Unlike other less quality, cheaper dressers, oak dressers are usually heavy and sturdy as a result of heavier wood used for the different sections of the piece. While the back panel on oak dressers are usually made of plywood, other dressers would have ordinary hardboard stapled to them.
When looking for best quality oak furniture, it is best to avoid anything that has a lot of pneumatic brads or staples. The drawers of excellent dressers will have dovetail joints in them, essential to check for are zigzag methods used in joining the wooden furniture together. If it has a lot of staples or pneumatic brads, then it most likely is not good quality oak furniture.
Materials used in making the dresser are also important to look out for, top quality oak dressers are made of solid hardwoods or rarely, plywood. If an oak dresser has got parts composed of engineered wood, such as particle board or MDF, then it will most likely come in much cheaper than high quality ones. The low quality ones tend to be covered with veneer or plastic, but it is not uncommon to leave it uncovered.
MDF (Medium Density Fibre Board) is a type of engineered wood made from softwood fibres which is then combined with wax and a resin binder. Also known as craftswood, MDF apart from its inferior quality has been known to carry potential health hazards, both for the environment and humans. It is best to try and avoid furniture that consist of MDF entirely.
When buying solid oak furniture, the dust panels, which are the sheets found in-between drawers above and below each other and across the bottom are usually present. It is also essential for the dresser drawer pulls to have good quality hardware; cast brass would be the absolute top of the range. Other metals like iron and titanium can also be used with pot metal coming in at the very bottom.
Oak dressers will not have cheap nor drywall screws and hinges as can be commonly found in other lower quality dressers. Oak dressers or quality hardwood furniture will be made from top quality screws that will not strip when they get used.
A solid oak dresser will be very easy to operate, when opening and closing the drawers. Smooth operation is crucial as they are usually made from the best material, unlike cheaper furniture which is bound to be made of cheap glides. Cheap in the sense that they constitute lightweight metal or at other times trash wood that would most often bind or warp very quickly.
Less quality furniture usually have all colour added to them by what is known as a coloured finish, called a toner. Once the finish is chipped off the main dresser, beneath will be (http://research.the-bac.edu/color/wood/index.html ) uncoloured wood. On the other hand, a well made oak dresser will get stained before it is finished.
