600 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



light. The maker of interior finish draws upon every avail- 

 able wood that has beauty of grain, figure, or color. He 

 is not much concerned with strength, for all woods are 

 strong enough for such trim, except in a few situations 

 where the stresses are above the average. Certain char- 

 acteristics, however, are carefully looked after. The 

 woods are liked best which shrink and swell little during 

 seasonal and weather changes. It may not be generally 

 known that interior finish responds more noticeably to 

 the changes of the seasons than the outside finish which 

 is directly exposed to the weather. The wood within the 

 house swells in summer and shrinks in winter, due to 

 summer dampness when the windows are open, and to 

 artificial heat and dryness when the winter fires are burn- 

 ing in furnaces and stoves. Interior panels and joinings 

 which are not made of well seasoned wood and put to- 

 gether in a substantial manner, are liable to check on 

 account of dryness, or to swell in dampness, and the 

 swelling will manifest itself in doors which refuse to 

 shut, or in drawers which scrape against the sides, or in 

 window sash which stick and hang with perversity to try 



the patience of Job. In order to lessen the propensity to 

 shrink, swell, and check, inside woodwork is oiled or 

 varnished, or stained or painted. This helps the cause, 

 but it does not wholly prevent the undesirable results. 

 Both hardwoods and softwoods have places as inside 

 trim. Almost every commercial wood is found in this 

 industry. In point of number of species, the hardwoods 

 exceed the softwoods, but in quantity ot material it is 

 probable that the softwoods lead. Pine meets the largest 

 demand for softwoods in this industry, followed in the 

 order named by Douglas fir, spruce, cedar, hemlock, 

 cypress, and redwood. The principal hardwoods in the 

 supply list, named in the order of their importance, are: 

 oak, maple, yellow poplar, birch, gum, chestnut, bass- 

 wood, beech, cottonwood, ash, and tupelo. Foreign woods 

 fill a rather important place in the industry, and mahog- 

 any leads, followed by Circassian walnut in normal times, 

 but the use of this walnut has almost ceased since the 

 war cut off the supply. Other foreign woods contribut- 

 ing to the supply of inside finish are padouk, teak, ebony, 

 rosewood, prima vera, and satinwood. 



FIGURED RED GUM FIXTURES 



The molt perfect imitation of Circassian walnut is supplied by red gum if the figure is carefully selected, but the two woods may be distinguished, 

 one from the other by their pores, those of walnut being the larger and more prominent. The walnut usually shows stronger contrasts of colors 

 in the figure, the dark tones being deeper than those of gum. 



