On Jul 8, 5:40*pm, "Leon" wrote:
"GarageWoodworks" wrote in message

...





I just came back from my local Stickley store here in High Point. *I
like looking at their stuff for inspiration and to drool. *I was
careful to inspect the joinery for gaps and noticed quite a few.
Mostly where slats meet rails. *I noticed several slats that had light
shining through from the back where the slat meets the rail. *Not to
pick on Stickley, but I always thought they represented top quality
craftsmanship. *I think the Stickley brothers would be turning in
their graves if they saw what I saw today.

Here are a couple of pictures of a corbel in their Harvey Ellis bed.
I also noticed a few pieces where they are incorporating Greene&Greene
elements which I thought was odd. *Why would Stickley need Greene and
Greene elements when they have their own style that is unique?

http://www.garagewoodworks.com/craftmanship.htm

Actually Stickley has quite a few styles of furniture.. *The Mission style
is probably the most thought of.

I suspect that they are trying to appeal to the masses which may very well
include the distressed look in some of their lines of furniture.

http://stickley.com/index.cfm

Not to mention the Ellis side of their line has its own feel.

I have been following Stickley's growth and automation processes as
much as I could. It fascinates me to see a company with certain
challenges (problems). Think of it this way..."we have a gorgeous
coffee table in our museum, one sold at auction for $ 25,000.....now
LET'S make 500 of them!!" Insurmountable odds that something is going
to suffer.
I have some old original Stickley printed catalogues which show their
entire line of furniture. The oldest was about 20 pages. 100 pieces,
max... including the limited choices of wood and finish. Now they make
thousands of pieces in all kinds of materials and all kinds of
finishes..just staggering how big they are now.

The days and reputation of a few old, grumpy and fussy wooddorkers in
their leather aprons has long since evaporated.
You just cannot mechanize 'hand-crafted'.
Then there are materials and processes (like ammonia fuming) which
would drive the environmentalists around the bend..(often the same
yuppies who love to buy Stickley, btw.).