Inside the Thos. Moser Workshop

Woodworking & Craft

The Thos. Moser workshop is a playground to the makers who call it home. Every piece of our furniture starts its journey in this 80,000 square foot facility in Auburn, Maine. We rely on sustainable North American hardwoods, traditional joinery executed by hand, and individual workmanship to make furniture that will last a lifetime. Join us for a peek inside.

The rough mill is where every piece of furniture we make begins.

Every board is carefully hand-selected for grain and color match – a process that requires the craftsmen to visualize how the piece will come to life from only a pile of boards.

Throughout our workshop, we maintain a year-round relative humidity of 43-50%.

This environment is essential during the building process. It maintains a consistent workable raw material so that upon completion, the piece will expand and contract equally during seasonal changes- allowing for fluid movement of drawers during humid months when the wood expands and tight holds during drier, colder months.

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On average, we go through 264,000 board feet of cherry a year.

That’s the equivalent of this room being emptied out and refilled every 2.5 months.

Known as “The Taylor,” the panel press is responsible for gluing up every tabletop, chair seat, headboard, and more. Once the panels have been glued up, they will cure for 2 hours. Built in the 1960s, “The Taylor” is one of the oldest machines in the shop.

CNC technology enables us to enhance our craft by allowing for exact precision and expansion of our design capabilities.

Many of the craftsmen in the building are cross-trained to work in any discipline. Casework is one of the most demanding work areas in the building. It requires a keen eye and sharp attention to detail. The craftsmen in this area can choose which project they want to build. One week it might be a bed, the next, a sideboard or Dr. White’s Chest.

Every craftsperson is skilled in making, beds, dressers, credenzas, and more.

The glue-up of a Dr. White’s Chest utilizes 53 clamps.

From Minimus Tables to custom 34-foot conference tables and everywhere in between.

Throughout the tables department are walls lined with jigs for every piece of every table in our catalog. The jigs are templates that allow us to create precise cuts, straight lines, and cut flawless mortise and tenon joinery by hand.


Many of our signature curves are created through the process of lamination- a process that requires multiple layers of veneer, glue, pressure, and time. Through lamination, we improve the strength, stability, and endurance of many vital pieces within our furniture.

The veneer is kept in a self-contained humidification room to prevent warping and cracks.

A Radio Frequency Press is used to create smaller heat-cured curves such as chair knees, dresser drawer fronts, and table skirts in 30 seconds.

Larger jigs are used for cold-press lamination.

This technique is used for our Vita Bed, Boat Top Table apron, and Chaise Lounge.

Once the pieces have been glued and clamped they cure overnight.

Our chairs department is home to some of our most iconic furniture.

Utilizing 11,500 sq feet of the building, our chairs department is responsible for chairs, stools, benches, lounge pieces, and rockers.

In a week, this department makes nearly 50 pieces of furniture by hand.

There are only three of these machines in the world, and they live within our shop.

This jig creates the signature arm of our Continuous Arm Chair.

Our chairs and stools are known for their signature ash spindles and legs.

 

Welcome to Tom’s personal workshop in the building.

This small prototype shop is used to explore new designs, custom projects, and on occasion, you can find our Founder, Tom working on his signature flag.

 

 

Every cushioned seat finds its way into the hands of our expert upholsterers.

 

We work with the finest leather and textiles, and we can even work with a customer’s own materials to create a one-of-a-kind piece.

It’s here, some say, the furniture comes to life.

Here, every piece of furniture receives a coat of oil and dries overnight. From there it will be finished to the customer’s specifications and hand-sanded before moving on to shipping.


A final sanding and quality control check.

Every piece of furniture is hand wrapped in blankets before being loaded onto our trucks.

The use of moving blankets allows this process to maintain a higher level of sustainability while also protecting the furniture from scratches during the shipping process.

From every hand-selected board, sculpted seat, chiseled piece of joinery, tufted seat cushion, and hand-finished piece of furniture that is wrapped with care –we are a family of craftspeople who truly love what we do, day in and day out. And, we’re proud to leave our mark.