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Light Oak Bedsides are made from quality hardwood that has a pale yellow, almost white, colour in its natural state. The quality of the Light Oak Bedside cabinets speak for themselves with 100% solid timber and dovetailed joints.
We have a wide range of quality Light Oak Beds that would complement our Light Oak Bedsides perfectly.

Ash bedsides – shock resistant furniture!
If you’re looking for a good price and excellent quality then consider the Devonshire ash bedside; complete with dovetailed joints, tongue and groove bases to drawers and cabinet backs, they offer very competitive prices and quality in the way they are built.   Ash is a native hardwood of the UK that is easily recognised by the grey bark and matt black buds for the leaves.  The timber has shockproof qualities which is why it was used for the spokes of cartwheels and for tool handles, such as hammers, axes and so forth.    

During the 20th Century ash was also used as the frame for the bodywork of a great number of vehicles.  The most obvious example is perhaps the Morris Minor Traveller which has an external ash frame to the rear part, but ash frames were also used for many other makes of car, including Alvis, Riley and Rover.

Ash for cars, lorries and buses
It wasn’t just car makers that used this system.  Lorry manufacturers such as AEC, ERF, Foden, Bedford, Commer, Ford, Dennis all made their cabs using ash frames to which steel sheeting was fixed.  Interestingly AEC or the Associated Equipment Company, to give it its full title was originally established by London Transport to manufacture its horse-drawn buses.  These were built using methods that were similar to furniture manufacture, including the making ash bedsides.

The chief difference between making furniture and making coaches is that furniture is not usually subject to constant movement and vibration, so does not need to be shock resistant.  The constant movement of vehicles, whether drawn by horses or powered by engines, means the wooden structure is subject to constant vibration stresses and strains.  Ash was also used for the structural components of railway carriages for the same reason.  

Black Ash
It can be argued therefore that ash bedsides are not as popular as their oak counterparts  due to history and tradition or lack of awareness, rather than any shortcomings in the quality of the material itself.  The light coloured grain has an attractive appearance but there is also a premium variation of ash timber that is caused by a defect during growth that causes black staining of the fibres.  This ‘black heart’ ash is rare and comparatively valuable, being used by bespoke and artistic cabinet makers and joiners for rare, individual pieces – although not usually ash bedsides!

Ash – a friend for survival
An interesting feature of ash timber that seems to be particularly relevant to today’s television programmes on survival is that ash is one of the very few timbers that does not need to be dried to be able to burn it.  In other words, ash trees can be cut, logged and burned straight away.  Surely such knowledge is priceless to all the explorers and would-be explorers watching the satellite television channels.