September 25, 19 I 7 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



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The Antiquity of Veneer 



The Earliest Use Appears to Have Been in the Form of Inlay 



rapiENEERS WERE IN USE three thousand years ago, 

 ?ty. and there is no telling how much earlier. So 

 \'-'' ^j' far as the evidence may be relied upon, the 

 first attempts at veneering with wood took the 

 form of inlay. The surface of one wood was cut in 

 patterns and thin sheets were inserted, just as is now 



and it is presumed that the white sapwood was used for 

 inlay. They used holly also, which is white. Boxwood, 

 native of the eastern Mediterranean countries, was 

 worked in veneer by the Greeks and Romans. Its color 

 is yellow and the demand for it can be easily understood. 

 This is the wood now^ so highly prized for rollers of 

 skates, shuttles and measuring rules. 



Pliny speaks of veneers made of elder roots. The 

 elder tree of southern Europe and northern Africa, which 

 is the one known to the Romans, is quite different from 

 the worthless elders of the United States. The wood is 



done, except that it was all hand work in ancient times, 

 a saw and a knife being the principal tools used. Homer 

 and Pindar, among the old Greek writers, mention work 

 of that kind. In their opinion, it was very fine, but if 

 it were compared with inlay of the present time, perhaps 



it would not look so faultless. It is known that the as hard as hornbeam, yellowish, and takes a fine polish. 



Assyrians and Egyptians worked veneers in the form of It is difficult to season, checks and splits badly, but when 



inlay as early as 800 or 1 000 B. C. successfully worked, it presents a fine appearance. Trees 



The first authentic and detailed account of the use of attain sizes similar to flowering dogwood in this country, 



veneers in the modern sense of the word, dates from Other woods used were maple, palm, terebinth (a kind 



Roman times, and some remarkable stories of cost are of sumac), poplar, and beech. Pliny states that beech 



told by Pliny and others. The account by Pliny is highly veneer was employed in making boxes, but he does not 



interesting because it goes into particulars, not only with go into particulars regarding the kind of boxes made of 



regard to the kinds of wood used, but also concerning the veneer. They were probably chests of ornamented 



method of doing the work. Pliny had evidently watched finish, for there is no evidence that the Romans used 



the work as it was being done, and he takes pains to 

 mention the importance of having good glue. 



ANCIENT VENEER WOODS 



Writers in the time of the Caesar furnish pretty full 

 lists of the kinds of woods employed by veneer makers 

 of that peiiod. Some of these Vi^oods can be easily 

 identified, while the identity of others is doubtful. The 

 Greeks used ebony, said to have been cut on some of 

 the islands in the Mediterranean region. But if it was 

 ebony, it is pretty certain that it did not grow in the 

 Mediterranean country. Dealers may have bought it 

 there from timber merchants who had imported it from 

 elsewhere. 



The Greeks made cypress veneer, and the wood 

 probably came from the adjacent islands or the main- 

 land of Asia. Cedar is listed also, and it was likely the 



veneer in cheap work as we do now. He further states 

 that beech veneer was employed by desk makers. 



VALUABLE ■•CITRON" VENEER 

 The most valuable wood known to the Romans was 

 called "citron" by Pliny. Some of the accounts of this 

 wood's great cost seem fabulous, and the modern reader 

 is forced to believe that something is wrong with the 

 figures on the subject which have come down from 

 antiquity. There is likewise considerable doubt as to 

 what tree produced the wood for which rich Romans 

 paid fortunes. It came from the mountains of northern 

 Africa, and some persons have identified it as an ever- 

 green, of either the arborvitae or the cypress genus, but 

 no modern tree with the marvellous figure credited to 

 that ancient tree has been found in Africa or anywhere 

 else. The conclusion is that the Latin writers exag- 



famous cedar of Lebanon, though it is not clear why that gerated w^hen they wrote their description of the figured 

 wood should be used for artistic effect, for it is about veneers w^hich were sold in Italy and elsewhere, and 

 as plain and characterless a wood as can be found any- w^hich came from the ranges of the Atlas Mountains, 

 where. Cicero is said to have paid $27,000 for a table 



veneered with the African v^^ood. Other rich men im- 

 ported the Vkfood in the rough, and records have been 

 handed down of the prices paid on some occasions. Pliny 

 says they brought the wood from the mountains in the 

 form of "slabs." Perhaps the modern term "flitches" 

 would be a better translation. One such slab was bought 

 by a man named Pollio for $54,000, while King Juba 

 paid $65,000 for a slab, and the Cethegi family paid 

 $75,000. 



The value of the wood consisted in its exquisite figure 

 made up of fine lines. The different figures of this wood 



Oak veneer was in use by both the Greeks and the 

 Romans. Several species of oak may have been drawn 

 upon, but so far as the Romans w^ere concerned, it is 

 probable that they used some variety of the English or 

 the Austrian oak — both being the same species under 

 different forms, due to climate and situation. 



Yew is mentioned as a veneer wood. Its color is 

 tolerably rich and it made attractive inlay. Willow was 

 employed also. Special mention is made of lotus, wrhich 

 is a kind of hackberry found in the south of Europe, in 

 northern Africa, and in Syria. It has no attractive color. 



