Utilization of Hardwoods 



ARTICLE SIXTY 



SPECIALTY MANUFACTURE 



The above caption covers such a vast variety of products as U> 

 make a comprehensive analysis of the manufacture of all an 

 impossibility. Success in the manufacture of hardwood special- 

 ties is dependent more upon the ability to create new ideas for 

 various purposes than anything else. In fact, a great many of 

 the phases of the business, which in the years past were consia- 

 ereil "t ii.n .iiriMnnf i tn|Miri iinoe, are today practically extinct. In 



other words, the business is one 

 dependent largely upon fads. As 

 an instance, ten or fifteen years 

 ago one of the largest hardwood 

 specialty manufacturers in the 

 country depended almost entirely 

 for his trade upon the demand for 

 scroll work and fancy beading for 

 furniture and interior finish. The 

 beaded mould was in vogue at 

 that time, and all sorts of intri- 

 cate patterns were worked out 

 with the idea of creating as va- 

 ried a line of moulds as possible. 

 In the manufacture of furniture 

 there were innumerable places in 

 which fancy mouldings could be 

 applied, and the article of furni- 

 ture at that time which showed 

 the greatest delicacy of design and 

 complexity of pattern was in the 

 highest esteem. Howeve-, I'ke all 

 fads, the desire for this type of 

 house furnishing gradually waned, 

 and now is really a thing of the 

 past. There is still room, of 

 course, for a considerable output 

 of such fancy turnings as are seen 

 in balusters and grille work, al- 

 though even in this line the plain, 

 severe patterns are coming con- 

 stantly into greater favor. 



It would hardly seem possible 

 that at one time one concern was 



OENAMEiNTAL CAUVED 

 PEDESTAL 



handles of hardwood, such as would go into button hooks and 

 similar articles now turned out by the ordinary handle manufac- 

 turer. The specialty man is not looking for such trade as the 

 manufacturer of chisel and hammer handles. In fact, the article 

 which he manufactures calls for an altogether different type of 

 wood. While for the hammer handle hickory is essential, the 

 handles that are manufactured for smli a it ides as luitton hooks 

 and curling irons would re- 

 quire entirely different phys- 

 ical qualities of wood. Here 

 can be used such species as 

 maple or birch, as with all 

 turnings evenness of texture 

 and softness are the essential 

 features. Well seasoned gum 

 is also in favor. 



Spindles for grille work oc- 

 cupy quite an important po- 

 sition as a feature of the spe- 

 cialty manufacturer. The style 

 of this article has also altered 

 very materially. While for- 

 merly the average spindle was 

 turned out with fancy bead- 

 ing, today a great many of 

 them are of straight lines and 

 form merely a plain lattice. 

 The manufacture of balls and 

 dowels for various purposes 

 has been of considerable im- 

 portance. In this line maple 

 is better suited than any of 

 the other woods. 



A large Chicago house, the 

 Artistic Wood Turning Works, 

 has always been a leader in 

 creating styles and new fields 

 for the product of the spe- 

 cialty man 's mill. This con- 

 cern has confined itself to de- 

 veloping new ideas with a 



NEW 



DE.Sl(i.N OF TWISTED 

 I'EDESTAL 



turning out 4,000,000 handles 

 a year for curling irons, but 

 such is the case. The demand 

 for this article, however, was 

 4ot based upon a fad. The 

 conditions were such that 

 ultimately the demand for 

 curling irons was supplied, 

 and as a consequence fewer 

 were manufactured, which of 

 course meant that there were 

 fewer curling iron handles 

 turned out by the hardwood 

 specialty man. Today the 

 concern which was manufac- 

 turing this vast quantity 

 twenty years ago is doing 

 practically nothing in propor- 

 tion in this particular line. 

 In place of curling iron han- 

 dles, however, are a great 

 many other types of small 

 32 



SEPARATOR USED IN H.iBERDASHERS' WINDOWS 



view of turning out a prod- 

 uct at a price which would 

 make its general sale possible. 

 This has been particularly 

 true in the manufacture or 

 pedestals to be used to sup- 

 port fancy jardinieres for 

 plants and for various other 

 purposes. Formerly the pedes- 

 tal was manufactured by the 

 furniture man and command- 

 ed such a high price that it 

 was beyond the reach of a 

 great many people. However, 

 by close study the manufac- 

 ture of this article has been 

 put on such a plane as to 

 make its cost moderate. A 

 very comprehensive line of de- 

 signs and styles, representing 

 the ideas of a number of man- 

 ufacturers , has been gotten 



