i8 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



The Utilization of HardWoods. 



The carriage doubtless developed from the 

 chariot, or some other form of primitive cart. 

 Thus it was probably the neccesities of war 

 that brought "man-carrying" vehicles into 

 use. Chariots were used in Egypt at a re- 

 mote prehistoric period, but it was among the 

 Romans that carriages began to gradually as- 



ABTICLE V. 

 The Manufacture of Carriages. 



vehicles generally are quite diflt'erent from 

 those employed in heavy wagons. Longleaf 

 pine, almost universally .in use for the bot- 

 toms of heavy wagons, is never utilized ; 

 again, oak, which in heavy vehicles is the 

 timber most widely employed for all parts 

 of the gear except axles, is altogether unavail- 



EXTENSION BROUGHAM OR DEMI-COAC 



sunie a practical form. They were supposed 

 to belong exclusively to the nobility, just as 

 today the closed carriage gives its owner a 

 certain degree of social distinction in the 

 eyes of the less fortunate. The Roman car- 

 riages were often decorated with gold and pre- 

 cious stones, and the covered vehicle dates 

 back to the Caesars. 



Ash is employed extensively for the frame- 

 work of carriages and the great majority of 

 light vehicles. This is not the case with heavy 

 vehicles, where ash is now little used, and of 

 course the construction of the carriage differs 

 from them in several other essential par- 

 ticulars. (5reat bulk is undesirable, and there- 

 fore framework and panel construction is used 

 in the body or "box" instead of the solid 

 board construction seen in the farm 

 wagon. This construction is also used in the 

 light delivery wagons — that is, the covered 

 wagon type so common among retail mer- 

 chants. But there are secrets in the art. One 

 of these is the manner of making side panels. 

 These, when properly made, are shaped up to 

 vary slightly from the straight edge, having 

 an outward ' ' bellying ' ' to offset the effect 

 of shrinkage, which would otherwise give the 

 side of the vehicle a crestfallen look. Car- 

 riage panels are from three-eighths of an inch 

 to one and one-quarter inches thick; sills and 

 body pillars deeper. 



The woods selected for buggies and light 



the making ot light 



able for that purpose 

 vehicles. 



Odd as it may seem, there is hardly a jxiint 

 of similarity in the choice of woods for the 

 various parts of light and heavy vehicles. As 

 the bodies are generally altogether different 



as to method of construction so they are as 

 to materials. As already stated, ash is the 

 favored timber for carriage framework. This 

 wood, because of its toughness, elasticity and 

 comparative lightness, has always been rightly 

 regarded as invaluable in carriage building, 

 and was formerly used for framework to the 

 practical exclusion of all other timbers; but 

 nowadays, on account of its scarcity and high 

 jirice, substitutes are much utilized, among 

 them maple, oak, beech, red gum, rock elm, 

 white elm, haekberrv, butternut and pecan. 



For panels poplar is now the standard wood, 

 its lightness recommending it, since it is suffi- 

 ciently strong for the purpose. Its increasing 

 scarcity, however, is causing many carriage 

 builders to look elsewhere for panel stock. 

 Cottonwood is very widely employed as a sub- 

 stitute; other timbers so utilized are red gum, 

 hasswood, silver maple and buckeye. Red gum 

 i-i much used for buggy bottoms. Jletal panels 

 have been tried by some manufacturers, but 

 are declared to hold paint poorly and to dent 

 easily, thus being quite unsatisfactory. Steel 

 panels have been used with apparent success 

 in some makes of automobiles and therefore 

 it would seem that a metal carriage panel 

 need not necessarily prove a failure. 



In former times, indeed up to twenty-five 

 \ i^ars ago, carriage panels of Honduras 

 mahogany were made in England, but in the 

 I'nited States mahogany and rosewood are 

 nowadays seldom impressed into the service 

 by the manufacturers except when carriages 

 of state are made; then woods of great value 

 are turned to account, and rich carvings and 

 ormolu trimmings, together with the best skill 

 of the painter on wood, are lavished upon the 

 body of the vehicle; however, the making of 

 state carriages is mainly confined to Europe. 



ARK DliAG. 



