WOOD AND ITS USES 327 



more oak wood cut to expose these rays in cross sectional view. 

 Maple is widely used in the manufacture of chairs and bedroom 

 furniture. Fancy maple grains, birds-eye, curly, and burl piaples, 

 are used as veneers, but most of the maple furniture is of a solid 

 construction, since maple is an even grained wood which does 

 not warp or crack badly when it has been properly seasoned and 

 finished. Hard, or sugar maple is most used, but the soft, red, 

 or swamp maple is used to some extent in the south. 



The two most valuable American ornamental woods are 

 black cherry and black walnut. Sound, large trees of these 

 species are eagerly sought after by lumbermen and furniture 

 manufacturers, but the supply is very limited. Especially prized 

 are the fancy-figured woods of these trees which are sawed into 

 thin veneers and matched for table tops and cabinet and chest 

 fronts. 



Gumwood, or red gum, has been widely used in recent years 

 as a substitute for walnut, sometimes under the name of satin 

 walnut. The wood has a fine, close grain, enough lacking in char- 

 acter so that it may be stained to imitate other woods, among 

 them — in addition to walnut — mahogany, maple, and birch. 



Birch wood is much used, in the form of straight-grained 

 lumber, for the solid parts of the better grades of furniture. It has, 

 in addition to a sparkling, even grain, the strength necessary to 

 make substantial, wear-resistant furniture. Some woods of un- 

 even grain, which are sliced into veneers and called "curly 

 birch," are used in bedroom and high grade kitchen furniture. 



There have been times when it seemed that metal furniture 

 was finding favor with the public, and might partly replace 

 wooden furniture; but today, except for metal beds, fuhiiture of 

 wood construction is still leader in the field. There are many 

 reasons for this, some of them being the natural warmth of 

 wood, as contrasted with the chill of metal; the quietness of wood 

 parts moving against one another; the lightness and strength of 

 wood, and its resistance to deep mars and dents. The use of 

 metal has been stressed in "fireproof" construction, but properly 



I treated wood is more fire-resistant than sheet metal. As long as 

 wood is abundant and cheap, it will lead all other substances as a 

 furniture material. 



