Marie & c2g - Thanks for the advice. I will look up that book. I feel like I should clear up the fact that my land is not a wasteland with no good trees! LOL! We have maples in the front and back yard and scattered around our property. We have a beautiful hickory in the old pasture. On our property we also have lots of other hickories, maples, wild cherries (one that is at least 100 years old - not my estimate but someone more knowledgeable), oaks, aspen, black walnut and many, many more. About 1/3 of our 20 acres is wooded. The trees I got on clearance are ones I am willing to take the risk on. It may look like a bad risk to most of you but I am risking it with my eyes wide open and realistic expectations. If they don't work out I barely lose anything but time and I have that to spare. My lawn will still be beautiful without them and if they do survive - even if only a couple survive - it is worth my time. This is what I ended up buying: 2 Harvest Gold crabapples 1 Yoshino cherry 1 Kanzan cherry 1 Fairview Flame maple Total cost was a bit less then $60. I hope you will wish me good luck with them but I understand everyone who thinks I'm being foolhardy. Thanks again so much for all the useful advice. Karen

I bought a table and set for my kitchen last year, and now am building a new house - and looking again at Bermex. I love it. It is very nicely made, and I do recall looking at Canadel as well. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase again. In fact, this set doesn't really go with my new house, and I have been looking again at Bermex... hint - saved a lot by purchasing through a NC furniture dealer. Black's Furniture. They were good to deal with, however - I hated their delivery service and made that know multiple times as I received a lot of new furniture last year.

mogator, it is fair to add that I did not pursue my problem promptly, but it is also fair to add that I did not pursue my problem because checks are specifically excluded from the warranty. As Saloom's warranty reads, once the customer accepts delivery of a table then all checks are the customer's responsibility. Maybe Saloom will do something if a customer pursues a claim for checks within one year of purchase. However, given the language in its warrany, there is no guarantee that Saloom will, in fact, do anything to fix a table that developes checks within one year of purchase, even if the check is due to a defect in materials or workmanship, and customers need to be aware of that when they purchase a table. Also, I think it is fair to point out that the language in the warranty implies that the causes of checks are beyond Saloom's control so you think it is natural to get checks and, since checks are expressly excluded, you don't pursue the problem (at least not until you get mad enough about it). I think that my statements that Saloom's warranty is more limited than most other manufacturers' warranties because it specifically excludes checks is correct. I also think that the language in Saloom's warranty that implies that the causes of checks are beyond Saloom's control is deceptive because checks can be caused by defective materials (i.e., wood that is excessively dry because it was improperly kiln dried by the supplier of the wood) or workmanship (i.e., improper attachment of wood top to bottom). Finally, I also think that my statement that Saloom has no customer service department is correct (it has aboslutely no contact information on its website--no street address, no mailing address, no telephone number, no fax number, and no email address--- and if you do figure out how to contact them they will tell you that they do not want to be contacted by purchasers of their products). People who are thinking of purchasing Saloom tables need to be aware of all of these things. Checks are rare occurences, but when it happens to you its 100%. In fairness, here's the full paragraph from Saloom's warranty, maybe other people won't think that it is deceptive like I do: "All furniture is built in environmentally controlled conditions. Humidity and temperature are highly regulated in our factories. However, wood will expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity and Saloom Furniture Co. Inc. will not replace a table that has a slight gap either in the center or at the ends where the two table halves meet. This is normal movement and will change with changing conditions/seasons. Care must be taken to control the temperature and humidity in the area where the furniture is placed. Checking or splitting of natural wood products along a "wood grain line" is a condition which may or may not occur in these wood products and is usually the result of excessive dryness of the wood, and therefore, this condition is expressly excluded from the terms and conditions of this limited warranty." It is fair for Saloom to exclude checks from its warranty if it wants to. However, I think that the "spin" that it put on the exclusion is deceptive and misleads customers into thinking that checks are a common occurence and are not the fault of the manufacturer. Saloom controls the wood that it uses in its products and IMO should be responsible for defects in that wood. If you read my thread in the woodworking forum, you will find that the people over think it would be just about impossible for the excessive dryness to be caused by the customer's home.

Last fall I finally cleaned out my basement storage and made a huge pile of things too good to throw out but stuff I would never use. I also had my mom and dads household in the basement from when we all moved into together in 2000. Only took me 8 years to finally deal with all the stuff. When we cleaned, we also made 4 (big ) pick up truck loads to the dump. So, this past Wednesday, a friend I hauled that pile of meduim good stuff to the flea market. It was an adventure! We got there at 5:00 am , by 5:30 all big items were gone and buy 7:00 am , I was ready for lunch! Or so it felt. At 9:00 am , we made our two tables into the .50 cent table and the dollar table. At 9:45, we were yelling out, "Everything a quarter" and at 10:15 we gave away free all that was left. That ceramic bird you bought for $7.95, Red, might have gone for a quarter. Maybe. The vacuum sealer and several boxes of refills went for a dollar. The health rider (Mom's) went for a dollar. Lots of baskets, knick knacks, pillows, books all went free. I took home a ceramic vase that I had bought on a whim that is pretty and cost about $8.00 when I bought it 8 years or so ago. Which is where I got the parallel, Red. Many people picked it up and one idiot asked who was the potter. Hmmm, tjmaxx? When we did the free table, I put it back in the truck to take back home. It was a sobering event in the fact that all the stuff I accumulate is not worth anything. We made several hundred dollars and I don't want to buy anything else!