Materials Used By Volume Resellers
Most of the inexpensive furniture sold online is produced off-shore in Asia and is made from Rubber wood or lower grade particleboard with thin inexpensive laminates or veneers applied over the core. Rubber wood use to be burned because it was such a poor wood to make furniture out of. It warps easily and is susceptible to decay. Used with dark stains to cover up the unattractive, bland wood tones, factories have found it to be a cheap substitute for quality American hardwoods. Imported laminate furniture frequently has a retail price that is cheaper than the cost of raw materials for well made American furniture. This is achieved by using low grade plastics, low density particleboard, glues with lower bonding characteristics, and thin .020" edge banding (as well as cheap labor and no environmental controls). The resulting desk top is prone to scratching, de-laminated edges, sag across wide lengths, and inability to secure fasteners in the crumbling mount holes. Generally the wood grain patterns look fake and cheap. Over the years WorkSpaces has replaced hundreds of desks made from this type of material that did not hold up and disappointed the customer. In other words, the customer bought their desk twice.

WorkSpaces Materials
As you can see by the graphic at the left, we use only premium construction materials. Thiscosts more and adds to the final retail price, but it means your desk will last for severaldecades instead of 2 or 3 years. You can pickup and move our desks many times without experiencing any change in rigidity or integrity. Our laminates are abrasion resistant andequal or exceed ratings for kitchen counter laminates (see technical sheet at left). The wood grain colors and patterns are so realistic that even woodworkers have trouble tellingthe difference without touching the surface.

Worksurface Laminates
Our tops are formed using a recent technology called RTF (rigid therma foil) using heat, pressure, and a vacuum to form the wood grain laminates around all edges of the MDF core in a continuous, beautiful unbroken covering. We have been shipping these work surfaces since 2000 and have had an overwhelming positive response from our customers. The durability of the Surf X laminate when done this way is impressive. Read more about this technology. Years ago we used to sell cherry veneer work surfaces but so many customers would come to our showroom and choose the laminates over the real wood that we eventually decided to do all of our products in the 3D laminates. Not only are they durable but the wood tones and graining are much more consistent than with actual hardwood.