Digital manufacturing of real wood furniture using a new approach is in the offing, says 4 AXYZ. The start-up says it has developed a proprietary process for more efficiently producing high quality, real-wood products formed from solid wood, using additive technology.  

Founder and CEO Samir Shah says that the 4 AXYZ (it's pronounced "Four Axes") process uses an unspecified German technology adapted to produce wood products through "additive" manufacturing. While wood manufacturing normally starts with blocks, panels and boards, and cuts away - in a subtractive process - the parts of the lumber that won't be part of the finished product. This would be the chips, sawdust and wood scraps left at the end of a project.

Shah's process, according to tech bloggists, starts with higher grade wood, instead of using cheaper materials like MDF, shaping it into formed products. A sample bench that would normally be joined from nine pieces is produced in three pieces - the side leg components output as a single element.

The 4 AXYZ company website is sparse, with photos of furniture produced conventionally, some of it by Judson Beaumont of Straightline Designs. At the 4 AXYZ Facebook page tells a bit more and has links to other coverage. 

Tell us what you think, or have found out, about 4 AXYZ.