86 BULLETIN 909, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



cut out to the extent to which it has in the eastern part. The best 

 stands are now west of the Mississippi River. 



Before the war the annual demand amounted to about 60 million 

 board feet; during the war it increased to about 90 million board 

 feet. A large part of the total is exported in normal times, princi- 

 pally to European countries. 



The greatest problem of the lumber manufacturer is to dispose 

 of his lower grades, of which there was a surplus from the manu- 

 facture of high-grade airplane-propeller lumber during the war. 

 The cutting of dimension stock is often impracticable, on account of 

 the varying needs of the factories using this stock. It is now a 

 common practice among walnut-lumber manufacturers to recut low- 

 grade stock in order that it may be classed in a higher grade, or 

 may be sold as a special grade of small-dimension stock of a better 

 kind. 



Walnut is valued mainly for its good seasoning, working, and 

 gluing qualities, its fine appearance, and its good finishing proper- 

 ties. Its principal uses are for cabinetwork in furniture, musi- 

 cal instruments, and sewing machines, for interior finish, and for 

 gunstocks. For cabinetwork and inside finish it is used very largely 

 in the form of veneer panels. Thin lumber is used extensively in 

 European countries for cabinetwork, instead of veneer. Other cabi- 

 net woods — as. for instance, red gum and birch — are commonly used 

 for the solid pieces in cabinetwork. A substitution, however, de- 

 tracts from the appearance and general quality of the piece. Panels 

 are usually made of five plies, and the outer ply is generally of the 

 striped walnut that is characteristic of open-growth trees, or of some 

 other highly figured walnut as. for example, cross figure, stump 

 wood, crotches, or burls. 



There has been a recent revival in the popularity of black walnut 

 furniture, which is now given lighter finishes more nearly like the 

 natural color of the wood. This treatment brings out the natural 

 beauty of the grain and figure. For this reason the rapid-growth, 

 light-colored heartwood is now more in demand than is the dark. 

 uniformly colored. Figured wood is scarce and highly valued, and 

 is cur into veneer usually one twenty-eighth inch in thickness. 



Walnut veneer is cut by the straight rotary, stay-log rotary, or 

 straight-slice process. Manufacturers get about 20 square feet of 

 veneer from each board foot of logs, log scale, with a waste of about 

 55 per cent. This waste is unavoidable, and includes the sapwood, 

 the defective veneer which is not marketable, the wood trimmed off 

 before a sheet of merchantable width is obtained, the waste due to 

 defe.-ts. and the " dog board," Because walnut veneer logs run com- 

 paratively small in size, wide walnut veneer is much in demand. 



