410 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



'Vood household furniture" comprised 80 percent 

 of the value of total shipments of household 

 furniture; "metal household furniture" shipments 

 amoimted to 20 percent (table 239). Metal has 

 made large gains against wood in porch, lawn, and 

 outdoor furniture; kitchen fiirniture; dining room 

 and dinette furniture; and in the miscellaneous 

 category. There has been virtually no displace- 

 ment of wood by metal in living room and bed- 

 room furnitiire. From the standpoint of value of 

 shipments, these are the two major categories of 

 household fiu-niture. 



Table 239.^ — Value of household furniture not in- 

 cluding mattresses and springs shipped by manu- 

 facturers, 1964 



Class, according to use 



Wood> 



Metal 



Total 



Living room 2 million dollars.- 



833 



19 



852 



percent^- 



98 



2 



100 



Dining room and dinette 









million dollars. - 



154 



127 



281 



percent. . 



55 



45 



100 



Kitchen million dollars.. 



136 



115 



251 



percent.. 



54 



46 



100 



Bedroom million dollars. . 



454 



14 



468 



percent. _ 



97 



3 



100 



Porch, lawn, and outdoors 









million dollars.. 



14 



55 



69 



percent.. 



20 



80 



100 



Others and not specified 









million dollars. . 



109 



86 



195 



percent.. 



56 



44 



100 



All household furniture 









million dollars.. 



1,700 



416 



2, 116 



percent.. 



80 



20 



100 



' Includes both upholstered and nonupholstered wood 

 furniture. 



2 Includes some dual-purpose furniture such as sofa beds. 



Source: Census of Manufactures 1954, Bui. MC-25A. 

 1957. 



What the future holds for lumber as household- 

 furniture material is difficult to appraise. Much 

 depends on how much effort is made to hold this 

 market and on consumer preferences. Lumber 

 consumption in manufacture of household furni- 

 ture during 1954 averaged 0.68 board-foot per 

 dollar of shipments, as follows: 



Value ' Lumber per 

 (■million dollar ' 

 dollars) (board-feet) 



Wood furniture, not upholstered $1, 113 1. 19 



Wood furniture, upholstered 633 . 58 



Metal household furniture 403 . 06 



Mattresses and bedsprings 465 .15 



Furniture, not elsewhere classified 16 (^) 



Total and average 2, 630 .68 



1 Source: Census of Manufactures 1964, Bui. MC-25A, 

 p. 3. 



2 Based on estimates shown previously in footnote 128. 

 ' Lumber consumption not reported. 



It appears reasonable to expect that lirmber use 

 per dollar of shipments may decline to 0.60 board- 

 foot by 1975 and to 0.55 by the year 2000. On the 

 basis of these factors, and assuming that purchases 

 and shipments of fxirniture increase to the same 

 extent, lumber use in household furniture manu- 

 facture may increase from the 1952 estimate of 

 1,780 million board-feet to 2,440 million board-feet 

 by 1975. For 2000, the estimate is 3,010 million 

 board-feet or 3,650 million board-feet, depending 

 on which projection of expenditures is selected. 



Lumber Use in Nonhousehold Furniture 

 Expected To Continue 



Trends in use of lumber in nonhousehold furni- 

 ture are variable. Metal office furniture was very 

 popular only a few years ago, but there now ap- 

 pears to be some tendency to swing back toward 

 wood. In terms of value, wood furniture repre- 

 sented 27 percent of total manufacturers' ship- 

 ments in 1947, 17 percent in 1952, and 21 percent 

 in 1954. The 1954 shipments were as follows: '^^ 









Percent 



Executive desks 



Wood 



Metal 



wood 



... thousand units 



175 



361 



33 



Stenographer desks do 



58 



110 



3g 



Chairs and stools do 



817 



1, 135 



42 



Tables and stands 









thousand dollars.. 



4, 936 



14, 486 



25 



Cabinets and cases do 



4,432 



94, 003 



5 



Other furniture do 



6, 704 



8, 112 



45 



The only product almost completely taken over 

 by metal is fifing cases. In all other products, 

 wood maintains a substantial share of the market. 

 Manufacture of nonhousehold furniture con- 

 sumed approximately 132 million board-feet of 

 lumber in 1954 — almost half of which went into 

 public-building furniture : 



Thousand 

 board-feet Percent 



Wood office furniture ' 37, 000 28 



Metal office furniture 12,142 9 



Public-building furniture ^ 63, 890 48 



Professional furniture 13, 340 10 



Restaurant furniture ^5, 863 5 



All nonhousehold furniture 132,235 100 



' Includes 2,037 thousand square feet of lumber-core 

 hardwood plywood. Lumber content estimated on basis 

 of 0.85 board-foot per square foot of plywood. 



2 Includes 3,527 thousand square feet of lumber-core 

 hardwood plywood. Lumber content estimated as indi- 

 cated above. 



3 Quantity of lumber estimated on basis of reported cost 

 ($985,000) on basis of $168 per thousand board-feet. 



Source: Census of Manufactures 1954, Buls. MC-25B 

 and MC-25C. 



Wood has always had a strong position in church 

 furniture and will probably retain it. Most 

 hospital furniture is already the metal type; 

 changes back toward wood are unlikely. Theater 

 and auditorium seats are predominantly metal 



'" Source: Census of Manufactures 1954, Bui. MC-25B. 



