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Handling & Moving Furniture

Handling & Moving Furniture

HANDLING AND MOVING FURNITURE In addition to using furniture wisely, it is important to handle it carefully. Safe handling and moving of furniture begin with a basic understanding of how a piece is constructed. The second step is to plan carefully.

GENERAL CONCERNS
  • Before picking up a piece of furniture, determine how it is put together and if any of its parts are removable or detachable. Make sure you know where the furniture is its strongest - generally along a major horizontal element - and try to carry it from these points.
  • Then examine the room and the route whereby the furniture is to be moved. Look around to make sure you know where everything is. Identify potential trouble. Light fixtures that hang low, for examples, or that extend out from the wall may be damaged or cause damage. Glass table tops are also easily damaged if bumped. If necessary, clear the way by moving or removing fragile or obstructive items. Protect the furniture to be moved with soft padding or wrap it in a blanket pad. Padding, which will provide extra insurance against bumping and gouging, is especially important if an item is going into storage.
  • Before moving an item, make sure you know exactly where it goes next. Plan ahead to adjust the temperature and relative humidity in the new location so they are the same as where the furniture presently is. Extreme changes in temperature and humidity can cause splitting of joints and veneers.
  • Never hurry when you are moving furniture. Scratches, dents, and gouges from bumps against door knobs, doorways, and other furniture are always more likely in haste. Each item needs to be approached individually, without haste, and with sufficient manpower present.
  • Make sure you have a firm grip on the piece with both hands. Do not wear cotton gloves. It is essential that hands not slip from a piece of furniture while it is being moved.
  • Never slide or drag furniture along the floor. The vibration can loosen or break joints, chip feet, break legs, etc., to say nothing of what dragging does to the carpeting or finish on the floor. Whenever possible, use trolleys or dollies for transporting heavy pieces.
  • Handling valuable furnishings requires a special attitude: in general, movement should be carried out at a slower pace. Here are some quick tips for moving furniture properly. Remember: If you don't break it, it doesn't have to be fixed!
  • Just as gymnasts work with "spotters" to catch them when they misstep, have helpers on hand to guide the movers so they don't crash into walls or other pieces of furniture
  • Anticipate trouble; think through every step; plan ahead; and do everything with care
  • Make sure the route is clear and has no obstructions, such as narrow doorways or hanging chandeliers that might hinder the safe passage of furniture and movers

    The following sections offer suggestions for moving specific types of furniture:
    SEATING FURNITURE
  • When lifting a chair, remember that the seat rail is its strongest part, not the chair back. Frequently lifting by the back, especially the crest rail, will eventually result in breakage. For small chairs, lift by the side seat rails, one hand near the front on one side, the other near the rear on the other side.
  • When lifting a large chair or sofa, the principles are the same. Grab underneath the side frame, making sure to lift with your legs rather than your back. For upholstered chairs or sofas, place your hands underneath the frame to avoid touching the upholstery. If upholstery must be touched, use cotton gloves. For chairs with slip seats, remove the slip seat and wrap and move it separately to prevent its being soiled or falling out during the move.

    TABLES
  • The strongest part of a table is generally the apron. Whenever possible, lift the table carefully from the apron, never by the top or legs. Lifting on the top rather than the apron may break the glue-blocks that hold the top to the frame or strip out the screws that hold the top on. Grabbing the legs, particularly tables with long, unsupported legs, will cause unnecessary stress on the leg and the joint connecting it to the apron. Whenever possible, wrap padding around a table's legs before moving it to prevent chipping or breakage during the move.
  • If you are moving a drop-leaf table, first determine which support members move. Is the table leaf supported by a bracket or by a swing-leg? Fold the leaves down, and restrain them with padding and a tie band. If the support is provided by a swing-leg or gate-leg, tie it in place as well. The only safe place to grab a drop-leaf table is underneath the end aprons. Grabbing by the legs, especially swing-legs, will increase the chance of damage to them, and grabbing the table by the side leaves will often result in fracturing the long rule joint that allows the leaves to drop.

    CASE FURNITURE
  • While case pieces, especially large ones, may appear very different from tables and chairs, the same rules apply. Never try to move a large piece by yourself. A case piece requires at least two people. While a case piece requires can be moved by carrying it carefully, holding on to the bottom as you would a table or chair, it is better to move the piece on a dolly. A dolly makes the move safer for both the movers and the object, and that is all the more true for large objects.
  • First, examine the piece. How was is put together? And how can it come apart? Take the piece apart as much as is possible. That is, remove the top piece of a cabinet from its base; remove the cornice or pediment, if there is one.
  • If the carcass is sturdy enough, remove an drawers to lighten the load and make the move easier. Carry the drawers separately to the destination. However, if the carcass is weak and shifts from side-to-side, leave the drawers in place to provide stability and prevent further damage to the joints. Tall pieces that do not come apart into separate sections need to be set on their sides on a dolly to prevent their topping over.
  • If the piece has handles, wrap them with padding. Padding protects the handles, the furniture surface (if the handles have swinging bales or drops), the movers, and the surroundings in case you bump up against anything.
  • Never grab a heavy piece like a chest of drawers or bookcase by the cornice at the top. The attachment of the top to the base may be loosened and pull apart from the rest of the piece.
  • Lift the piece straight up, using your legs, not your back. Don't let it tilt, and do not grab it by its hardware or any other protrusions.

