Signs Your “Amish Made” Furniture Isn’t Authentic

Simply calling a piece of furniture “Amish” doesn’t make it so. Before buying any piece of Amish furniture, Lancaster, PA pros at Snyder Furniture recommend looking the piece over carefully. Genuine Amish furniture has several features that make it stand out from cheap knock-offs.

No Screws, No Nails 

Check a genuine piece of Amish custom furniture for screws, nails, plastic fasteners or staples and all you’ll find is well-crafted wood joints. A true Amish craftsman joins wood with either wooden pegs or mortise and tenon joints. A mortise and tenon joint connects at a 90 degree angle, with a square or rectangular projection (the tenon) fitted into a hole (the mortise) cut to the tenon’s exact specifications. It’s an old woodworker’s joint that has existed for thousands of years.

Cheap knock-offs and mass-produced furniture rarely use mortise and tenon joints. Instead, they rely on glue, staples, nails and screws — none of which you’ll find on true Amish custom furniture.

Wood Selections

The Amish work with a variety of wood types. While oak and cherry are common choices, woodworkers also use cedar, maple, hickory and walnut.

The Amish do not use veneers, particleboard or laminates in any form. Any piece of furniture containing such shortcuts is not of Amish origin. The Amish church rules, called Ordnung, coupled with the community’s commitment to simple living prohibit the use of such mass-produced materials.

In addition, when an Amish woodcrafter creates a piece of furniture, he builds it to last for generations, and the idea of using cheap materials such as particleboard would be an insult to his craftsmanship.

Made in China

Okay, this may sound obvious, but check any custom furniture for ink stamps indicating the product was made in China or other countries. Some unscrupulous dealers try to sell imported, mass-produced furniture as Amish, when in reality the pieces don’t even count as custom furniture.

If you have the opportunity, check similar furniture the dealer offers for sale. Mass-produced furniture will look identical. Handmade Amish custom furniture will have minor differences in appearance due wood grains, hand sanding and varnishing.

Check the Drawers 

Pay special attention to any drawers in your piece of furniture, because most fakes give themselves away in the drawers. Mass-produced furniture drawers are typically made from weak particleboard with stapled back pieces. Additionally, many mass-produced pieces use metal slides to open and close the drawer — something you’ll never find in true Amish custom furniture.

The dovetail joint is a popular choice for genuine Amish drawers, although different craftsmen favor different joints. Dovetail joints look like interlaced trapezoids, and they provide the finished drawer with significant strength.

Finally, many Amish woodcrafters craft each drawer for its specific opening. This means even when two drawers appear the same size, they only fit properly in their correct location. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, but it can provide clues about the origins of custom furniture.