36 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



United States. The explanation of the absence of Pacific coast woods 

 from the parlor furniture industry in Illinois is that very little soft- 

 wood is used, and the Pacific coast is almost totally destitute of 

 hardwoods. Three softwoods are listed in the table, shortleaf pine, 

 white pine, and red cedar, the total quantity being 250,000 feet, or 

 less than two per cent of all. The parlor furniture frame industry 

 uses a smaller proportionate amount of softwoods than almost any 

 other industry. 



Three-fourths of all wood reported in Illinois in 1909 for parlor 

 frames was birch and maple, both of which came almost wholly from 

 the North. Later statistics have not been compiled, but some men 

 well posted in the business are of the opinion that a somewhat rapid 

 change is taking place in the kinds of wood used, and the region of 

 supply. It is believed that gum is displacing birch. This is not 

 because birch is liked any less than it was years ago, but because gum 

 is cheaper, and manufacturers have learned how to use it with very 

 satisfactory results. It is a handsome, substantial, reliable wood, 

 when it is properly seasoned, and its use in this industry appears to 

 be rapidly increasing. Manufacturers recognize two kinds of gum, 

 red and sap. These are commercial distinctions, and have no botanical 

 basis. Both kinds come from the same tree — the red gum. The sap 

 gum is the light colored sapwood, and the red gum, as the lumberman 

 speaks of it, is the heartwood of the same tree. Some trees are prac- 

 tically all sapwood, others are largelj- heartwood. 



Birch is the leading wood, as shown in the table, and most of it 

 comes from the North. Two or more kinds of birch figure in the total, 

 the principal being sweet birch and yellow birch. The trees are easily 

 distinguished in the woods, but the wood of both goes to factories 

 together, and the users could hardly tell them apart if they would try. 



The relatively small supply of wood drawn from the South by the 

 parlor furniture industry, as shown in the foregoing table, is explained 

 only by the fact that three woods largely used — maple, birch, and 

 beech — are not extensively lumbered in the South. The table, how- 

 ever, which gives the figures, is three years old, and considerable 

 change in sources of supply may have taken place since then. There 

 is little doubt that the parlor furniture industry, at least in Illinois, 

 draws more supplies from the South now than it did three years ago. 



The makers of parlor furniture use some figured wood, but not as 

 much as the makers of some other sorts of furniture, for the reason 

 that the surfaces exposed to view are smaller and figures do not show 

 to advantage. Fine color is more esteemed than the contrast which 

 figure gives. Birch, maple, and gum take exquisite finish. They may 

 be stained almost any desired color. These three'woods may and often 

 do pass for mahogany or • cherry. The imitation may be so perfect 

 that only those intimately acquainted with the woods and the ways of 

 w'orking them- can tell the true from the imitation. 



Parlor furniture affords the wood carver an opportunity to display 

 his skill. Arms, feet, and backs of chairs and the different styles of 

 davenports and settees are decorated with lion heads, eagle feet, and 

 busts, gorgons, and gargoyles. The carving must be done on solid 

 wood, for veneered pieces would be out of the question. 



The makers of frames for parlor furniture face one of the problems 

 which many other manufacturers of articles of wood have faced — that 

 of waste. They make use of many sizes. Lumber is ripped and cross- 

 cut to produce the desired dimensions, and when lumber of proper 

 specifications is procured, the waste is not great; but this is not 

 always the case. Cuttings often do not come out exactly even, and 

 odds and ends will be left over. These may be too short or of the 

 wrong shape, and their destination is the boiler room where they have 

 fuel value only. 



The waste is increased for every defect that must be cut out. Some 

 manufacturers who use many small pieces have tried cutting stock 

 from low-grade stuff. They buy lumber of that kind cheaply, but 

 the waste is more, and it is questionable whether they can save any- 

 thing by working up low-grade stuff. They must pay the same freight 

 on poor lumber as on good, and by the time the greater waste is 

 thrown away, the anticipated saving disappears. 



