The Movement
Mission style furniture is built along the clean and simple lines. A subset of the arts and crafts movement of the early 20th century, mission style furniture focuses on artisan styling and handcrafting. It's a style that has endured, in large part due to its accessibility to wood workers and artisans of today. Read on for the keys to building mission style furniture.
Good Wood
Mission style grew out of a distaste for shoddy craftsmanship introduced by the Industrial Revolution and instead celebrated unique pieces that were handcrafted by artisans. The key to beginning each piece is the quality of the wood involved. Laminate and pressboard are not indicative of a good piece; instead, use hardwoods such as white oak or walnut. White oak is not only water resistant, it's relatively impervious to decay and rot. Cherry has also recently come into vogue as a hardwood for mission style pieces due to its warm hue and beauty when aging.
Pine, ash, and maple are not recommended as they do not take on stain as well as oak, cherry and walnut.
Remember to check to see if the wood is kiln dried. While it may be more expensive, it provides a more stable moisture content in the wood. Kiln dried wood is stamped KD on the wood itself.
Detail, not Cloth
Building mission style furniture means embracing simplicity. Rather than use upholstery to soften the sometimes hard edges of the furniture, the design should include plans for details in the wood itself.
Seats are occasionally built using other materials, such as tulle rushes, but mission style eschews the fuss of upholstery or other cushioning. In fact, the original chair that started the movement, built by Joseph McHugh and then copied by Gustav Stickley, included woven tulle seating.
No Nails, Hand Tools
Mission style furniture requires careful dovetailing of joints so that no nails are used in its construction. By beautifully and exactly bringing together the joins, the pieces are almost seamless and the eye is drawn to the clean line of the entire piece of furniture. Building in such a manner is not for the faint of heart, but see below in Resources for two places to get started.
As a result, mission style furniture requires more hand tools than other woodworking styles. You'll also need a circular saw and hand saw as well as various sanding tools. Remember that this furniture was made by hand prior to the advent of power tools. While you can certainly use power tools to build nowadays, simpler is better not only for the furniture, but also for the tools involved.
Tags: style furniture, mission style, mission style furniture, furniture requires, mission style, Mission style, power tools