COMMERCIAL USES OF SUGAR MAPLE 



1023 



in point of long service and the ease with which it can 

 be kept in repair. Though its natural color is very light, 

 it readily receives stains and almost every shade de- 

 sired can be developed, but most users prefer the natural 

 color, which may be given an oil finish. 



The excessive hardness of maple adds greatly to its 

 value as flooring. Tests conducted under exactly simi- 

 lar conditions have shown that a maple floor may outlast 

 one of marble, under very heavy wear. After the woo'l 

 has been well seasoned, it shrinks and swells but little 

 under atmospheric changes and this increases its value 

 as floor material. A maple floor remains smooth and 

 its joints are tight and sanitary. The absence of alter- 

 nate hard and soft streaks causes uniform wear, and as 

 long as such a floor remains, it is attractive. Maple 

 flooring has a market which not only reaches every part 

 of the United States, but extends to many foreign coun- 

 tries. It is bought by the builders of small cottages and 

 is specified by architects for hotels, apartments and large 

 business blocks. 



Stair builders find this 

 wood one of the best to be 

 had, and the demand for it 

 is extensive. It serves not 

 only as stair treads where 

 the wearing is most severe, 

 but it is frequently worked 

 into every part of stair 

 work, and is specially suit- 

 ed for rails and balusters. 



Maple shows to excel- 

 lent advantage in wains- 

 coting where panels are 

 employed. The bird's-eye 

 and curly stocks are seen 

 at their best in work of 

 that kind. It is not unusual 

 to employ rotary-cut ven- 

 eer in building such panels. 

 This veneer differs from 

 that which is sliced or 

 sawed by being peeled 

 round and round the log 

 as a broad, thin ribbon. 

 By this method the bird's- 

 eye effect is brought out iti 

 the best possible manner, 

 and many sheets of veneer 

 almost exactly the same in 

 figure are obtained. Such 

 are bundled and a pur- 

 chaser may buy enough of 

 certain figure to finish an 

 entire room, or even sev- 

 eral rooms. The sheets of 

 veneer are little thicker 

 than writing paper, and a 

 single figured log may pro- 

 duce two or three thousand 

 square feet of bird's-eye 



SUGAR MAPLE TREES IN WINTER 



The formation of the branches may best be studied in winter, and the 



stndent should be able to identify it as readily then as in tlie summer. 



stock SO nearly the same in appearance that the closest 

 scrutiny is required to discover the slightest diflference. 

 Veneers of high class are used only as surface firiisb 

 where they are exposed to view. They are glued upon 

 cores or backing of other and cheaper woods. A beauti- 

 ful wainscot jxinel in which bird's-eye stock only is vis- 

 ible, mav really have the thinnest covering of maple, while 

 the hidden parts consist of pine, chestnut or some other 

 wood which possesses the requisite glue-holding qualities. 

 The manufacture of maple doors has become a large 

 business, and thev consume some of the choicest output 

 of sawmills and \eneer factories. The workman here 

 finds his opportunity to display his best skill. Maple 

 doors are often real works of art, though they may con- 

 tain no figured wood. The very plainness of maple is 

 sometimes accentuated as its principal recommendation. 

 Doors are usually veneered; at least, those of highest 

 grade are. The process does not differ from that em- 

 ployed in making wainscot panels. The best doors are 

 _ built up of many parts 



which are held together by 

 glue and dowels. The lat- 

 ter are small wooden pins, 

 varying in size according to 

 the use intended. They 

 take the place of nails and 

 screws, and are so skill- 

 fully inserted that they are 

 wholly invisible in the fin- 

 ished door. Several dozen 

 may be concealed within 

 the joinings of a single 

 door. Dowels are often 

 maple, but other woods are 

 used. 



FURNITURE 



The second largest de- 

 mand for maple lumber 

 comes from furniture fac- 

 tories. The making of 

 chairs is often classed as 

 an industry distinct from 

 other kinds of furniture, 

 because the two commodi- 

 ties are frequently the 

 product of separate factor- 

 ies and of different meth- 

 ods; but no useful purpose 

 is surved in the present in- 

 stance by separating them. 



No wood is more popu- 

 lar than maple where light- 

 colored furniture is wanted. 

 Not only is the wood's 

 natural color very light, 

 but when enameling is de- 

 sired, maple ranks among 

 the highest woods procur- 



