Grab your seats, for here’s some good news. Notice we didn’t call it “trivia,” for it certainly is not. This information is far too important for the high-end coach aficionado to call it that. In fact, what we want to share with our readers is but one of the several important things that for the last 20 years has added equity and substance to Beaver products and to the name Beaver Motorcoaches. It has to do with the cabinetry and finished woodwork created at the Beaver cabinet shops in Bend, Oregon. At Beaver, creative genius, finely honed skills and the finest woods from around the world unite to produce cabinets and finished interior woodwork that is unsurpassed anywhere in the motorcoach industry, or for that matter, anywhere in the world.

So, what’s the good news? Here it is. Deep within the forests of places like South America, Central Europe and Africa are trees that have been hand-picked, individually selected for use by custom wood workers around the world including the Beaver cabinet shops.

Mahogany comes from Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaraguan, Peru and the Philippines. Mai Dou comes from Indo-china. Makore burl comes from the African Gold Coast, walnut burl comes from several locations in the Northern Hemisphere and Mappa burl comes from Central Europe. These burls are what Beaver elects to use for the Marquis and Patriot dash and cabinet inlay. Custom requests for Marquis cabinets can be made that combine these different kinds of burl woods into unique variations for use as inlay with the maple, walnut, white maple or cherry woods. Other premium Beaver-used woods include Muninga, Myrtle, Morado and many exotic Maples (red, silver, black and sugar).

But the premium wood is but one component in a mix of several key components that go into the creation of the cabinets and the finished woodwork that have earned Beaver a superior reputation for creating grand coach interiors. Other elements include the fact that cabinets are typically not built in quantities. There is no such thing as “mass production” in the Beaver cabinet shops. The order for the walnut, cherry, oak or maple (whatever the wood may be) goes out only after an order for a specific coach is received. This has a number of important consequences.

Next, an effort is made to select all of the wood required to build the cabinets in a single Beaver coach from the same batch of trees. What this means is there is continuity in grain, knots, texture and color, that in part help make each coach interior a unique masterpiece. The Beaver cabinetmakers have learned to cultivate the naturally occurring characteristics of the wood that only Mother Nature is capable of designing. All woodworking, cabinets, doors, drawers and wood accessories are individual works of art.

A good example is Beaver’s use of burl wood. For those who do not know it, burl wood comes from the bottom of the tree, where the trunk begins to transition into the tree root. It arrives at Beaver in individual rolls of thinly peeled sheets that are laminated to a thin paper backing. These thinly peeled laminate sheets are arranged by the Beaver cabinet shop in such a way that the natural continuity and the integrity of the tree and root patterns go undisturbed. Only skilled, creative woodworkers, like those at Beaver, can look at the natural pattern of the burl wood and arrange it for the inlay, so it flows naturally — as it’s meant to.

Should you ever go on a Beaver plant tour at the Bend, Oregon facility, a visit to the cabinet shops is always included. As you walk through the cabinet shops, take note of the boxes (these are not big boxes) that each hold a roll of burl wood laminate. Ask how much each box of burl wood laminate is worth. Okay, we won’t make you wait. Each box has a market value of $10,000! It’s expensive for several reasons, one being that it’s considered the ultimate in a natural wood look. The quantities of these kinds of burl woods are limited, and demand among the worldwide network of meticulous and gifted cabinetmakers is always high. Then of course, there are the man-hours that go into selecting each tree and the cost of travel associated with combing remote forest locations around the world. Next are the processes involved with peeling the wood ever so thin and then laminating it to an equally thin backing. It’s these factors that make these burl woods so special and in such demand.

There can be as many as 45 cabinets, 60 doors, two pocket doors, 40 drawer faces and literally hundreds of pieces of wood and finished wood accessories in a Beaver coach, depending upon the model and the floorplan. When a coach order is received, a computer generates a list that details each and every piece of wood required for that specific coach. This list is forwarded to an outside wood specialty supplier who cuts the wood into the pieces necessary to build all of the cabinets. These cuts of wood include the stiles. Stiles are the vertical pieces of wood that make up the vertical frame members and the vertical sides of each door. They also include the rails, the horizontal pieces of wood used to build the frame and the tops and bottoms of each door. There are the door inserts and the raised panels that will be adorned with the burl wood inlay, plus all the rest of the structural cabinet frame members. These individual pieces of wood are bundled and packaged together and then shipped to the Beaver cabinet shops in a large palletized container. It’s now the cabinet shop’s turn (their sawyers, assemblers, sanders and sealers, the finishers, etc.) to work their magic.

