The Framers Forum

A customer came in yesterday asking if I can offer any Wenge wood mouldings. Fortunately, I had a Wenge chevron sample on the display board, which I quickly produced. The customer came in again today and placed an other for £190, not for Wenge, but a dark brown flat stained pine which he said looked more like his new fitted Wenge kitchen.

This got me thinking! Before I looked it up on the web, I had no idea what Wenge is, that is apart from the fact that Simons and Ashworth and Thompson both have mouldings with Wenge finishes. Is Wenge the latest cool thing in wood? It occurs to me that I might subscribe to some interior decor magazine, so I can stay in touch and know whats the latest buzz. If someone is in the know, is there a recommended one to go for?

Another wood which is catching on fast is Lime, we've already got it in the West Country from Ventons, (a local supplier), but another companies sales rep visited me last week and started talking to me about Lime being the next "In" wood for mouldings. For those who have'nt used Lime yet, it's very light in colour, with not much obvious grain. It cuts and joins very well indeed, I'm told it mostly comes from Rumania and it's going down quite well with my customers too!
Cheers,
Mark

My best selling plain wood moulding is ash, in fact my best selling MOULDING is ash - stained (coloron) antique pine! Or limed.

Wenge rings a bell and that's it - what is the Simons ref?

Interested in any new plainwoods so any refs for lime would be good too!

About a month ago Sarah and Sisslings ganged up on me and I was forced, against my better judgement, to try a couple of lengths of Wenge
(pronounced 'When-gay'), though I might possibly have been influenced as much by the humorous possibilities in the name.

Needless to say, they were right and I was wrong and we have since stocked in quantity. It does seem to be 'in' at the moment.

Roboframer, have a look in the Simons catalogue p68;
WENG/0001, 2, 3, 4

Us too! Forced into buying it I mean. But yes we are selling it. Also available as part of a range of plain flatwoods from Mainline Mouldings. ref 503/ 0129,0125,0166

Being in a rural area it's not easy for me to keep up with what's the latest thing, but every now and then I pick up a few clues when I get asked for something to match a new fitted kitchen or new furniture. Can anyone suggest a good way of staying in touch with what's the latest buzz. Whenever I follow a new trend, I usually get good sales from it.

BTW the pictures of the grain of Wenge on the web look a whole lot different to my chevron samples. Also this Wenge thing seems to be going against the expected market trend - I understood that dark woods were out! I'd bet that if you called it dark oak no one would buy it!

Currently Simons Ash-10 is going great guns in various colours, muted browns, greys, off whites, and beige being the main favourites. Black ash seems to be out these days. Those roughly machined cut-offs if saved and made into ready mades sell well when washed over with white leaving some paint in the rough bits. We charge extra for those - very fast sellers too!
Cheers,
Mark

Excuse my ignorance, but was it this "whingey" moulding you speak of. It must be some exclusive British thing.

Hi Osgood,

Wenge is a dark and quite porouus African hard wood, which normally has a distinct grain pattern according to what I've seen on the web. The gain I've seen on frame mouldings looks somewhat different. It appears to be an "in" wood for fitted kitchens, etc. Something else will be "in" next year I suppose!
Cheers,
Mark

John wrote:About a month ago Sarah and Sisslings ganged up on me and I was forced, against my better judgement, to try a couple of lengths of Wenge
(pronounced 'When-gay'), though I might possibly have been influenced as much by the humorous possibilities in the name.

Needless to say, they were right and I was wrong and we have since stocked in quantity. It does seem to be 'in' at the moment.

Sorry I have nothing important to say but just wanted others to be made aware of the highlighted area. I want witnesses

How much do I get for not telling Mother you have admitted in public that you were wrong!?

John wrote:
Roboframer, have a look in the Simons catalogue p68;
WENG/0001, 2, 3, 4

Had a look John - they look pretty boring to me! Also those dark plain profiles are not good sellers in these parts.

Am very interested in a new (to me) plainwood though and will ask Mainline for some samples. Mainline are one of my ocassional suppliers, but if this stuff is nice, I may be doing more business with them, I like playing with plainwoods!