CHAPTER XVI 

 THE USES OF BRITISH TIMBER 



BROAD-LEAVED TREES 



Alder. Cigar-boxes, clog-soles, barrel -staves, broom-heads, 

 toys ; the charcoal is used for making gunpowder. It is well 

 suited for use underground and in water. 



Ash. Coach-building, furniture, stamping hammers, wheel- 

 wright's work, joinery implements, tool and whip handles, 

 billiard cues, racquets, hurdles, barrel-hoops, gymnastic 

 apparatus, lance-shafts, rudders and oars, thatchwood for 

 stacks, and for any purpose where toughness and elasticity 

 are required. 



Beech. Chair-making, bent-wood furniture, for floors and 

 staircases, stamping hammers, railway-sleepers, street paving- 

 blocks, pianofortes, carpenters' benches, wheelwright's work, 

 agricultural implements, calico-mill rollers, packing-cases, 

 sieve-frames, wooden shoes, gun-stocks, broom-heads, brush- 

 backs, handles of planes, chisels and other tools, boot-trees. 



Birch. Joinery, cabinet-making, furniture, wheelwright's 

 work, barrel-staves, crates, turnery, wagon-making, carving, 

 brush-backs, clogs, brooms, spools and bobbins. 



Elm. Furniture, coffins, coach and wagon building, turnery, 

 wheelwright's work, butchers' blocks, inner lining of ships, 

 keels of boats, tin-plate boxes. 



Common elm timber is more valuable than that of wych- 

 elm. 



False Acacia. Wheelwright's work, especially spokes, and 

 for motor-car wheels, rungs, treenails, tool-handles, gate and 

 fence posts, turnery. 



