88 



this operation a vast amount of what would otherwise have been debris was 

 removed from the woods, assuring less of a tangle when the trees fell and 

 thus allowing a closer fall to the ground and quicker decomposition. 



Ten years ago sprags were made with ax and knife, 200 per day being the 

 most one man could produce. Repeated efforts were made to eliminate the 

 manual work by the invention of machinery, but it was not until four years 

 ago that a manufacturer made a successful device which, with the work of 

 two men, enables a possible daily output of from eight to nine thousand 

 sprags. In ordinary commercial runs, however, the average production with 

 this machine is probably not over half the capacity. 



FIXTURES. 



The fixture manufacturers make certain lines of commodities so closely 

 related to similar ones grouped under the furniture and planing mill indus- 

 tries, that it is difficult at times to determine under which classification they 

 properly belong. 



Generally fixtures include furnishings for offices, stores, lodge rooms, sa- 

 loons, banks, hotel lobbies, lunch rooms, courthouses, churches, dentists' 

 and surgeons' cabinets, account registers, cash registers, index files, and 

 other similar commodities. The materials for making these are distinguished 

 from that going into high class inside house finish such as mantels, colon- 

 nades, cabinet work, and general mill work. The latter are stationary, while 

 fixtures are readily portable. From furniture woods they are separated ac- 

 cording to the uses of the finished products. Office desks, book cases, store 

 tables, etc., belong to furnishings of business headquarters while commodi- 

 ties of the same name for residences go in the furniture class. Large manu- 

 facturers specialize in one or the other lines but in small cities and towns 

 where the local demand does not justify specialization the fixture makers and 

 the planing mills manufacture products belonging to both industries. 



Nearly the same woods are employed for fixtures as for furniture but a 

 larger part of the fixture material is of the higher grades. In both indus- 

 tries the woods can be put into two classes, for outside finish and for interior 

 or hidden work. Veneers enter largely into the former class and are growing 

 in favor, chestnut being the favorite backing or core material. For painted 

 work or store counters, bar tops, display racks, show window platforms, and 

 other fixture parts, it is necessary to use solid wood instead of cheaper woods 

 overlaid with veneer. This accounts for the average prices of the woods listed 

 in Table 56 being higher than in the furniture industry. 



Yellow poplar, white oak, red oak, and chestnut supply the largest portion 

 of the fixture material in Pennsylvania. Seventy-five per cent, of the quantity 

 used is of these four kinds. Yellow poplar serves both for exterior and in- 

 terior work. Its adaptability to hold paint and stains , its soft texture and even 

 straight grain make it an easy material to smooth and commend it probably 

 above any other wood for both exterior enameled work and for drawer bot- 

 toms, reinforcements, hidden parts of show cases, shelving, interior of wall 

 cases, partitions, etc. 



Oak with its ornamental figure is universally the premier fixture wood as 

 it is the foremost furniture wood. Both classes of oaks, red and white, are 

 in demand, and together the amount is greater than that of any other of 

 the woods the Pennsylvania fixture makers purchase. A large part of oak is 

 quartered stock which merely designates the method of sawing. It is the same 

 as rift sawed and arises from first cutting the log into quarters and the 

 quarters into boards, the saw crossing the circles of growth at or nearly at 

 right angles. Oak shows more figura when the log is sliced ordinarily into 



