the spirit of 18th century craftsman in every piece of furniture we make. Handwork is the critical component in creating this type of 18th century furniture. We eschew modern duplication technology, training our craftsmen to use their "eye" when carving, shaping and turning the wood. Each piece is bench made by a single craftsman, whose signature accompanies the furniture. Construction techniques are faithful to the period, with mortise and tenon joinery together with hand dovetailed cases and drawers. All surfaces are hand-planed or scraped inside and out and the backboards are fastened with forged rose head nails.
The whole process begins with the lumber, and we use the same wide and carefully matched lumber and construction techniques as our 18th century counterparts.
We stock a large inventory of walnut, cherry. tiger maple, flame birch and mahogany, as well as yellow poplar for our painted pieces and as a secondary wood. We buy most of our native hardwoods "in the log". Each board from the log is marked by sets and air dried for at least a year before being finished off in our own dry kiln. By keeping the boards from each log together we are able to obtain matching wide boards and excellent grain matches in the furniture. We carefully select the lumber for each piece of furniture, using wide lumber whenever appropriate and possible, and always matching the drawer fronts and panels from the same set. Look at the photos of our pieces, and you can see matching the lumber really enhances the beauty and quality of the furniture.
Our shop is a custom shop, making furniture to order. We have over 250 pieces in our own collection, and we will make almost any piece of 18th century furniture from measurements or photographs. We also maintain an extensive reference library. With this process, the customer gets a tremendous amount of input into their furniture. Wood type and even the type of grain or figure. Design details, size, hardware and color are all open to selection.
We design our furniture for the customer, and it is our sincerest wish that you enjoy your purchase for many years to come!
Irion Company Furniture Makers Warranty
We take great pride in every piece of our furniture. Irion Company Furniture Makers' commitment to you is to preserve the function of each piece we create. We encourage you to appreciate the nature of your wide board, hand crafted furniture and not repair the natural tendencies of these exquisite woods. Expansion, contraction, cracking and warping can occur throughout the life of the piece due to seasonal changes in temperature and humidity. Allowances are made during construction to preserve lifetime function without sacrificing authenticity. In extreme cases when the service of the piece is affected, repair work may be necessary.
Our Policy
Irion Company Furniture makers will correct our furniture should it become unserviceable due to normal aging at no charge. This does not include pieces that have been misused, modified, altered, refinished or previously repaired by us to the best of our ability. Crating, shipping and insurance to and from our shop is at the owners expense. If you are considering a repair please contact us for the best procedure to follow.