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HARDWOOD RECORD 



absolute reliability. As a consequence, the 

 results of his work have come down to us as 

 strong and well .set as when they left his 

 hands. The extreme durability of well-made 

 furniture is shown by the chairs of ancient 

 Egyptian manufacture which are on exhibition 

 in the British Museum and which are still in 

 a serviceable state, although their estimated 

 age is about 3,000 years. 



No detail of modern furniture making 

 offers more of a contrast to the methods em- 

 ployed by the old cabinet-makers than that 

 of drying. Air drying, whereby the lumber 

 was seasoned by natural processes, was the 

 only method known to the earlier generations, 

 but the necessity of putting furniture on the 

 market in as short a time as possible has 

 done away with that system and has evolved 

 the dry kiln, and it is pro cable that if per- 

 fection is attained in artificial drying it will 

 lie along this line. The first step to hasten 

 the processes of nature was taken when direct 

 heat was applied to the lumber, the planks 

 being piled on supports in the open air and 

 a fire started underneath. This rude kiln 

 was later enclosed by a wall and in process 

 of time the present scientific dry kiln was 

 evolved. 



The end of all drying processes, of course, 

 is to extract the moisture without injury to 

 the appearance or strength of the material. 

 As this moisture in green lumber amounts in 

 some eases to one-half its total weight, the 

 task of thoroughly seasoning it in a few days 

 or weeks is no inconsiderable one. Whatever 

 the kind of kiln used to dry the lumber there 

 crust be certain features present that prevent 

 injury to the lumber. The process must act 

 uniformly on all parts of the material in or- 

 der to secure results without injury or warp- 

 ing, for if dry heat is applied to only one 

 side or edge of a board the result will be a 

 warp and su-ain. It is generally conceded 

 that lumber can be dried successfully if the 

 interior moisture flows to the surface and 

 keeps pace with the surface evaporation, for 

 this avoids the possibility of unevenness in 

 the process and insures against splits and 

 checks. 



What every furniture manufacturer requires 

 is well-seasoned lumber that will not swell or 

 shrink, that will make good joints and cut 

 soft on the machines. He also demands that 

 the. figure in the wood be not injured in the 

 drying process. In order to secure such stock, 

 in the best condition, it has generally been 

 found desirable to take lumber that has been 

 on the yard for sixty or ninety days or more 

 and thoroughly dry it out in the kiln. When 

 the stock is being put through the process 

 care must be taken to keep the temperature 

 even, if the best results are to be obtained, 

 and it is also important to keep the surface 

 soft and the pores open in order to equalize 

 the shrinkage and avoid splitting. In all 

 cases a certain amount of humidity ought to 

 be present in the kiln because otherwise there 

 will be a tendency to case-harden, that is, 

 the outer part will dry before the inner 

 layers and the result will be a shell of 



shrunken and often checked wood around the 

 interior part. This checking, which is the 

 result of case hardening, comes only after the 

 first shrinking and the tendency is not pres- 

 ent in lumber that has been air dried for any 

 length of time. In stock that is green from 

 the saw, the fault can be prevented by steam- 

 ing in the kiln and by the employment and 

 proper regulation of a certain amount of 

 humidity. This has also the effect of loosen- 

 ing up all the ducts and passages from the 

 outer surface to the inner strata, thus giving 

 the wood a chance to respond throughout its 

 whole thickness to the drying treatment. 



After the wood has been subjected to the 

 kiln operations it should be allowed to temper 

 in the air for a while before it is cut up so 

 that it may acquire a natural condition from 

 the effects of the atmosphere. 



The increasing demand for stock and the 

 consequent necessity of taking it green or 

 almost green from the saw has given an im- 

 petus to experiments tending to solve the 

 problem of seasoning green lumber directly 

 and eliminating the drying yard. One con- 

 cern claims to have reached a solution of the 

 problem in an attachment which can be placed 

 in any kiln. According to their theory the 

 swelling and shrinking of the wood is caused 

 by the foreign matter brought into the tree 

 along with the sap. This substance, which is 



Some two hundred years ago a group of 

 artists were accustomed to gather in a cer- 

 tain London inn and spend the evenings. 

 The sides of the large lounging room were 

 finished in broad panels of a peculiarly soft, 

 wide-grained and unpainted wood which had 

 attained by much scrubbing and cleaning a 

 surface of great smoothness. On one occa- 

 sion a member of the party took a red-hot 

 poker from the fire-place and burned a figure 

 into the wood. From time to time other fig- 

 ures and scenes were added by the artists of 

 that and succeeding generations until the 

 entire sides of the room were a series of 

 impromptu sketches. It was a rough ex- 

 hibition of pyrography done with elemental 

 tools. 



Before and after that time, both in Eng- 

 land and on the continent, some ambitious 

 work had been attempted, but the difficulty 

 of securing suitable wood worked to the 

 necessar} 7 condition and the clumsiness of the 

 tools, together with the troublesome methods 

 of heating them, proved such obstacles that 

 the art languished. 



On the invention of the pyrographic needle, 

 the ease with which the work could be done 

 revivified the art. During the past eight 

 or nine years work in burnt wood has be- 

 come more than popular — it has become a 

 fad. In practically every department store 



intimately connected with the wood, expands 

 or contracts according as it receives or dis- 

 pels moisture. If it were possible to extract 

 this foreign elemental substance without in- 

 jury to the fibers of the wood, the tendency 

 of the lumber to swell or shrink would be 

 practically eliminated, and it is claimed that 

 this result is attained and attained in such a 

 complete and decisive manner that the stock 

 can be thoroughly dried in from a week to 

 fifteen days. 



The question of kiln drying, although it 

 has not reached a perfect stage, has been de- 

 veloped to such an extent that it is possible 

 to dry lumber in any of the various ap- 

 pliances now on the market, if reasonable 

 care is taken in the operation and a knowl- 

 edge of some of the elemental principles of 

 kiln diving is had. The kiln is now a neces- 

 sary adjunct to any modern mill and present 

 conditions are emphasizing its necessity. The 

 drying question has come to be recognized as 

 one of the most important in woodworking, 

 and experiments are being constantly made 

 that will result in still further improving the 

 types of kilns now on the market until the 

 taking of lumber green from the saw and the 

 delivering of it to the cutting room of the 

 furniture factory in workable shape is an 

 accomplished fact. 



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of the country and in shops where artists' 

 materials are sold a stock of wood panels and 

 medallions is kept on hand to supply the 

 trade. As the Christmas season approaches, 

 especially large additions are made to the 

 supplies and many well-known artists execute 

 the decorations on the more pretentious ob- 

 jects. 



In order to achieve the best results in py- 

 rography, the wood must be white and soft. 

 Basswood is highest in favor because it offers 

 a grain of such uniform softness and breadth 

 that at a short distance the face resembles 

 a smooth, white surface, practically free of 

 markings. The work has been done on oak, 

 but its heavier markings and the fact that 

 it lias both hard and soft grain renders the 

 wood unsuitable for the purpose, both from 

 the viewpoint of effect and that of uniform 

 workmanship, for the needle cannot be man- 

 aged with the best results when the wood 

 is not of similar grain throughout. 



Birch has also been used as a basis, but is 

 undesirable because, like oak, although in 

 smaller degree, it is hard and heavy. Its 

 markings are also of such variety that it 

 lacks the plain qualities of background af- 

 forded by other less figured woods. 



Besides basswood, Cottonwood and soft 

 maple are extensively employed. Cotton- 

 wood is white and gives a beautiful sur- 