Each Beaver product line (Monterey, Patriot and Marquis) has its own unique cabinet and woodworking fingerprint, a design or look that makes each product line unique unto itself and totally different from the other Beaver product lines. For example, the type and location of hardware used in the cabinets of a Beaver coach are dictated by the product line. The same is true for drawer construction. In the Monterey, furniture grade plywood is assembled using a staple and glue process. For the Patriot and Marquis, alder wood is tongue and grooved (then glued), dove tailed (then glued) and then lacquered.

Where four-inch to eight-inch wide pieces of wood are required, a technique called “biscuiting” is used to create pieces of wood that require a wider dimension. Each piece of wood that will be joined together is first selected based on the similarity of the grain patterns and tones so that they match perfectly. Along the edge of each piece of wood, where the two pieces will be joined together, several grooves are routed out. These grooves are filled with glue and a biscuit inserted. A biscuit is an oval-shaped, milled piece of wood that looks like a small, thin biscuit. As the biscuit soaks up the glue, it expands. When the glue has dried, the two pieces of wood are permanently joined. If the two pieces of wood were to ever break; they would break along the grain before they would break along the joint. The superior strength created by using this glue and biscuit method is
phenomenal.

An important selling feature on Beaver cabinets: the cabinet doors are designed so the center panels actually float. This allows the wood to swell or shrink as the humidity and temperatures change. For example, if a coach is transiting from Arizona to, say, Florida, the amount of shrinkage and swelling experienced between these two venues, is phenomenal. Cabinet frames, styles and rails are joined using the “screw and glue” process. In this technique, recessed holes are drilled (you never see them, they are on the inside of the cabinet), glue is appropriately applied and the wood screws are then used to draw and hold the joining parts together while the glue cures. When two cabinets are joined together, dowels and glue are used to add structural integrity.

The types of finishes used will also vary depending on the product line. In the top-of-the-line Marquis, an automotive style finish is used that requires sanding and buffing between each lacquer application. This gives the final coat of lacquer a permanent sheen and adds depth to the wood grain. All cherry, walnut and oak wood surfaces are sealed, allowing the artistic side of the Beaver cabinetmaker to emphasize the natural tones and grain of the wood. Stain is never used. Only the natural wood grain and wood tones are relied upon, creating the unique beauty found in the finish.

Where varnish is applied (depending upon the application) the wood is then baked in a giant oven at 120-degrees with the baking process taking place between each coat of varnish. The total process involves the following steps:

1. A tack coat followed by 2-3-4 progressively heavier coats of polyester base coat;
2. Ambient air dry for a minimum of eight hours;
3. Sand with 150-grit paper and then with 320-grit;
4. Top coat with catacrylic conversion varnish, one tack coat and two to three heavier coats; 5) Flash for 10 minute then force dry for 45 minutes at 140 degrees; 6) Cool to ambient room temperature for 10 minutes; 7) Sand with 600-grit paper, followed by 1200-grit paper; 8) Buff using 3M Finesse It II rubbing compound.

At Beaver, the woodworkers and cabinetmakers are made up of approximately 80 skilled crafts-people specifically dedicated to creating the cabinetry and finished woodwork for all Beaver products. All total, about 350 years of cabinetmaking and woodworking experience is combined at Beaver’s wood-works. Several of the craftspeople have been with Beaver 20 plus-years.

For years, the name Beaver has stood for excellence in cabinet building and finished woodwork. In the Beaver cabinet and woodworking shops the craftspeople recognize the importance of what they do. They know that the unique beauty of their finished products is one of the several important reasons discerning clients continue to seek Beaver motorcoaches. There’s a prevailing attitude among those working there that says it all. “If you wouldn’t be proud to display a completed piece of woodwork in your home, then for certain it doesn’t belong in a Beaver motorhome.” These folks are proud to be part of the Beaver team. They’re extremely proud of the work they do.