18 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



delivered at the docks at Philadelphia, but after 

 they have been inspected, worked, shipped to 

 destination and laid they probably cost the rail- 

 road a dollar or a dollar and a half. Under 

 difficult conditions the ties perhaps represent an 

 expenditure of two dollars apiece. In order to 

 guard against a future failure of supply the 

 Pennsylvania railroad has instituted a forestry 

 department for the purpose of securing suitable 



ties. White oak is used almost exclusively, being 

 deemed the strongest and most lasting material. 

 The final exclusion of the steel tie as unfit 

 and unsuitable for the best roadbeds has been 

 expected by the various eastern firms engaged 

 in supplying ties to railroads, and it is gener- 

 ally conceded that the accident has eliminated 

 the metal construction as a formidable com- 

 petitor of wood. 



Parquetry Flooring. 



The first record of parquetry flooring be- 

 ing introduced into this country that was 

 at all remarkable for quality was that made 

 under the supervision of Thomas Jefferson, 

 the Virginian patriot. It is said that Jef- 

 ferson brought the architect from France 

 and helped to draw up the plans for the 

 decorations. Both contemporaneously with 

 him and immediately after his time more 

 or less elaborate floors were laid in the 



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Oak. Mahogany and Maple 





Oak, Dark Oak. Mahogany and Maple 



■imm imsm. 



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Oak, Mahogany and Maple 



Oak and Mahogany 



Oak and Maple 



Oak and Mahogany 



A FEW CHOICE BORDERS. 



colonies, but it was not until comparative- 

 ly recent years that they were laid in any 

 profusion in the better houses in this coun- 

 try. 



When the use of this flooring first be- 

 came general there was a. prevalence of 

 garish designs, few of which possessed high 

 artistic merit. As a better conception of 

 (he uses to which this style of floor could 

 I" 1 put became general good taste was 

 shown in its laying, and today when the 

 work is done under competent design, the 

 flooring is usually of a plain, continuous 

 color throughout. The floors are, moreover, 

 not nailed down, but are tongued and 

 grooved and the strips laid closely together. 



In special rooms, such as music rooms 

 arid apartments set aside for specific pur- 

 poses, flowery designs are still in vogue, 

 especially when they match the decoration 

 of the salon or room. Considerable talent 

 is devoted to the elucidation of the scheme 

 of decoration as it applies to the floor and 

 the most competent designers, authorities 

 in respective branches of art, are employed 

 to draw the plans of the floors so that they 

 will be in harmony with the furnishings. 

 For instance, one of the foremost masters 

 of .Louis XV style was charged with the 

 design of a parquetry floor to be laid in 

 one of the costliest New York homes and 

 the expense involved in this alone was no 

 small item. 



The manufacturer of fine parquetry floor- 

 ing probably uses a larger variety of good 

 hardwoods and fancy woods than other 

 woodworkers. Among the stock figure rose- 

 w K ebony, mahogany, tulip, black wal- 

 nut, satinwood, prima vera, and others. 



Great care is exercised in preparing the 

 stock. It is absolutely essential that it 

 should be thoroughly dried, and what is 

 considered bone-dry in some lines of wood- 

 working must be put through the kiln pro- 

 cess before it is suitable for parquetry floor 

 work. Even with the extreme care used 

 the wood swells and shrinks, and old floors 

 thai have been laid for twenty years have 

 been taken up and been found to swell on 

 exposure to the atmosphere. 



In order to secure stock that will give 

 the best results the manufacturer demands 

 boards which have been air dried for eigh- 

 teen months or longer and then subjects 

 to a kiln drying process for several 

 • weeks. At the end of this time they are 

 taken to the cutting department of the 

 shop and kept in a warming room until 

 needed. 



•The floor is built in strips, usually three 

 ply, and these strips are from twelve to 

 eighteen inches wide and twelve feet long. 

 The coring is made of various woods, in the 

 better class of work much ash is used, al- 

 though sometimes cheap pine is substituted, 

 as is done in the more common kinds of 

 laminated work. The coring is planed down 

 to aboul five-eighths of an inch in thick- 

 ness, and when the ornate part of the floor 

 is superimposed the whole thickness meas- 

 ures commonly thirteen-sixteenths of an 

 inch, although the body of the work varies 

 under different plans. The face on the cor- 

 ing is built up with extreme care, each 

 section fitting snugly into the other pieces 

 thai go to make up the part and being 

 glued together, and to the bottom, between 

 the long strips that form the outside rails. 



In making the walls of Troy, other Gre- 

 cian figures, or any stock design whatever, 

 the small pieces forming the face of the 



floor are cut to size and inserted in the cus- 

 tomary manner. In the delicate scroll work 

 or the artistic figures seen in some of the 

 more ambitious designs of parquetry the 

 cutting is done, of course, after the work 

 is made up and the vari-colored woods de- 

 sired for the pattern are inserted. So per- 

 fect is this work that in many cases it is 

 impossible to find where the knife has cut. 



In making oak floors, where it is desired 

 to have a dark and light effect, strips of 

 oak are fumed in a kiln to the desired dark 

 shade. The tint is permanent and when the 

 process is correctly applied the fiber of the 

 wood is not injured. It must, however, be 

 done when the wood is green, and after the 

 color has been obtained the strips must be 

 dried for three weeks or more. 



Although floors should be laid with a 

 tongue and groove and without nailing this 



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SOME EFFECTIVE COMBINATIONS. 



latter process is often adopted, especially 

 in thin work. When the floor is thus nailed 

 any splits or apertures are filled up with a 

 composition the color of the wood, and the 

 whole is then finished. 



American manufacturers not only supply 

 a heavy home demand but many of them, 

 especially in the east, do - a considerable 

 trade in foreign countries, notably in South 

 America. The floors are built to specifica- 

 tions furnished by New York jobbing houses 

 and shipped through them to destination. 

 The general high quality of the American 

 product and the good workmanship dis- 

 played lias succeeded in holding the market 

 against foreign competition. 



