70 



of furniture is not only pleasing to the eye in its ornamental appointments 

 but from a practical point of view is made of the most suitable material for 

 the purpose. Wood, on account of its natural, attractive grain will be the 

 regular furniture material as long as hardwood timber lasts, and at present 

 there is almost as wide a choice of material in this line as there is lumber 

 available for more common uses. Of the 35 woods listed in Table 50 some 

 part of 22 are wholly or in part decorative woods. Painted or enameled fur- 

 niture is again coming into favor and in Pennsylvania a considerable quantity 

 of the softer hardwoods was reported for this line of work. 



Among the products included in this industry are bedroom furniture, 

 chiffoniers and bureaus, dining tables and buffets, parlor outfits including up- 

 holstered furniture, hall appointments, desks, china closets, and book cases. 

 Many of the woods reported went only into parts of furniture not visible, 

 such as coring, frames, brackets, reinforcements, drawer slides, bottoms, and 

 table slides. 



Of the exterior woods for the cheaper grades of furniture, solid woods with 

 pronounced grain are most available like red and white oak, ash, chestnut, red 

 gum, butternut, etc. The more expensive work is usually backed with a 

 fairly strong wood adaptable to glue, stable when in place and finished with 

 veneer. This method produces the most pleasing and attractive effects and 

 a permanence rarely to be achieved by the use of solid woods. Indeed it is a 

 rare occasion when the expensive woods such as mahogany, Circassian wal- 

 nut, rosewood, bird's eye maple, black walnut, etc., are used in solid pieces. 

 Veneer is purchased from the veneer mills according to surface measure, the 

 sheets ranging from 1/24 to inch in thickness. The foreign woods are import- 

 ed in the form of logs and flitches and are cut to veneer by mills in this coun- 

 try. Cores or backing for veneer are made of solid and built-up lumber pur- 

 chased ready-made with several layers of cheap domestic woods glued with 

 grains transversing. This material has the advantage of being freer from warp- 

 ing tendencies than lumber, besides being lighter, having exceptional strength, 

 and not liable to split. A number of the most particular uses of the several 

 woods shown in the table for furniture have been arranged in the following 

 order: 



BEDROOM FURNITURE. 

 Rails. Panels. 



White oak. White oak. 



Red oak. Sweet birch. 



Circassian walnut. Black walnut. 



Mahogany. Red oak. 



Sweet birch. Sycamore. 



Sugar maple. Circassian walnut. 



Black walnut. Sugar maple. 



Sycamore. Mahogany. 



Yellow poplar. Yellow poplar. 



Cherry. Cherry. 



Red gum. Red gum. 



Posts. Drawer fronts. 



Black walnut. White oak. 



Red oak. Sweet birch. 



Sycamore. Black walnut. 



Mahogany. / Sycamore. 



Sugar maple. Circassian walnut. 



Sweet birch. Sugar maple. 



Red gum. Red oak. 



White oak. Mahogany. 



Circassian walnut. Yellow poplar. 



Cherry, Cherry. 



Red gum. 



