32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Red oak 6.075.00(1 



Birch 5.470,000 



Yellow piue 4,098,000 



Elm 3,385,000 



Yellow popl.ir 3.382.000 



Basswood 1,928,000 



Red gum 1,835,000 



Chestnut . . .* 1,452,000 



Cypress 1.393,000 



Mahogany 1.320,000 



White pine 1,260,000 



Beech 778,000 



Cottonwood 688,000 



Sycamore 630,000 



Ash 525,000 



Hemlock 250.000 



Douglas Hi- 240,000 



Spruce 221,000 



Redwood 200,000 



Black willow 150,000 



Black walnut 76,000 



Cherry 72,000 



Butternut 26,000 



Tupelo ., 10,000 



Norway pine 10,000 



Sassafras 10,000 



Hackbury 6.000 



Hickory S.OOO 



Circassian walnut 5,000 



Red cedar 2,000 



Padouk 1.000 



Satinwonr! 1,000 



Locust 1,000 



Total 55.495,000 



The total cost of the above material delivered at the factories 

 ■was $2,187,023, of which $381,618 were paid by Missouri factories, 

 $872,995 by those in Illinois, and $932,410 in Michigan. Much of 

 the material is high class. White oak leads in quantity, followed 

 by maple, with red oak third, and birch fourth. Eighty-six per cent 

 of all is hardwood, and the rest is pine, hemlock, cedar, fir and 

 spruce. Material is drawn from all parts of the country, but most of 

 it comes from the South. The three states for which statistics are 

 shown are centrally situated, and doubtless represent average condi- 

 tions in the fixture industry for the whole country. 



Only about two and a half per cent of the wood comes from for- 

 eign countries. This information will surprise most persons; for the 

 belief is quite general that fixtures are made largely of mahogany, 

 rosewood, ebony, satinwood, Circassian walnut and other foreign 

 woods. Some of these woods are used, but on an average only about 

 one foot for forty feet of homegrown material. 



The reason that expensive foreign woods make such a prominent 

 showing in fixtures is that they are generally employed in the form 

 of veneers, cut very thin, and glued on cheaper woods. One board 

 foot of lumber is good for twenty or thirty surface feet of veneer. A 

 mahogany log, for instance, that scales 500 board feet may be sliced 

 to make from 10,000 to 30,000 feet of veneer; the veneer is applied 

 so faultlessly that it looks like solid wood. Veneers for fixtures are 

 made of other woods than mahogany. White oak supplies more than 

 mahogany and red oak probably more. When veneers are used as sur- 

 face finish the wood is nearly always selected on account of figure. 

 If it is oak, it is quarter-sawed. If birch, the figure is due either 

 to the bird's-eye effect, or to the curly or wavy grain. If mahogany, 

 the figure is formed by interlocking or divergent fibers which produce 

 the surface effects so much admired in this wood. Black walnut 

 and cherry have little figure, properly speaking, and when they are 

 worked into veneer, artistic color is the chief effect sought. The figure 

 which characterizes Circassian walnut is due to peculiarities of growth, 

 and is largely independent of the colors in the annual rings or in the 

 medullary rays. Bed gum (including both sap and red, for it all 

 comes from the same tree) has a figure which closely resembles that of 

 Circassian walnut, but the best figure can be had only by careful selec- 

 tion of material. Good judges of woodwork are well aware that gum 

 veneer often passes as Circassian walnut, and is not a bit less hand- 

 some and artistic. 



The best class of fixtures show the highest use of fine veneers. 

 The broad panels and large surfaces display artistic woods to the 



best advantage. If a fixture manufacturer comes into possession of a 

 choice lot of veneer, he does not need to wait long for a chance to 

 work them into commodities and sell them. His customers are usually 

 men who want the best and aire willing to pay reasonable prices to 

 procure it. For that reason the fixture manufacturer can go into the 

 market and stock up with choice material and rest assured that his 

 product will sell when it is made up. 



It should not be assumed, however, that no common and medium- 

 priced woods enter into the construction of fixtures. There is some- 

 thing back of the beautiful surfaces. Veneers are glued upon cheaper 

 woods, but they are often cheaper by comparison only, for those woods 

 are selected with care, and must possess special properties. The 

 woods on which fine veneers are glued are known as cores or backing. 

 They must possess the property of "standing." That is a term which 

 means that the wood shrinks, swells, and warps but little. It is 

 essential that corewood possess this property ; otherwise the veneer 

 glued upon it will split or buckle, and become damaged. 



A number of woods make good backing or cores. White pine is 

 usually considered to be one of the best, provided it is clear stock and 

 well seasoned; but such stock is now too expensive for general use. 

 Chestnut is second choice. In fact, some consider it equal to white 

 pine; but it must be thoroughly seasoned, and chestnut is a somewhat 

 difiicult wood to season except by the slow process of air-drying. It 

 is therefore necessary to keep it on hand for a considerable time 

 before using in wide panels and other work; but when it is in just 

 the right condition it is excellent core wood and it may be depended 

 upon to hold its shape, and to protect the veneer glued upon it. 



The grade of chestnut known as "sound wormy" is by some manu- 

 facturers considered better than unperforated wood for backing. The 

 thousands of wormholes cause the glue to adhere better, and the 

 strength of the perforated wood is ample. It is also a little lighter 

 than sound chestnut. The holes, the size of a large needle, are made 

 while the tree is standing, but the insects continue to work for a time 

 after the logs are cut, and in some instances, after the lumber is piled 

 in the yard. The insects penetrate to the hearts of large chestnut 

 trees, and there is reason to believe that a single tree may harbor 

 successive broods dilring 200 or 300 years. Chestnut timber in the 

 South averages older than that in the North, and more of it is wormy, 

 and for that reason more valuable as backing for veneer. The spread 

 of the chestnut blight makes it probable that more chestnut lumber 

 than usual will reach the markets during the next few years, for 

 owners will try to sell their timber through fear that they wiU lose 

 it if they let it stand. 



Various woods find place in fixtures as frames, shelves, drawers, 

 braces, partitions, cubbyholes and slides. Some of these may be very 

 cheap, because they need not possess beauty or much strength. They 

 are as useful, however, for the purposes intended as any of the other 

 woods entering into the construction of fixtures. ICot infrequently 

 veneers are employed that are never seen after the articles are finished. 

 Cores and backing are often of three or five ply veneers instead of 

 solid pieces. This is not unusual where panels or other pieces are 

 very wide. The thin sheets of veneer are glued together until the 

 requisite thickness is obtained, and on the outer surface of this the 

 finishing sheet is placed. Backing of that kind is more reliable than 

 when of one solid piece, because the different sheets are laid with 

 grain at right angles, and any tendency of one sheet to warp is 

 counteracted by the sheet next to it. A built-up core of that kind 

 is stronger than one of equal thickness of solid wood, and in large 

 pieces, such as bar and countertops. considerable weight may be 

 saved without sacrificing strength. Built-up cores are generally of 

 rotary-cut veneers — that is, the sheets are peeled round and round the 

 log, and not sliced or sawed thin as most of the expensive cabinet- 

 wood veneers are. 



The manufacture of fixtures calls for a good deal of carved and 

 inlaid work; the carved requiring solid pieces, the inlay thin cuttings 

 of very fine wood. The carving is generally seen on posts, pilasters, 

 capitals, pedestals, beams, columns, and ornaments; the inlay in 

 borders, mirror frames, mullions, friezes, soffets, and spandrels. 



Those who manufacture fixtures buy their lumber through the usual 

 channels, though, of course, special material must be sought outside 



