36 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



Septe 



10. I 92 I 



preserved these classic specimens to a grateful posterity." 

 The undoubted authority and the unquestionable authenticity 

 of these ancient relics of veneer work and the opinions of the 

 masters who created them form a background for the 550,000 

 advertising campaign which it is believed will at once surprise the 

 furniture world generally and at the same time disabuse the pub- 

 lic mind of the still remaining prejudice against veneer. 



The **Bureau de Campagne** 



Another piece illustrated in this article is the famous writing 

 cabinet of Napoleon 1, called by his soldiers the "bureau de cam- 

 pagne." This is a collapsible cabinet which accompanied the 

 Little Corporal in his victorious campaigns and was used by him 

 on many of the greatest battlefields of Europe. It has an ex- 

 tension top with a surface of green marble, the sides, ends and 

 front together with the panels being finished in mahogany or rose- 

 ^vood veneer. This classic is signed by Biennais, Rue St. Honore, 

 Paris, but is said to have been designed at Florence, Italy, by 

 Giovanni Socci. It is preserved at Malmaison, the home of the 

 Empress Josephine. 

 The reproduction 

 here given is from 

 an old plate and 

 sho\vs the cocked 

 hat of Napoleon, 

 sword, gloves, and 

 riding whip- The 

 recognized force of 

 Napoleon as an "ad- 

 vertising personal- 

 ity" will render this 

 piece invaluable for 

 publicity purposes. 

 We show also in 

 this article a won- 

 derful veneered sat- 

 inwood and mahog- 

 any inlaid piano-' 

 forte, formerly the 

 property of the 

 Queen of Spain 

 (said to have been 

 a gift to her by the 

 notorious Emanuel 

 Godoy) but no less 

 beautiful for that. 

 The piece is now 

 preserved in the 

 collection of Hud- 

 son, Park Lane, W. 

 London. 



The "Ruben's Cabinet," also illustrated in this article is of the 

 very early date of 1620, preserved in the Royal Collection at Wind- 

 sor Castle. It is executed in carved ebony and veneers. 



Still other classics, held in reserve by the Committee, include a 

 reproduction of the Coronation Chair of Edward 1, in West- 

 minster Abbey and probably one of the earliest forms of veneer 

 work in England. The woods are "layered," then covered with 

 a plaster surface and cut away leaving reliefs which were then 

 gilded. 



Classics of Veneer 



It is impossible in the narrow limits of a brief descriptive article 

 to attempt reproduction of the several hundred classics of veneer 

 which the research has brought together. We may mention, how- 

 ever, the following. 



At the Wayside Inn at Sudbury, Mass.. the custodian will point 

 with pride to the justly famous writing desk of Daniel Webster. 

 It is veneered. When John Hancock directed his representative 

 in England to obtain for him the finest sideboard that money could 



Veneered and Inlaid Piano Made for a Queen of Spain 



buy he gave his order for veneer confident of pleasing. 



At the Historical Museum at Portland their proudest possession 

 is a beautiful veneered mahogany and ebony writing cabinet, 

 some six feet in length by three feet deep, inlaid and banded with 

 satinwood. It was once the property of the ill-fated Marie An- 

 toinette. 



Another unusual plate is that of a beautiful Sheraton writing 



desk formerly in the Willett Collection, a genuine Sheraton 



veneered with satinwood. 



The Committee has even gone so far as to resurrect quotations 

 from Sheraton himself on the antiquity, beauty and perferability 

 of veneer. We quote him as follows from the report of the British 

 Royal Institute. "The ground, glue and extra time required for 

 veneer are more than equivalent to the extra cost of woods in 

 solid pieces." In fact, Sheraton is at some pains to instruct the 

 cabinet makers of his day in the proper laying of veneers, and 

 time has proven that when well laid they will last for centuries 

 and yield contrasts by opposing, reversing, or otherwise adapting 

 successive pieces of veneer of practically identical patterns, ut- 

 terly unobtainable 

 in solid woods. 



Chippendale's 

 famous bookcase, 

 Chippendale chairs, 

 sideboards and com- 

 modes are also in 

 hand in the form of 

 photographs show- 

 ing the veneer work 

 employed by that 

 master ; also some 

 remarkable speci- 

 mens by the broth- 

 ers Adam, a most 

 extraordinary side- 

 board by Hepple- 

 white, superb pro- 

 ductions by Pergo- 

 lesi and many 

 others. 



Will Not Neglect 

 Plywood 



And side by side 

 with the veneer sec- 

 tion of this advertis- 

 ing campaign an al- 

 most practically 

 equal space w^ill be 

 devoted to plywood, 

 historically and otherwise. Special reports have been assembled 

 from the best informed scientific sources including the best prac- 

 tice of the manufacturers themselves and from the various bureaus 

 and institutes concerned in the development and extension of the 

 scientific employment of laminated wood construction. For in- 

 stance, the Committee has obtained a special report from the lead- 

 ing authority of the Ohio Mechanics Institute and the glue in- 

 terests will be interested in the following excerpt taken from the 

 report: "The effect of using glue in bonding the alternate layers 

 of plywood is a most important factor. The application of glue 

 to w^ood acts not only as a binder between surfaces but penetrates 

 the wood fibre and acts as a binder between the fibres themselves, 

 providing a greater resistance to longitudinal shear, besides in- 

 creasing resistance to all other forms of stress. It does this be- 

 cause good glue is stronger than the element of friction which 

 nature provides between wood fibres. As the penetration of glue 

 into wood is not great its influence on the ultimate strength of 

 thick layers other than at their immediate junction may not be 

 appreciable. But in thin veneers, particularly inner ones glued 

 on both sides and subjected to heat and pressure, the penetration 

 i Continued on page 38) 



