How to Assemble Log Furniture

Many customers or potential customers are fearful of how much work it will be to assemble their log furniture once it is purchased. Hopefully this article will help to clear up some of the questions that naturally arise. While assembly instructions vary between log furniture manufacturers, there are many similarities as well. Following is an overview that should give you a better idea what is involved: Dressers, Chests, Night Stands and Armoires Most rustic cased goods, such as dressers, chests, night stands and armoires require very little assembly at all. As a general rule we take off doors and drawer handles to avoid damage during shipping, as they tend to protrude and be at risk. There are holes in the drawer fronts or doors, and screws are included, so for these items it is simply a matter of placing the wood furniture handle over the holes, inserting the screws through the door or drawer into the hole, and tightening things up. Amish Low Post Log Beds Most of the Amish manufacturers like to assemble the headboards on the log beds themselves. Sometimes we ask them to leave the four corner legs off for ease in shipping, as the beds can be somewhat massive and making them smaller helps save on shipping cost. All of the Amish furniture makers I know use Gorilla Glue, which is an incredibly strong glue. Once they glue the headboard, you might as well forget trying to take it apart. I know people who have tried to take them apart, and broken a piece of the bed instead. So as a general rule, Amish headboards and footboards come completely assembled. At the very minimum, the ladder portion that goes across between the two posts is already assembled and glued. If the posts are not attached, you have to plug the two horizontal ladder portions of the bed (headboard and footboard) into the four corner posts. Amish beds are generally 100% wood. That means the mattress and box springs are supported by a wood frame. As a general rule, two logs run down the side of each bed, at the base of the box springs. These logs are plugged into the headboard and footboard at each end. The bottom of these two logs has holes drilled for three "cross logs" which go across and support the bed. The middle cross log, on most Amish beds, has a little log piece which goes down to the floor to offer a higher degree of support. So there you have it. If you've never seen an Amish bed frame before, you might have to look at those logs for a minute to figure it out. But once you understand, it's really pretty straightforward. You will want a screwdriver, as you will want to drive some 2