CHAPTER XXI 

 EXCELSIOR 



GENERAL 



EXCELSIOR consists of thin, curled strands or shreds of wood made by 

 rapidly moving knives and spurs or fine steel teeth against a wood bolt. 

 The spurs slit the wood and are followed by a knife which pares this 

 slitted material off the bolt. 



Excelsior first found its principal use as mattress stuffing, but has 

 come into demand for a great variety of uses. The excelsior industry 

 is about fifty years old in this country where it was first developed. The 

 finished product first appeared on the market about 1860. 



The term excelsior was first used as a trade name in advertising the 

 product, by a single company, for upholstering purposes. For a long 

 time it had been called wood fiber. Due to wide advertising by this indi- 

 vidual concern, the name excelsior has been applied to all grades of the 

 product. Although an American invention, the finished product has 

 been greatly improved upon in European countries, where it has been 

 largely used for filtering and other specialized purposes. At the present 

 time the industry consumes over 100,000,000 bd.-ft. of forest material 

 in this country every year. 



Qualities Desired. 



The qualities most desired in woods used for manufacturing excelsior 

 are lightness in color and straight grain, together with tough but soft 

 resilient fiber. It should also be light in weight, free from any dis- 

 agreeable odor, and not brittle when the wood is manufactured in the 

 air-dried form. It should preferably be free from resins or gums which 

 are likely to discolor or taint any material with which it comes in contact. 



The best all-around wood which meets these desirable qualities is 

 basswood. Basswood excelsior always brings the very best prices on the 

 market, but owing to its limited supply, and demand for other purposes, 

 only a small portion of the total amount of excelsior produced annually 

 in this country is made of basswood. In fact, basswood constitutes only 



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