26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



glue itself must be put on at the proper tem- 

 perature and density. 



When the joints are to be reinforced with 

 tenons or dowels, the pieces are taken to the 

 machines and the holes punched or the tenons 

 put on, as the case may be. The same de- 

 gree of accuracy is necessary in these cases 

 as in making a plain joint, and the operation 

 . is being done so skillfully today that a misfit 

 is practically never encountered in the best 

 factories. 



Veneered furniture is now turned out in 

 great quantities. Aside from the fact that 

 the more valuable woods are growing scarcer, 

 thus inducing the use of laminated wood from 

 motives of economy, better effects can be ob- 

 tained from built-up work because a finer 

 figure can be secured and the tendency to 

 swell and shrink eliminated or greatly less- 

 rued. In cutting up the stock for coring 

 just as much care must be employ.-, 1 as for 

 face stock. In the best furniture the filler 

 is of the Kiine wood as the veneer, giving 

 throughout a uniformity that insures durabil- 

 ity and strength. A plain joint is used, and 

 when the pieces are assembled with the grain 

 running in opposite directions, they are mi 

 to the size required and taken to the planing 

 machines to be smoothed off in preparation 

 for the veneer. The surface cannot lie made 

 too smooth. Laying the. veneer on the coring 

 is practically making a joint, and unless the 



stock is sanded to a very fine surface the best 

 results with glue are not obtained. The sand- 

 ing operations are conducted on machines of 

 varying quality, the pieces being run 

 through a comparatively rough one and after- 

 wards taken to a finer tool. The finishing 

 touches are generally put on by hand. For a 

 long time it was thought that the finest sand- 

 ing operations could not be done on machines. 

 One large furniture plant, however, has now 

 in operation a new machine, lately patented, 

 which is called the veneered roll sander, which 

 gives a finer and more uniform polish than 

 can be secured by hand. The arrangement 

 ran l,e set on top of any sander and has an 

 i ndless belt attachment with a speed of about 

 I.miii feet a minute. The patterns on the 

 machine can lie made to polish large or small 

 pieces, and by changing the rolls make them 

 wiiler or narrower, as the work requires. 



Scientific methods in the cutting room mean 

 well built furniture. When the parts leave 

 there to go to the cabinet room to be assem 

 bled they must be so accurate in construction 

 that there is no room for faulty joining. 



hi all except the cheapest stilt!' tills IS DOW 



the case, and the good stuck put into the 

 work, the thoroughly dried condition in which 

 it is used, ami the perfect joints made, result 

 in a strong, durable piece of furniture that 

 stands up well under practically all condi 



tiims. 



Shoe Last Mailing. 



Shoe last making is a business that inti- 

 mately touches two trades. The manufacturer 

 of this commodity must know both the wood- 

 working business and the shoe industry. In 

 building his products for use on the machines 

 of the great shoemaking houses it is necessary 

 that'ho should select the best stock, get it in 

 the most durable condition and then work it 

 to the form in which it will do the best work 

 for the particular purpose required. Several 

 kinds of machines are used in the manufac- 

 ture of shoes, some of them require the last 

 to have a metal sole, some a. metal heel and 

 some metal on both sole and heel, while oth- 

 ers use the last without the addition of any 

 sheathing whatever. 



American hardwoods offer the best material 

 fur lasts. Maple, persimmon and basswood 

 are the stuck most used, maple predominating. 

 The strong, durable qualities of hard maple 

 offer such a resistance to the rough machine 

 work and its price is so comparatively low 

 that it has come to be widely used. Persim- 

 mon is- very scarce and is used to supply only 

 special orders, but in strength and longevity 

 it is superior to maple. Basswood is used to 

 make hollow sample lasts for salesmen, its 

 lightness being a considerable factor when ex- 

 press charges are considered. It is neverused 

 for actual work on the machines. 



The material for lasts comes to the factory 

 in what are called last blocks which are 

 roughly turned pieces of wood twelve inches in 

 length ami from three and a half to four ami 

 i half inches in diameter at their thickest 

 part. Before they can 'be worked to shape 

 they must be bone dry and there is consider- 

 able difficulty in reducing them to this condi- 



tion, owing to their great thickness. Any split 

 or check makes them unserviceable. The mo- 

 .lein improved kilns have done much to assist 

 the drying process but even with artificial 

 help, there is a loss amounting sometimes to 

 twelve and fifteen per cent in the lasts. 

 Scarcely any lot of lasts is fit for use until it 

 has been put through a drying process for at 

 least eighteen months, nine of which are gen- 

 erally under air drying and nine under kiln 

 drying methods. When the rough blocks are 

 turned at the factory they are thrown nut In 

 dry and care is taken to turn them frequently 

 s.i that the atmosphere may work as evenly as 

 possible on all sides. After they have gone 

 through this process for nine months thej are 

 ship], eil t,, the factory where they are pot 

 through the kilning operation for another nine 

 months. As in kilning lumber, care must be 

 taken to keep the temperature from varying 

 and to make sure that the moisture comes t,, 

 the surface evenly so as to avoid cheeks. Al- 

 though they have been both air dried and kiln 

 ,lrio,l at the mill before they are sent to the 

 factory, the lasts are nevertheless warmed 

 again so as to insure against any effects from 

 the moisture they might have absorbed while 

 in transit. While stored to await working up 

 they must be kept in a warm and dry atmos 

 phere. 



In the smaller factories carloads of lasts 

 are ordered as they are required, but in large 

 establishments a supply of the different kinds 

 is constantly kept on hand, i'oii.ihiii pairs of 

 lasts being no unusual number to have in the 

 bins at one time. 



The block resembles slightly the finished 

 last, tapering roughly toward the toe. The 



first operation of working the blocks consists 

 in putting them on the graduating machines 

 which shave them off to the size and form 

 required. The last then goes to the finisher 

 who cuts off the small projection at the toe 

 and heel where the block was affixed to the 

 machine and completes the work by trimming 

 and fashioning it to the exact style demanded 

 by the pattern. TTie form of the last block is 

 shown in the cut accompanying this article. 

 as is also the last in a partially worked state 

 and the finished product. Considerable ingen- 

 uity and skill are required in shaping new 



EVOLUTION OF A LAST BLOCK. 



patterns. An idea of the number of the var- 

 ious styles may be gathered when it is known 

 that it is not an unusual thing for a large 

 factory to carry in its storage bin as many as 

 15,000 distinct styles of lasts. These are, of 

 course, a record of the business, for a sample 

 of each style is kept so that at any future 



ti an eriler can be filled from it. It seems 



incredible to the layman, however, that such 

 an immense number of different forms can be 

 fashioned about such an object as a shoe 

 which, in substance, has only one general 

 form. 



In making a new style the lines of the last 

 are changed to what is thought will be a 

 pleasing innovation in mode. In many cases 

 the distinction between the old lines and the 

 new is so delicate as to be unobserved by the 

 uninitiated. These sample lasts are not for use 

 but when completed are taken out and exhib- 

 ited to the shoe manufacturers and if orders 

 arc secured on them the working last is made 

 along the same lines with or without such ad- 

 nition of metal sheathing or hinges as may be 

 required. The hinge last is made by first cut 

 ting off the heel and afterward attaching it 

 to the other part of the last by a hinge. This 

 gives the advantage of being able to bend 

 away the heel when it is desired to work the 

 toe of the shoe. The insertion of the metal 

 joints ami rods is done on machines as is also 

 the reinforcement of the heel and toe by 

 sheathing when this is required. 



One part of the finishing operation consists 

 in scouring the lasts. This is done on a scour- 



