UTILIZATION OF BLACK WALNUT. 55 



Figured veneer is cut from curly or highly figured wood. Walnut 

 veneer cut on the quarter either Ipy the straight-slice or stay-log rotary 

 process shows a striped and cross-figured effect if the grain is wavy 

 or curly. (PL VII, fig. 2.) This waviness of grain is not brought 

 out so well if the cut is made tangentially. In figured stumps or 

 " butt " wood the curl is along the surface of the trunk, and the cross- 

 figured effect is here obtained by slicing along the surface. (Pis. 

 VIII and IX.) 



Highly figured veneer cut from burls, crotches, and stumps has a 

 great variety of figure. (PL X, figs. 1 and 2.) Burls are particu- 

 larly highly figured with islets and bird's-eye effects. Burls from 

 very old trees often have a mottled appearance on a glossy dark 

 groundwork, ranging from almost jet black to lighter shades of brown 

 or chocolate color. This gives them an extravagant value. Such 

 highly figured veneer is sometimes marketed under the names of 

 " French burl " and " Circassian walnut." 



Prices of veneer. — The prices given in Table 20 prevailed in the 

 summer of 1919 for different kinds of walnut veneer. There is con- 

 siderable range in price within some classes because the veneer itself 

 differs greatly in quality and figure. 



Table 20. 



Sap and defective cents per square foot | to f 



Plain rotary do f to 1 



Straight sliced, plain do 1 to 11 



Straight sliced, cross figured do \\ to 2\ 



Highly figured (including stump wood) do 3 to 20 



Burl wood do 3 to 30 



Some manufacturers who turn out high grades of walnut veneer 

 got an average of 2^ cents a square foot for their product. The aver- 

 age value, derived from reports to the census for 1904, was $14.70 a 

 thousand square feet, or nearly 4J cents a square foot. 



GRADES AND PRICES OF VENEER LOGS. 



Walnut is a timber so variable in quality that veneer makers find 

 it difficult to draw up any hard-and-fast rules that will indicate 

 the value of any particular log. They take the view that each log 

 must be judged on its own peculiar merits, with reference to its 

 size, the amount of sapwood, the straightness and form of log, the 

 number, size, and position of defects, and, particularly, the kind and 

 amount of figure in each log. 



Veneer manufacturers do not generally publish any prices for 

 their logs, for they claim that the prices depend on the quality of 



