August 10, 1918 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



25 



Tupelo as a Veneer Wood 



It Stands Second in Importance Among the Gums 



r IS REMARKABLE that two woods should look. 

 _ as much alike as red gum and tupelo gum, and 



^^> be as little akin. They do not even belong to 

 the same family of trees, tupelo being a mem- 

 ber of the dogwood family and red gum of the witch- 

 hazel family. Both are often spoken of as "gum" with- 

 out a qualifying word; but that is because the trees look 

 so much alike. When too far off for the form of leaves to 

 be distinctly seen, persons not intimately acquainted with 

 both trees might mistake one for the other. Red gum 

 comes honestly by the name "gum," being so called on 

 account of the resin or gum which exudes from wounds 

 in the bark: but tupelo has no right to that name. It 

 produces no resin that any one is apt to notice. 



Only one kind of red gum grows in this country, but 

 four species of tupelo are found, namely, tupelo proper, 

 black gum, water gum, and sour tupelo. Black gum is 

 both a northern and a southern tree, but the three others 

 are southern in their ranges. 



The most abundant and most important of the four 

 tupelo gums is that which is generally called simply 

 tupelo. The Forest Service recommended the name cot- 

 ton gum for it years ago, but that name never became 

 popular, though it is appropriate in view of the luxuriant 

 crop of cotton produced as a part of the tree's bloom. 



Tupelo ranks well up in the list of woods valuable for 

 veneer. From 18,000,000 to 20.000,000 feet of logs 

 are cut into veneers yearly. The large producers of 

 veneer among the states are y\labama. North Carolina, 

 Virginia and Maryland. More than half of the tupelo 

 veneer of the country is produced in these four states. 

 About ninety-five per cent of the output is cut by the 

 rotary process, the rest is sawed or sliced. One-third of 

 the production is cut to a thickness of five-sixteenths of 

 an inch and another third has a thickness of three-six- 

 teenths of an inch. The remainder is divided among 

 various thicknesses. Five-sixteenths is the extreme thick- 

 ness of veneer, and most veneer woods are never reduced 

 to stock of that thickness. It is above a quarter of an 

 inch, and except for the fact that it is rotary-cut and is in 

 large sheets it would pass as thin lumber rather than as 

 veneer. 



Tupelo wood resembles yellow poplar in color and ii 

 general appearance, and often passes for that wood. One 

 of the commercial names by which it is bought and sold 

 is "bay poplar," and many buyers suppose they are get- 

 ting a variety or grade of yellow poplar. The name orig- 

 inated years ago and was first applied to tupelo lum- 

 bered in the vicinity of Chesapeake bay, the inference 

 being that it was a variety of poplar growing there. At 

 least, that is the explanation offered in accounting for 

 the name bay poplar: but there are several trees in the 

 South called bay or some name combined with bay. 



The light yellowish color of tupelo furnishes the 

 wood's closest resemblance to yellow poplar. The 

 arrangement and appearance of the growth rings add to 

 the resemblance. The two woods do not much differ in 

 weight, and their working qualities are alike in some 

 respects; but, on the whole, as a cabinet wood, tupelo 

 scarcely measures up to yellow poplar. 



Tupelo is much used in the manufacture of tobacco 

 boxes, chiefly those for cigars. Next to Spanish cedar it 

 1 greater demand for these boxes than is any other 

 wood. Its yearly use amounts to one-third that of the 

 mported cedar. The stock is generally thin, one-fourth 

 )r five-sixteenths of an inch. Sometimes the cigar box 

 s made wholly of tupelo without any attempt to disguise 

 the fact; and in other instances the thin tupelo boards are 

 covered with sheets of Spanish cedar very thin veneer, 

 by that means conveying the impression that the entire 

 box is of cedar. At other times the tupelo may be printed 

 in a color and in a design in so perfect imitation of Spanish 

 cedar that the box ordinarily passes for that wood. The 

 counterfeit may usually be detected by its lack of cedar's 

 characteristic odor. 



Half of the total production of tupelo veneer is manu- 

 factured into cigar boxes. The other half goes into many 

 uses. Furniture makers take some of it for the bottoms 

 of drawers. Manufacturers of boxes demand their share 

 of it, and the remaining supplies are apportioned among 

 more than a dozen industries. 



Tupelo is a southern tree. It occurs from Virginia to 

 Florida, west to Texas, and northward in the Mississippi 

 valley to southern Illinois. It is not found among the 

 mountains. Quite frequently it is a swamp tree, in that 

 respect resembling cypress, and like cypress it may grow 

 on well drained land. 



The cut of tupelo lumber or other forest products is 

 sometimes reported from regions north of this tree's 

 range. When that occurs, it is pretty safe to conclude 

 that it is a case of mistaken identity. Probably that which 

 is thus listed as tupelo is black gum, which species is 

 found north of this tupelo's range, and is otherwise mixed 

 with it nearly all the way southward to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. The two other species of tupelo are not plenti- 

 ful, and relatively small amounts are cut. 



brok. 



neer made of Yuc 

 ?n bones, is so Of 

 t is very strong, tl: 

 output of this pal 

 ure, a year, 



ed for ! 

 resemble 



lost as tough as horn. 

 300,000 feet, surface 



