Iron Beds Consumer
Information you should know before buying an iron bed.
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Iron Beds Consumer
Information you should know before buying an iron bed. |
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If you are thinking of purchasing an iron bed please read all of the consumer buying insight Iron-Beds.com has to offer before you buy. | ||||
| Tip 1. Wrought Iron Beds vs Cast Iron and Steel Beds: Know the Difference | |||||
| Tip 2. Quality of Shipping: Watch out for the Free Shipping Nightmare. | |||||
| Tip 3. Service and Reputation: Look for live customer service, satisfaction guarantees & return policies, warranties, Better Business Bureau status, customer testimonials and investment in professional web site. | |||||
| Wrought Iron Beds: Consumer Information | |||||
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The definition of “Wrought” is iron that has been heated and shaped. Wrought iron furniture is unique because it is hand made by craftsmen using age-old blacksmith techniques. Wrought Iron is heavy, solid, and extremely durable. Wrought iron furniture is a lot like art in that no two man-made pieces will be exactly alike as the iron takes on the character of the person creating it. Like an original painting, this adds value to the wrought iron furniture piece and it should actually increase in value over time. The labor-intensive production means that while the initial cost is more than cast iron & steel it may be a better investment in the long run. | |||
| There is just no substitute for the natural beauty derived from the trained eye and steady hand of an experienced blacksmith when heating, forging, bending, rolling, cutting and welding the individual pieces. Wrought Iron is an easily welded and forged iron that is a mixture of refined metallic iron with 1 to 3 percent siliceous slag. | |||||
| Cast Iron & Steel Beds: Consumer Information | Shop for Cast Iron Beds | ||||
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Cast Iron Beds with Steel Frames are also very strong and
durable. Whether contemporary or traditional, artists create a design with
relentless passion until the metal bed is perfect, then they literally make
the mold. Because CastIron furniture is produced by pouring melted Iron
and other metals into a cast mold, every piece is detailed to perfection
and very durable. Cast Iron furniture is sometimes poured by hand but is
most often mass-produced by machine, making Cast Metal and steel furniture
very affordable. Cast Iron is a hard, nonmalleable iron-carbon alloy that
contains 2 to 4.5 percent carbon, 0.5 to 3 percent silicon, and lesser amounts
of sulfur, manganese, and phosphorus. To produce Cast Iron, iron ores are
heated to 1420-1470 K and combined with carbon until a molten liquid is
formed, producing a combination of metals known as an alloy. Cast Iron is
an alloy of about 96.5% Iron and 3.5% Carbon. More than 90 percent of all Steels are Carbon Steels. They contain varying amounts of carbon and not more than 1.65 percent manganese, 0.60 percent silicon, and 0.60 percent copper. The basic process of working steel is known as hot rolling. In hot rolling, a cast ingot (a block of metal that is cast in a particular shape for convenient handling) is first heated to bright-red in a furnace called a soaking pit and is then passed between a series of pairs of metal rollers that squeeze it to the desired size and shape. The distance between the rollers diminishes for each successive pair as the steel is elongated and reduced in thickness. Machines, automobile bodies, most structural steel for buildings, ship hulls, bobby pins and furniture are among the products made of Carbon Steels. Cast iron and Steel furniture is strong and can be cast or cut and welded into intricate shapes producing durable, uniform pieces that can be made quickly, thus making it more affordable. |
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| Quality
of Shipping Furniture: Consumer Information |
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| Ironbeds, like most furniture, are too large for UPS and Fed Ex to ship them. This means that the company you order from will choose a truck line, and there is a wide range of quality and price, to bring your new bedroom centerpiece to your home. With few exceptions, we have found most places on the Internet and a lot of catalog companies ship with common carriers, especially websites or stores that offer free shipping. Common carrier shippers will haul just about anything from barrels of oil to cinder blocks and it all goes on the same truck so damage rates can be extremely high. Common carriers are sometimes referred to as "curbside delivery" or "back of truck delivery". Common carrier shipping is inexpensive anyway so when you see an offer for free shipping via curbside or back of truck delivery, consider the cost of waiting all day for your delivery, which often results in a no show without a courtesy call to let you know. After rescheduling to wait around another day, you finally receive your iron bed only to find it is damaged. Then it is your responsibility to repackage the product and wait around for this same carrier to pick up the damaged merchandise. If your iron bed can be shipped with UPS or Fed Ex, you should be fine but that is rarely the case. Look for companies that ship oversized items with shippers that exclusively deliver furniture. Furniture grade shipping companies usually have a more defined appointment window and will unload your bed frame and bring it to your door. Furniture grade shippers often offer inside or upstairs delivery for a small additional fee. | |||||
| Service
and Reputation of Retail or Online Furniture Store: Consumer Information |
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There are some very good, consumer friendly businesses that have great web sites with readily available service that still offer great furniture deals. These days just about anyone can build a web site and we have all heard the horror stories about people who have tried to save a few bucks by ordering from a beginner web site and when problems arise emails go unanswered, only an answering machine can be reached by phone or worse yet, there is no phone number at all!. There are a few things you should look for before purchasing.
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