USES OF COMMERCIAL WOODS. 37 



weighs about 1,200 pounds per 1,000 surface feet; the five-eighths- 

 inch weighs 1,800 pounds; and the thirteen-sixteenths-inch weighs 

 2,100 pounds. These weights are for thoroughly seasoned wood. 

 Flooring is often made of other species of maple not quite the same 

 in weight as this. 



Sugar maple is one of the woods employed in the manufacture of 

 parquet flooring, but the quantity demanded by that industry is 

 comparatively small. Maple often composes the white wood blocks 

 and strips in that work and is combined in patterns with woods of 

 darker color. 



LASTS. 



Several woods are listed as last material, but maple greatly exceeds 

 all others. The annual demand in Massachusetts for this commodity 

 is about 13,000.000 feet, and in Michigan a little more, and these 

 two States are among the highest in last production. The reports 

 from these two States mention no wood other than sugar maple, 

 except that softwoods serve for lasts or " trees "' for rubber boots 

 and shoes. 



Maple is ccmsidered the best for lasts beciUise it is hard, finishes 

 smooth, checks but little when carefully seasoned, and does not warp 

 out of shape. The wood is carefully selected, and none but the best 

 is used. Knots or other defects spoil it for lasts. Billets or bolts 

 are split from logs usually sawed long enough for three lasts. Each 

 billet therefore makes three last blocks. The seasoning is carefully 

 done and is a slow process, for before the wood is placed in the kiln 

 it is air dried for from one to two years. The last maker will reject 

 a block containing season checks or cracks, which will not ])e cut 

 out when the last is turned in the lathe. 



There are as man}^ sizes of lasts as there are sizes of shoes, and 

 there is as great variation in style as in size. Every change in fash- 

 ion of footwear, moreover, demands a change in lasts. This years 

 style of shoes, if different from what went Ijefore, can not be made 

 upon old lasts. For that reason old stock must frequently be laid 

 aside or thrown away and a new and different style substituted. 

 This gives the last makers a constantly changing field of trade. 



Lasts are usually made by machinery, but every one is turned 

 exactly like a pattern, and the pattern must be slowh' and carefully 

 whittled out by hand. The making of the pattern is the most exact- 

 ing work in the trade. When a new style of shoe is demanded the 

 pattern maker is set to work to produce the m.odel. He uses maple 

 for the most part, and when he has worked it down to satisfactory 

 shape and size the corners and angles are covered with steel to resist 

 the wear of the machinery. Tt is fixed in the lathe and revolves 

 hundreds of times for every last that is made like it, and a machine 



