26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



To compare tb« durability of > \niw iinttrnm, tlii< 



cxiivrieiire of n fotintlry with ■ piiir autuuiuLulL' inline rrauk rnx' piit 

 tt'm miiv b« cited. The |>ine |>att<*rn wan made as durable aa poanibip, 

 ami after iiixtT'thrce muldi wore- proilurrd it wim rcturni<d to tin- 

 pattern ihop in a badly broken rundition. After the pattern wnn 

 re]>aire<l, sixtyfivo molds were made, when it wti.t u)^iD returned 

 to the pattern shop in rtuch |ioor rondition that it wna decided to 

 replace it with a mahofpiny pattern. Before the latter wait returned 

 to the shop for repnira, 135 niold.H were made. The pattern was only 

 slightly worn, and after repairs were made it stood n run of 238 

 molds before it was returned to the sho]i to be overhauled, after 

 which it went luirk to the foundry for further use. 



PaTTER.SS or ClIEKBY 



Snmc foundrymen consider wild cherry superior even to inaho);any 

 - imttem wood. It is harder, stronger, and of finer texture than 



innhoKnny. Its grain is nearly always Rtrai|{ht; it takes a oniooth 

 |>olish, anil wnrps but little, although it shrinks considerably in 

 drying, and it must he thoroughly seasoned Itefore worked into pat- 

 terns. It is hard to work, but I hut ilrnwlmrk is overlooked because 

 of its other exoellent i|ualities. 



It is usually regarded as the l>est known wood for patterns. It 

 <lo<-s not dull tools as mahogany does nt the high speed at which its 

 machines are run in tho jiattern shop. It is considerably cheaper 

 than ninhognny, but this is partly offset by the increased labor 

 cost of building n cherry pattern. More castings can be made from 

 a cherry pattern than from one of any other wood in general use. 



Formerly n good deal of black walnut was use<l in the pattern 

 shop, but in recent years it has largely disappeared from thot Indus 

 try. Maple, birch, and beech give fairly good service as jiutterns, 

 but the wood is so hard tlint it is worked with difficulty. 



w\r.^iw^A' ■ ■Wyi^■w^:■y.■^i^ ■ /i ^/Mi^.yiW)ii • ^W!v^^,^ ^ ^ 





Grain of Wood and Its Meaning 



to wood, in a way satisfactory to nil interested parties. People do 

 not understand it in the Nime way. Various viewpoints nro held 

 by different users of the term. One man's definition will not fit 

 another's. When a man talks of the grain of wood, it is necessary 

 to know in what way he handles wood before his exact meaning can 

 be known. 



The general idea is that grain means the annual rings of growth. 

 Undoubtedly that is the basic idea with most people, but it lacks 

 much of being an exact definition, because "straight-grain," "cross- 

 grain," "smooth-grain" have little meaning if applied to the 

 growth rings. Such rings never cross, are never straight, and smooth- 

 ness cannot be applied to them in a strict sense. 



The term grain in reference to wood is elusive. It is difficult to 

 pin it down to an esact meaning. Experienced judges cannot agree 

 .tmong themselves. When a handle maker speaks of a smooHi-grained 

 wood he means one that feels smooth when rubbed with the hand, no 

 matter whether the growth rings are wide and distinct, as in hickory, 

 or narrow an.l vague, as in boxwooil. \ i>attern maker wants a wood 

 which cuts easily in all directions, like white pine. It makes no 

 ilifference to him what the rings look like, or whether the wood has 

 any. Yet he calls it "homogenous grain." 



The furniture maker's idea of grain goes further than that of tlie 

 handle maker or pattern cutter. He takes into account the wood'^ 

 appearance when it is cut in either longitudinal or radial section, oi 

 oblique to the radius. He frequently associates the medullary rays, 

 or bright patches in woods like oak, with grain. That is apt to be 

 what he means by the word ; yet, these rays have nothing to do with 

 the size of annual rings. They cross these rings at right angles. 



One man will look at the end of a chestnut log and say the wood 

 is coarse-grained, and at the end of a red cedar log and pronounce it 

 fine grained. In this case he refers to the width of the growth 

 rings, those of chestnut being wide, while cedars are narrow. 

 Mahogany usually has no rings that anyone can readily see, yet 

 it is perfectly proper to speak of its grain. 



It is evident that the term is loosely used and means different 

 things, depending upon who is using it. Wood technologists arc 

 more exact in their definitions, at least those of the United States 

 Forest Service, who insist that ' ' grain manifestly should not refer to 

 the rings of annual growth," though it is fundamentally influenced 

 by the bands of spring and summer wood which make up the rings, 

 and also by the medullary rays. 



According to this definition, a wood's grain should be considered 

 as the arrangement of its fibers, pores, and other elements of which 

 the wood is composed. The fibers usually run up and down the 

 trunk. They are the wood cells or strings of cells. When separated 

 one from another they look like minute splinters, the longest of them 

 seldom exceeding a quarter of an inch in length. The pores of hard- 



».M.,i^ ,11 t„l,>-^ wlii.li :.!,-..; iiiji U-iintlirtiM- ol the trunk, among 

 the fibers. In some woods, as oak, chestnut and hickory, tho pores 

 are readily visible to the naked eye. In other wuoils, like cotton- 

 wood, yellow poplar, and red gum, the pores, though very numerous, 

 are generally invisible without a magnifying glass. 



If the pores are small or wholly wanting, and the fibers nro small 

 and compact, the wood is classed as fine grained by technologists, 

 and as coarse grained if the fibers are large and the jiores large and 

 numerous. When this view is taken, such terms as "cross-grained," 

 "spiral-grained," and "straight-grained" have a meaning, which 

 they do not have if the yearly rings are taken as the basis of grain. 

 Black gum is cross-grained because its fillers and other elements 

 cross one another; it is fine grained because its pores are small and 

 its fibers compact. Some chestnut is straight-grained because the 

 elements are pafallel to the axis of the trunk; others are spiral- 

 grained because the elements run round like a winding stair. The 

 term "woolly-grained" is sometimes applied to wood — usually to 

 mahogany — by the finisher. It refers to a surface which fuzzes up 

 when attempt is made to polish it. Such wood is really cross-grained, 

 and the ends of the oblique fibers are torn loose by the polishing 

 tool, but are not cut smoothly off. 



It is evident that when a wood's grain is spoken of it may refer 

 to characters quite different in their natures. 



Home Advertising 



A few days ago a salesman was in the oflioe of one of his good 

 customers who has recently improved liis jilant and had installed him- 

 self in a new office occupying one end of the section of his mill. 



This firm for years had been located in an office that was com- 

 fortable but did not in any way advertise either grades, kinds or 

 workmanship of stock. He now has a large down-stairs room and 

 two on the second floor, all being finished in hardwood with oak 

 flooring, oak panel doors, stair-case in quartered oak and the general 

 finish of the rooms in plain red oak. 



These people make a specialty of interior finish and house trim 

 and have for years been letting a good opportunity for advertising 

 slip by them. Their floors are of a select grade of plain white oak 

 and certainly afford an excellent opportunity for advertising that 

 class of flooring, as the grade is fine and the floor presents a beauti- 

 ful appearance. The salesman states that he has seen nothing more 

 handsome than the plain oak door panels which by the way are five- 

 ply veneer, not made by this firm but bought outside and carried in 

 stock. 



A customer who is somewhat undecided as to what he will use 

 can be shown the stock as it will appear, and this concrete evidence 

 of what can be done by a firm forms a splendid talking point. "What 

 we have done ' ' if you can show a man a sample always makes more 

 of a hit than "What we can do." 



