TIMBER SUITABLE FOR CARVING 323 



The well-known " Thuya burrs " are attributed by some 

 to wounds due to the lighting of fires against the trunks 

 of the trees ; by others to the growth of adventitious buds 

 from a tree stump. 



" Stripe," so conspicuous in the beautiful Andaman 

 " marblewood." which is grey with a dark purple or black 

 stripe, is also spoken of as " figure." 



One constantly comes across peculiarities found in timber 

 when opened out. The Timber Trades Journal has given 

 illustrations of several ; one of these showed two initials evi- 

 dently cut on the outside of a tree, probably by young lovers 

 in years gone by, which were quite distinct when the tree was 

 cut up, although they were twlTfeet from the outer face. 

 Only a short while ago the writer saw, in one of the trees 

 of the Hull boulevards, imbedded and nearly covered over 

 with new wood, the iron holdfast of a gate, which will 

 probably be a puzzle for future timber converters and a 

 trial for their saws. 



On the recently constructed Cunard s.s. Mauretania some 

 charming effects were obtained in panelling by careful 

 arrangement of the figure in the wood, and this was 

 particularly characteristic in the Austrian oak panelling, of 

 which a great quantity was used. The wood was fixed in 

 the panels in squares or parallelograms in " Venesta," and 

 so cut and fixed that the grain of the wood formed a 

 diamond pattern in the centre (see Fig. 54), sometimes 

 with straight, sometimes wavy grain, which has a most 

 charming effect, and looks to the casual observer as if it 

 were in one piece, the joints being so well made as to be 

 unnoticeable unless closely examined. 



TIMBER SUITABLE FOB CARVING. 



Amongst the softwoods are yellow pine, basswood, 

 Kauri pine and lime, and for carving one need not look for 



Y 2 



