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Utilization of Hardwoods 



AHTin.K FIFTY II II l; 

 PICTXJKE MOLDING 



The well equipped, up-to-date picture frame factory of today 

 must necessarily have a good sized lumber yard containing stock 

 especially adapted to its requirements. The lumber used by the 

 majority of plants consists of No. 1 common basswood, No. 1 com- 

 mon white ash, firsts and seconds, and No. 1 common white birch, 

 firsts and seconds plain red oak, firsts and seconds quartered red 

 oak, firsts and seconds plain white oak, No. 1 common or stained 

 sap poplar, firsts and seconds chestnut, and 

 firsts and seconds red and sap gum. 



This stock for convenience is bought largely 

 in twelve-feet lengths, is kiln-dried as required, 

 groat care being taken to secure straight and 

 unwarped results. Specially manufactured 

 knives shape the lumber as desired, while it is 

 being run through a sticker. This preliminary 

 portion of the work has of late years become 

 an almost separate industry from general pic- 

 ture molding manufacture, and has reduced the 

 cost of production of completed picture frames. 

 Certain factories, however, still go through the 

 whole process, from the rough lumber to the 

 finished product. In these shops the molding 

 is taken from the stickers to the whitening 

 room, where it is run through a whitening 

 machine many times, ornamented, if so desired, 

 and then gilded or finished in imitation of 

 various expensive hardwoods. Such woods as 

 oak, birch, ash and others that are used in nat- 

 ural finish do not require whitening, and are 

 taken from the sticker straight to the sanding 

 machines and thence to the finishing room, 



where they are filled, stained and polished or waxed. Powerful sand- 

 ing machines peculiarly adapted to the use of the picture frame trade 

 have in late years made this portion of the work inexpensive, and 

 many other recent inventions in the form of sand-papering machines 

 for veneers of fancy shapes have made absolutely perfect picture 

 molding easy to pro- 

 duce. 



The first picture 

 molding manufactured 

 in this country was 

 made about seventy 

 vears ago from solid 

 black walnut. This 

 wood is now scarce, 

 but at that time was 

 plentiful and cheap. 

 It made an exceed- 

 ingly strong, servicea- 

 ble molding, rich and 

 beautiful when fin- 

 ished. Many homes 

 still display a frame 

 (ir two that date from that period, 

 moldings first made their appearance. The whitening of those days 

 though was not all placed upon soft wood, as even black walnut was 

 used as a base, with the whitening and ornamenting done wholly 

 by hand. Walnut moldings were then made only in deep or high- 

 back pattern in both plain and beryl elTects, and the manufacturers 

 ma.ie our grandfathers pay a round price for them. 



Our own generation early saw the appearance of what became 

 known to the picture frame industry as the "rustic frame," which 

 today is recognized as the first approach to the use of a flat, hard- 

 wood molding. Tlii'i =tvlr. posscssod none of the characteristics 



—34— 



ICXAMl'LE OF I'lCTUItK FKAMK < 

 Alxiut this same time also gold 



of the old, expensive black walnut franu'. It consisted merely of 

 four flat pieces of walnut, crossed so that the ends were left pro- 

 truding, glued and nailed together. The frame corners were capped 

 by a "leaf" made from the same wood. Cheap boy labor carved 

 various patterns of leaves upon these frames by hand, and the 

 whole was finished with a single coat of shellac. Both the finish- 

 ing anil i-arving were done in the larger shops on a piece-work 

 basis, and marked the introduction of this plan 

 to the picture frame trade. This type of 

 frame was the first inexpensive article of its 

 kind ever put upon the market, and it speedily 

 became popular the country over. The vogue 

 it attained, however, was not alone owing to 

 its cheapness, but equally generally attractive 

 appearance. 



Following the rustic frame, plain oak made 

 its debut, in turn heralding the use of quar- 

 ter-sawed oak in flat and ornamented 

 frames. These immediately became staple and 

 found such favor in the public eye that, after 

 the lapse of forty years, they are still standard 

 sellers in the trade. No wood that has ever 

 been used combines the beauty, durability, ease 

 in finishing, and many minor good qualities. 

 that can be credited to plain and quarter-sawed 

 oak. For the cheaper grade work, red oak is 

 generally utilized, while for better and choice 

 patterns the wood increases in quality and 

 value to the highest grade of quartered white 

 oak on the market. One of the most note- 

 worthy features regarding the use of this wood 

 is that it obviates the necessity of ornamentation, although when 

 first brought out it was elaborately and heavily embellished, oven to 

 the extent of hand carving. 



In early days gold moldings were made upon the finest pine stock, 

 and some factories, in order to insure greater perfection, used the 



gold leaf upon black 

 walnut, the raw wood 

 being first whitened 

 a n d then gilded. 

 .Since then the genu- 

 ine gold leaf has given 

 place to silver and 

 metal leaf; those in 

 turn have been suc- 

 ceeded by various 

 grades of bronze ap- 

 plied in many forms, 

 until now it can be 

 said that the present 

 imitation gold-powder 

 bronze used on mold- 

 ings is an almost per- 

 fect duplicate of genuine gold leaf. Just as hardwood franics slmwcd 

 elaborate ornament, carving and much fancy detail in the beginning, 

 and later changed to the present popular stylo of simplicity that 

 calls for little or no ornament, so has the vogue of gilt frame types 

 varied. 



In the past ten years lumber prices have increased on all woods 

 used by picture frame men. Plain oak, stuck ready for polishing, 

 was easily procurable for twenty-five cents per inch ten years 

 ago, and select quarter-sawed white oak for thirty-five cents per 

 inch. Today these woods are difficult to purchase at double these 

 prices. Owing to this advance in cost, experiments have been 



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