    LARGE CLOCKS
  • The moving project becomes increasingly difficult with objects that are large and complex. Objects that come apart into many pieces or are unwieldy require extra care and preparation. Because of their many parts grandfather and grandmother clocks are very difficult to move.
  • Always remove the pendulum and weights from within the clock before doing anything else. These pieces are heavy and will damage the clock case if they smash into the side of the case. They may also cause damage to the mechanism itself. Wear cotton gloves when you remove the pendulum and weights, to avoid corroding the metal pieces from skin contact.
  • Remove the hood from the top of the clock (they often slide forward), and lay it down to pack and move separately. Make sure the door to the case is locked or securely closed before moving the clock. Use bare hands, not gloves, for moving and packing the carcass of the case. For short moves, like those of only a few feet, it is permissible to lift by grabbing the narrow case from the underside of the molding at the top of the waist, or center portion of the case, provided that the molding is firmly attached to the case itself. For longer moves, or if that molding is not secure, the clock case should be carried flat like a coffin.

    Diamond Clarity Rating

    Diamond Clarity Rating

    DIAMOND CLARITY RATING Diamond jewelry clarity is a quality of diamonds relating to the existence and visual appearance of internal defects of a diamond called inclusions, and surface defects called blemishes. Clarity is one of the four Cs of diamond grading, the others being carat, color, and cut. Inclusions may be crystals of a foreign material or another diamond crystal, or structural imperfections such as tiny cracks that can appear whitish or cloudy. The number, size, color, relative location, orientation, and visibility of inclusions can all affect the relative clarity of a diamond. A clarity grade is assigned based on the overall appearance of the stone under 10x magnification.
    Most inclusions present in gem-quality diamonds do not affect the diamonds' performance or structural integrity. However, large clouds can affect a diamond's ability to transmit and scatter light. Large cracks close to or breaking the surface may reduce a diamond's resistance to fracture.
    Diamonds with higher clarity grades are more valued, with the exceedingly rare "flawless" graded diamond fetching the highest price. However, minor inclusions or blemishes are sometimes considered to have some value, as they can be used as unique identifying marks analogous to fingerprints. In addition, as synthetic diamond technology improves and distinguishing between natural and synthetic diamonds becomes more difficult, inclusions or blemishes can be used as proof of natural origin.

    Inclusions and blemishes
    There are several types of inclusions and blemishes, which affect a diamond's clarity to varying degrees. Features resulting from diamond enhancement procedures, such as laser lines, are also considered inclusions and/or blemishes.
    Inclusions
  • Clouds
  • Feathers
  • Included crystals or minerals
  • Knots
  • Cavities
  • Cleavage
  • Bearding
  • Internal graining
    Blemishes
  • Polish lines
  • Grain boundaries
  • Naturals
  • Scratches
  • Nicks
  • Pits

    Clarity grading
    The Gemological Institute of America (GIA), as well as other diamond grading agencies including the European Gemological Laboratory (EGL), American Gemological Society (AGS), and the International Gemological Laboratory (IGL) use a sliding grading scale based on descriptive terms of overall clarity. These grading agencies base their clarity grades on the characteristics of inclusions visible to a trained professional when a diamond is viewed from above under 10x magnification.
    The diamond clarity rating in common use are :
  • FL - "flawless" in that no inclusions or blemishes are visible under 10 times magnification.
  • IF - "internally flawless" with no inclusions visible under 10 times magnification, only small blemishes on the diamond surface.
  • VVS1 and VVS2 - "very very slight" inclusions that are difficult to see under 10 times magnification. VVSA denotes a higher clarity grade than VVS2.
  • VS1 and VS2 - "very slight" inclusions and visible under magnification but invisible to the naked eye.
  • SI1 and SI2 - "slight inclusions" that may or may not be noticeable to the naked eye.
  • SI3 is a grade sometimes used in the industry, originally popularized by the European Gemological Laboratory (EGL). While intended as a range to include borderline SI2/I1 stones, it is commonly used to mean I1's which are "eye clean", that is, which have inclusions which are not obviously visible to the naked eye. Neither the GIA nor the American Gemological Society (AGS), assign this grade.
  • I1,I2 and I3 - "imperfect", with inclusions clearly visible to the naked eye. For I3, the inclusions impact the brilliance of the diamond and are large and obvious.

    All grades reflect the appearance to an experienced grader when viewed from above at 10x magnification, though higher magnifications and viewing from other angles are used during the grading process. In "colorless" diamond, dark inclusions will tend to create the greatest drop of clarity grade. In other colors pale inclusions may have greater relief (may stand out more) and may cause a greater drop in grade.
    Beyond the clarity grading terms, other considerations include the type, size and location of the "inclusion". Inclusions near or on the surface may weaken the diamond structurally. Depending on where the inclusion occurs in the cut diamond and how it is to be used, it may be possible to hide the inclusion behind the setting.
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