HARDWOOD RECORD 



35 



made with all sorts of woods in the endeavor to reduce the cost 

 of production without losing quality. All efforts along these lines 

 have met with a minimum of success. Ash, birch, chestnut, maple 

 and poplar have all in turn been tried. Ash has been found to 

 be a fair substitute for plain oak and in durability is its equal; 

 at the same time, owing to its heavy grain, ash is inferior to oak 

 when finished. Birch, being an exceedingly fine grained hardwood, 

 is now used extensivelj' for making imitations of genuine ma- 

 hogany and. when the finisher is expert, it sometimes appears 

 almost superior to the real article, with the cost much less. This 

 wood is also used for imitations of walnut and ebony and takes 

 dark stains admirably. 



Chestnut, within the last five years, has become very popular. 

 and the splendid grain of this wood having brought it into prom- 

 inence, it has become recognized as especially good for gilding. 

 Completed, it is a reasonably priced, handsome molding. This 

 same excellence of grain furthermore .makes it easily adaptable to 

 special finishes such as grays, greens and light browns, the mark- 

 ings giving a highly artistic effect after the application of the 

 stains. 



About the time chestnut leaped into public favor, gum, with which 

 the picture frame people had been experimenting for ten years, 

 became an assured success, and today is one of the most popular 

 of all the woods used in picture frame manufacturing. Since 

 the invention of embossed steel rollers upon which ornaments are- 

 cut, the rollers, while hot, are pressed upon the molding and leave 

 an impression of the design in base relief. These moldings have 

 become more salable than any other item on the market, excepting 

 plain oak. 



For years the objection to gum was the fact that it w'arped 

 and twisted badly. Ceaseless experiments and the discovery of a 

 perfected process of steaming and kiln-drying, has very largely 

 overcome this. Very little expense is involved in the finishing 

 after the wood is once embossed, and all possibility of chipping 

 or damaging the ornament in joining the frame, such as is daily 

 encountered in making frames with composition ornaments, is 

 entirely eliminated. 



The most widely appreciated, high-grade picture molding at 

 present is genuine Circassian walnut veneer. About four years 

 ago this rich and expensive wood in the form of veneers was intro- 

 duced, rosewood at first being the presumptive favorite of the 

 future Birdseye maple, mahogany, satinwood and other fancy 

 woods hax'e all been offered, but Circassian walnut has become 

 the established every-day seller, and millions of feet of this beauti- 

 ful product have been marketed in the last two years, largely 

 due, no doubt, to the fact that it is being so generally used by 

 furniture and piano manufacturers, just as the manufacture of 

 Mission furniture brought into prominence the various Mission 

 finishes in picture frames, which have been applied to every kind 

 of wood used in the industry, the best results being secured with 

 plain or quarter-sawed oak. The major part of picture frame 

 veneering is applied upon basswood. Chestnut was utilized for a 

 time, but did not prove wholly satisfactory. 



A few old homes still contain specimens of the veneering of the 

 time of our grandfathers. Examination shows the veneered frames 

 of that period to have been veneered on top, bottom and back, and, 

 in most cases, the veneering is done upon black walnut. This 

 good old-fashiond wood is again appearing in the furniture world 

 as a rare and expensive "antique'' fad. Picture frame people 

 also note a few inquiries for the old-time walnut frames and it may 

 be that the old style deep and "shell" walnut frames with beryl 

 hollows and tinted carving that graced the colonial manorhouses 

 will again be put upon the market. 



About twelve years ago veneer frames appeared ou the market. 

 These were made from three-ply stock veneer panels, which were 

 stuck in special factories doing nothing but that kind of work 

 and which sold them to the picture frame trade, who cut them 

 into various shapes and sizes, ornamenting some and using others 

 plain. The product was an exceedingly attractive and artistic 

 creation that presented more possibilities in the way of variety in 

 ornament and construction than anj- other medium in the history 

 of the industry. It is furthermore worth noting that one of the 

 cheapest 16x20 frames (which is the staple size for both portrait 

 and ordinary picture work) was made from this stock, millions of 

 them being sold broadcast over the country and many factories 

 devoting themselves exclusively to the manufacture of this one 

 size and style. The particular veneer utilized in this case was 

 ash, glued in most cases upon a basswood base, although eury 

 and birdseye maple were also used in some instances. About 

 that time, but to a lesser extent than in the ease of ash, veneers 

 of quarter-sawed oak, birdseye maple, Circassian walnut, Hun- 

 garian ash and rosewood were also used, commanding as high as 

 $12 and .$13 per frame. The style began to die out about four 

 j-ears ago, for no apparent reason, and today there remains 

 scarcely a veneer frame of this class on the market. 



'What the future may offer to the hardwood industry from the 

 molding man 's standpoint is a query. It is assured, however, 

 that plain and quartered oak always will sell in the unorna- 

 mented, flat shapes. The National Convention of Picture Frame 

 Molding Manufacturers, recently convened in this city, demon- 

 strated the fact that the w-idespread popularity and sale of gen- 

 uine veneers has caused a decrease of close to fift.y per cent in 

 the sales of solid oak picture molding-. Another agent probably to 

 some extent accountable for this is the popularity of gum. There is 

 much that is commendable in the continued favoritism shown for 

 hardwoods in picture molding. Factories formerly employing from 

 five to fifty ornamentors on whitened stock and gold or fancy 

 embellished imitation oak, with a sprinkling of perhaps from one 

 to ten Sanders, stainers and polishers combined, now present to 

 the observer an exact reversal of conditions, many plants finding 

 it difficult to keep even two ornamentors busy eight hours a day, 

 while perhaps sixty hardwood and veneer finishers are working 

 overtime. Hardwood frames are the most sensible and lasting 

 ever made. They show dust and dirt the least; are cleaned and 

 restored the most easily, and are most reasonable in price. This 

 certainly points to their continued popularity. 



ST.\ND.\RD FORMS OF PREVAILING 0.\K PICTURE FRAME MOI.DIXG. 



