48 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Hardwood Coffins in Foreign Lands. 



The designing and constructing of cotfius 

 is not the most cheerful topic to discuss. 

 Yet someone must make coffius and this line 

 of work consumes large quantities of hard- 

 woods. Of course, there are thousands of 

 softwood caskets manufactured, some of 

 which are of the softest pine. Others are of 

 soft material inside, veneered with hardwood. 

 There are other caskets which are constructed 

 of the finest types of wood and elegantly fin- 

 ished. 



There are men in the business who rescue 

 discarded caskets from waste bos piles and 

 restore them to suitable condition for further 

 sen-ice by patching up defective portions and 

 applying polishes to the wood. Some of 

 these caskets which are taken from aban- 

 doned heaps are fitted with metal corners 

 and nickel handles, and made to appear quite 

 salable. There are casket makers who actual- 

 ly manufacture both the soft and hardwood 

 types of burial boxes for rental purposes. 

 This practice prevails in the Philippine 

 Islands, in Cuba, and in other foreign lands. 

 The writer has noted coffins advertised for 

 rent, direct from the shops of the makers. 

 These coffins are of different patterns, so that 

 the poor man can be accommodated with a 

 cheap, pine casket, while the rich man may 

 have the use of an expensive hardwood one. 

 Many men plan years ahead for their final 

 resting place. The ordering of the proper 

 type of coffin is sometimes given when se- 

 lecting the plot of land in the burial ground. 

 Not infrequently caskets thus ordered are 

 made from the very toughest woods, so they 

 will last an indefinite time. 



The roughest coffin which is made from 

 hardwood is shown in Fig. 1, and is intended 

 for the use of the poorest classes. There is 

 no shape or form to the box. It is simply 

 nailed up with the straight pieces. Such a 

 box can be produced at little more than the 

 cost of the lumber and time expended in put- 

 ting it together. The type shown in Fig. 2 is 

 also intended for the poorer classes. The 

 stock is of the usual grade, but lacking in 

 finishing. The parts are simply put to- 

 gether, common nails are used, and there is 

 no tenoning or mortising. The object is to 

 get the box set up as quickly and cheaply as 

 possible. Wholesale lots are usually run oft' 

 in this way. 



Sometimes in order to fulfil certain prefer- 

 ences of the customer, common metal disks 

 are nailed in rotation along the edges of the 

 coffin as in Fig. 3. If these disks are made 

 of finished metal, and are evenly secured in 

 position, they improve the appearance of the 

 casket considerably. 



Considerable veneer is used in the make-up 

 and ornamentation of caskets in some coun- 

 tries; note Fig. 4. American manufacturers 

 do not go into this very extensively. In Cuba, 

 for illustration, the coffin-makers of America 

 ship partly finished coffins to the domestic 

 makers, who proceed to ornament their sur- 



faces with hardwood veneering, made to form 

 a pattern. 



In all countries, hardwood coffin-makers 

 devote considerable attention to the quality of 

 lumber used. It often happens that the cof- 

 fin must remain indefinitely on the exhibition 

 shelf of the warehouse or in the salesroom 

 of the funeral director. In such cases, poorly 

 seasoned lumber would warp and crack. Cof- 

 fin-makers are usually careful as to the con- 

 dition of the stock before making it up. 

 Manufacturers in America usually depend 

 upon funeral directors to handle the finished 

 product. In some countries through which 

 the writer recently traveled hardwood cof- 



what of a falling off in the request for finely 

 polished hardwood surfaces. Nevertheless, 

 there is and always will be a demand for the 

 plain, well-finished casket. This type is a 

 staple article. Various kinds of metal- 

 trinnned, cloth-covered, veneered, and odd 

 caskets are constantly coming into use, only 

 to last a short time and then disappear, while 

 the plain, finished hardwood casket lives on. 

 year after year, and the manufacturers are 

 almost always busy. 



Eecently there has been a fad for heavy 

 and finely-designed handles on caskets used 

 by the better classes. These heavy metal de- 

 vices are costly and they add nuich to the 

 weight and cost of the casket. 



A white enameled casKet is shown in Fig. 

 7. Hardwood surfaces are sometimes enam- 





^^J 



wH/T-e FiNTsn: 





37g-^ 



IElg4- 



c 



fins were observed being carried through a 

 town on a pole as in Fig. .5. The casket 

 seemed to be too light to be weighted with a 

 body, and investigation revealed the fact that 

 it was constructed only for the purpose of 

 being exhibited and advertised by the maker. 

 Some very beautiful specimens of hard- 

 wood coffins are turned out by experienced 

 coffin manufacturing concerns. They repre- 

 sent a great deal of time and energy. The 

 casket for the rich man is one on which no 

 expense is spared. Since the introduction of 

 cloth covered caskets, there has been some- 



eled b}- casket makers for the purpose of 

 getting the finest possible finish. An enamel- 

 ing plant has to be in connection with the 

 shop. Transparent enamel is iised and some 

 of the figure in the wood shows through, ex- 

 hibiting the natural grain. Special efforts 

 are made to get smooth and glossy surfaces on 

 these enameled caskets. 



Competition in this industry is keen, but 

 the price paid for the finely made product 

 fully warrants the large expenditures neces- 

 sary to purchase the costly materials em- 

 ployed and keep such plants ruuning. 



NeWs Miscellany. 



Immense Wood-Preserving Plant. 



Contractors have commenced work on what 

 is to be the largest wood preserving plant in the 

 world, located at Galesburg, 111. The buildings 

 will be ot concrete, and the yard will cover 

 eighty acres, with five miles of track. The 



works will be used to chemically preserve woods 

 lor track ties, bridge timbers and piling for the 

 Burlington railroad system. Two million ties, 

 as well as thousands of feet of lumber and pil- 

 ing, will be treated each year ; the woods used 

 will include all the Inferior oaks, certain species 



