One of the things that separates fine furniture from factory furniture, or even lower quality hand-crafted furniture is material selection. In the past, I have ordered my cherry lumber to be delivered from a distributor. I might take in 250 or 500 board feet at a time, but when it comes delivered in a pack from the distributor, it is random width, and length, and although it is certified as "Select and Better" grade, much of the lumber is unusable because of knots, sapwood, or other imperfections that will not make the cut (or more realistically, will need to be cut.)

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