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Its not as hard to recognize good craftsmanship in furniture as in other types of products.

https://www.thosmoser.com/

I don’t see why that should be the case.

As someone who rarely/never buys furniture I have no idea what good craftsmanship looks like in the finished product.

You can recognize particleboard, can’t you? That’s low quality. Cardboard covered with wood veneer is another trick, but you can recognize that by its unnatural lightness. Low quality again. Then look at the joints between pieces. If the wood is shaped so that the pieces fit into each other, then that is high quality. If they are joined by screws, metal plates, or glue, then that is low quality (or medium, in some cases).

It’s not really that hard, although of course with a couch the upholstery can hide a lot of sins.

Fair enough.

I do know that heavy furniture is probably higher quality.

But that’s about it.

Not sure if I would spot particleboard, since it’s hidden under paint or as you said veneer.

My only realistic quality criteria are: - does it look old? - is it very heavy?

FWIW, MDF with a veneer is a higher quality than MDF with paint. Also, you can tell when there is a veneer by looking at the edges and corners.

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