Some manufacturers of parlor furniture frames have attempted 

 to interest sawmills in getting out dimensions of exact sizes. The 

 argument has been advanced that the sawmill could work up low-grade 



stock in this waj', use what is good and throw away what is bad, and 

 make a profit from a class of lumber which is poor sale through ordi- 

 nary channels. By- so doing, no freight is paid on worthless stuff — 

 knots, defects, splits, wany pieces, etc. — for that is thrown away at 

 the mUl, and the serviceable parts are cut out and shipped. 



It has been found that this suggested means of closer utilization 

 looks better in theory than it works in practice. At first glance it 

 seems that sawmUls, by installing a little extra machinery, could cut 

 perfect small dimension stock from low-grade lumber which in its 

 usual form is hardly worth shipping. It has not turned out that way, 

 however, in the majority of cases. Sawmills continue to ship lumber 

 to the furniture factory in the old way, and the dimensions are cut 

 there. 



One reason why sawmills are unable to make anything by cutting 

 small dimension stock, is that they must get out so many sizes and 

 kinds to meet the requirements of different buyers. If they make 

 only a few sizes, the market for those sizes is over-supplied; while 

 if they produced many sizes, they must hunt for markets in many 

 places, and the details of such a business make it impracticable. All 

 sawmill men know that it would be easy to cut out quantities of small 

 dimension stock of first class quality from odds, ends, and low-grade 

 lumber; but it is quite another matter to sell the various sizes and 

 kinds at a profit, because they must be shipped in so many directions 

 in order that each particular kind will reach the buyer who wants it. 

 This is one of the serious problems of forest conservation. There is 

 a buyer for every scrap of wood, provided the scrap of wood and 

 the buyer can be brought together; but that is the part of the problem 

 which has not yet been worked out satisfactorily. The makers of 

 parlor furniture frames have tried to find a solution for their part 

 of the problem. They think that many of the small jiieces which 

 they use could be cut at the sawmills from low-grades and culls, at 

 a profit to the lumberman and a saving to the furniture maker; but 

 the combination for doing it has not yet been figured out — at least 

 it has not been for several of the common kinds of lumber, though 

 some headway has been made in that direction with oak, which reaches 

 markets through more channels than some of the other woods. 



Slow Burning Woods 



AH woods will burn if brought in contact with fire and kept there 

 a sufficient length of time; but there is much difference in the inflam- 

 mability of different woods. Some will take fire in situations where 

 others will scarcely show signs of scorching. Three woods which have 

 well-established reputations for being hard to set on fire are holly, 

 redwood, ami European alder. California redwood will scorch and 

 char to a considerable extent before it will burst into flame. Firemen 

 in western towns where redwood is much used in building houses know 

 how much easier is the work of controlling a fire where this wood 

 is concerned than where the material is pine. Fire not only spreads 

 less rapidly from room to room and from house to house of redwood, 

 but a blaze is more easily extinguished. Redwood instantly absorbs 

 water thrown against it, and a surface that is blazing may be quickly 

 freed of flame. The slow-burning properties of holly are not so well 

 known. It is a scarce wood and little is employed in house construc- 

 tion. The pioneers who built cabins with large fireplaces discovered, 

 the value of holly for the log which occupied the place of the present- 

 day mantel. It vias exposed to the heat and sparks from the fireplace. 

 This log was of holly when it could be had. It did not take fire from 

 the ordinary contact of sparks and the occasional lap of flame against 

 it, and was safer than any other wood which the frontiers men could 

 use for that part' of the cabin. Alder has the same reputation and 

 occupies the same place in Denmark and other parts of northwestern 

 Europe. It forms the woodwork most exposed to the heat of the 

 chimney, because less likely to catch on fire. 



Waiting to see what is going to happen before getting busy at 

 some contemplated project is an easy and natural way to make some- 

 thing happen that we generally profess to not want. 



The man in biisiness who is always brooding over wrongs, real and 

 imaginary, might turn his brooder to better account by going into 

 chicken raising. 



