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- Verified Buyer
Being senior citizens (both of us are a tick over 60), my wife and I have always bought the best furniture we could afford from the day we were married. Since we were into Early American and Traditional furniture, furniture makers such as Ethan Allen, Pennsylvania House, and Tell City were the sources we bought our wood furniture. Solid hard rock maple, cherry, and walnut, these types of wood furniture are what we've invested in over the years. These were not veneered plywood-based pieces, but solid hardwoods in the aforementioned woods. Expensive... yes (for example, $1,200 in the mid-'80s for a Queen Anne style sofa table), but they look as good now as they did when we purchased the majority of them 25 to 40 years ago. Ethan Allen is still around, but they've reinvented themselves, and both Pennsylvania House and Tell City no longer exist. It seems the younger generation desires cheap, e.g. throwaway furniture, thus great American furniture companies have gone away in favor of those in China, Thailand, Vietnam, and IKEA's many sources, which often tends to be Poland.Why did I discuss these companies, simply to lend some credibility that I know how good furniture is built, in terms of joinery, and overall construction and attention to detail. For the price paid for the Winsome Wood 4-Tier Bookshelf in Honey, this item is an excellent value. Is the joinery perfect? No, but it's certainly good enough for its use and $79 price! I'm not certain of the type of wood used here since the country of origin is Thailand, but its real solid wood, not a veneered form, and certainly not particle or flake board based. It's likely a wood that's plentiful in Thailand - if any other owner knows the wood type, please comment. The joinery on the upright side pieces is acceptable; the joinery on the individual shelves is excellent.The instructions, essentially graphically based, are very straightforward and easy to follow. The instructions recommend two people for assembly, but I assembled it by myself in less than 30 minutes. One area was, and still is, a bit cloudy, and that pertains to the three horizontal pieces that connect the left and right uprights at the rear of the unit. These pieces have two dowel pins on each end that fit into two holes at the rear of the left and right upright piece. The dowel pins are fluted, and this implies that wood glue should be used. Nothing was stated, or graphically implied, regarding the use of wood glue at these twelve strategic points. I submit that if you plan to never knock this down into its individual pieces again. you may wish to strongly consider the use of a bit of wood glue on the dowel pins. However, if you do plan to take it apart in the future, certainly don't use the glue. I didn't use wood glue, and have noticed these three horizontal pieces do rock a bit back and forth. I'm seriously considering taking it apart, and applying wood glue to the dowel pins, as I'm sure it would increase the structural strength at the rear of the unit.I did not use the 4mm Allen hex wrench supplied in the package to install the hex head wood screws. Rather I used a hand driver with a 4mm hex head for the initial "loose" tightening of the screws. I put some Bee's Wax on the threads of the screws, and this makes the process much easier as it lubricates the threads and wood during the tightening process. This is an old wood worker's trick to ensure that you don't crack the wood. A bar of hand soap, especially Dove, will work in a pinch. I performed the final tightening after all of the shelves were installed with a 4mm hex head extension on a 3/8" socket and ratchet. This made the installation of the top very easy, as the supplied 4mm Allen wrench interferes with the upright side pieces when tightening the top shelf. I know many homeowner's don't have these various types of tools, but I used to work on European cars as a hobby, and I have tons of unique Metric tools, including socket sets with Metric hex head drivers.The color is a touch lighter in color or hue than viewed on Amazon's product page, but this could be the calibration of my LCD monitor. It's used in our finished basement with some oak office furniture that I hand finished with walnut Danish wiping oil, so the Winsome bookshelf is certainly a lighter shade than the oak, tending toward almost a light to medium maple color. But, it's totally acceptable for our application to hold photos, and other small items. The finish on the uprights and the tops of the shelves are fine with no roughness whatsoever. It's obvious there's a difference in finish of the top and bottom of each shelf, but the tops of the shelves on our unit were sanded smooth and the finish was even. All in all, very acceptable finishing of the bookshelf. We considered a leaning shelf, aka ladder shelf, for this application, but we have a cat, and we've been told that the leaning shelf becomes a new toy for any feline!Overall, this bookshelf is a serious bargain at Amazon's current price point. Go to Wally World or any other Big Box store and price out something similar in particle board. There is absolutely no question that this is superior to any particle board-based inexpensive bookshelf. What amazes me is given Amazon's profit margin, the margin of the importer (Winsome), what the cost of production of this product must be. No wonder American companies can no longer compete at the low end with this type of real wood product. This bookshelf probably hits incoming customs at a cost of less than $25 to $40 per unit (likely even less I'll wager), and that's simply unbelievable given the overall quality of this bookshelf.
