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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



July 10, 1918 



Veneer in Sewing Machine Cabinets 



Finely Figured Woods Are Popular for this Purpose 



EWING MACHINE CABINETS constitute one of 



>v^ll jj^g most prominent lines of veneer consumption 

 in the country. Most of the veneer used here is 

 n the form of built-up work, some in comparatively 

 heavy tops and some in covers and drawers of three- 

 ply made into shapes which call for ingenuity and form 

 work. 



Beautiful figure enters into machine cabinet work, and 

 the consumption of face wood here is not only of great 

 volume, but includes some of high value and conspicu- 

 ous figure. It is noticeable that while taking a fair 

 share of imported woods, the machine cabinet has con- 

 tributed greatly to the use and display of the better 

 quality of our native woods. Many of the woods which 

 have been used for what is termed the cheaper work, 

 the fillers and centers, have also furnished in clear and 

 better figured stock some of the excellent faces. 



It is a little difficult to get positive data on the veneer 

 consumption in sewing machine cabinets. The statis- 

 tics of the Forest Service indicate approximately 60,- 

 000,000 feet of wood used annually in the making of 

 sewing machines. This, of course, includes some solid 

 wood, but at present the main element of wood entering 

 into sewing machine work is veneer. The two big items 

 in this are supplied by red gum and oak, each of which 

 furnishes approximately 20,000,000 feet a year, much 

 of which is cut into veneer and used for making tops 

 and cabinet parts for sewing machines. 



The available statistics would indicate that oak, while 

 not supplying quite so much raw material as gum, does 

 furnish a larger percentage of the face wood because 

 not a great deal of oak is used for centers, whereas 

 gum is quite commonly used for this purpose. 



In addition to a litde better than 20,000,000 feet of 

 red gum used annually, most of it in the form of veneer, 

 in the making of sewing machine cabinets, there are 

 about 2,500,000 feet of tupelo. 



The wood next in importance in quantity is poplar, 

 of which the sewing machine trade has been using about 

 8,000,000 feet, largely in the form of veneer. Poplar 

 is a favorite wood for crossbanding, having practically 

 no superior among the native woods for this purpose, 

 though it is seldom if ever used as a face wood. Gum, 

 which is now quite extensively used as a face wood, has 

 been crowding poplar considerably for crossbanding and 

 for fillers, largely because of a better understanding of 

 gum and because of the scarcity and high price of 

 poplar. 



Black walnut, which has of recent years come into 

 high favor in the cabinet world, has always found favor 

 as a face veneer in sewing machine work. Even back 

 in the days when it was but little thought of in furni- 

 ture, during that period when oak, mahogany and Cir- 



cassian walnut held the center of the stage undisputed, 

 walnut found favor in the making of sewing machine 

 cabinets, and this constituted probably the best mar- 

 ket at that time for walnut veneer. Naturally, with the 

 revival of interest in walnut in the cabinet world, the 

 desire for walnut in sewing machines has increased. The 

 consumption of walnut for this purpose is estimated at 

 from seven to eight million feet a year, and the quan- 

 tity consumed does not seem to fluctuate so widely in 

 sewing machines as in furniture, though undoubtedly 

 the call for walnut in this use has been stimulated con- 

 siderably by its present popularity in the cabinet world. 



One of the odd things about the sewing machine cabi- 

 net is that mahogany, which has found such wide favor 

 in the making of pianos and furniture, has never attained 

 a very conspicuous place in sewing machine cabinets. 

 The total consumption of mahogany for this purpose 

 is listed by the Forest Service as less than 100,000 feet 

 per year. In fact, there is more sycamore used than 

 mahogany. 



No imported wood enters sewing machine cabinet 

 work to the extent of a million feet a year and only a 

 comparatively few native woods. The native woods 

 which enter extensively into this work and the quantity 

 used annually of each, according to the best figures of 

 the Forest Service, are as follows: 



Sewing Machine Cabinet Woods 



Red gum 20,774,280 feet 



Oak 1 9, 1 06,250 feet 



Poplar 8,039,244 feet 



Black walnut 7.796,815 feet 



Tupelo 2,200,000 feet 



Of the woods used of which less than a million feet 

 a year enters chestnut leads, with a little more than half 

 a million feet, followed by cottonwood, basswood, and 

 birch, in the order named, after which come sycamore, 

 mahogany and yellow pine. 



From this it will be seen that the sewing machine 

 cabinet, which is made up largely of veneer, depends in 

 the main for its supply of wood upon gum, oak, poplar, 

 and walnut. 



California laurel is among the most finely figured woods of 

 this country, and it ought to be in demand for veneer, yet sta- 

 tistics of veneer production in the United States do not so much 

 as mention this wood. The unappreciative Californians make 

 bridge floors of stock that is fit for the highest grade furniture, 

 finish, and musical instruments. In 1868 a Boston manufacturer 

 got enough veneer from one laurel log to bring $2,000. 



Some of the most valuable veneers are cut from walnut burls, 

 by either the rotary or slicing method. The growth of the burl, 

 which usually resembles a door knob in shape, is such that it con- 

 tains very fine figure and color effects. The burl is an ab- 

 normal growth supposed to be due to a mass of buds which are 

 unable to break through the bark, and wood with distorted fiber 

 forms round them. 



