The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-05-11
Some Hints for Builders.

Some Hints for Builders.
THE natural color and grain of the
wood give a richness and simplicity to
the interior that no art can make up for.
How the eye loves a genuine thing; how
it delights in the nude beauty of the wood!
A painted surface is a blank, meaningless
surface; but the texture and figure of the
wood is full of expression. 1t is the
principle of construction again appearing
in another field. How endless the variety
of figures that appear even in one kind of
wood, and, withal, how modest! The
g~rainers do not initiate oak. They cannot.
Their surface glares; their oak is only
skin-deep; their figures put nature to
shame. Oak is the wood to start with in
trimming a house. How clear and strong
it looks! 1t is the master wood. When
allowed to season in the log, it has a
richness and ripeness of tone that is de-
~licious. We have many kinds, as rock
oak, black oak, red oak, white oak-all
equally beautiful in their place. Red
oak is the ~softest, and less liable to
spring. By combining two different
kinds, as red oak and white oak (white
oak takes its name from the external color
Of the tree, and not from the color
of the wood, which is dark amber
ColOr), a most pleasing effect is
produced. Butternut is the softest and
most tractable of what are called hard
woods, and its hue is eminently warm
and yellow. Its figure is pointed and
shooting-a sort Of Gothic style in the
grain. 1t makes admirable doors. In.
deed, Western butternut, which can usu-
ally be had in the Albany market, makes
doors as light as pine, and as little liable
TO spring. The Western woods are all
better than the Eastern for building pur-
poses. They are lighter, coarser, easier
worked. They grow easier and thriftier.
The traveller through Northern Ohio and
Indiana sees a wonderful crop of forest
trees, tall, uniform, straight as candles,
no knots, no gnarls-all clear, clean tim
Der. The soil is deep and moist, and the
trees grow rank and rapid. The chestnut,
ash and butternut grown here work like
pine, besides being darker and richer in
color than the same wood grown in lean
er and more rocky soils. Western black
ash is especially beautiful. In connection
with our almost bone-white sugar naples
for panels, it makes charming doors-iust
the thing for chambers, and scarcely more
woods red cedar is also good, with its
pungent, moth-expelling odor, and should
not be neglected. IT soon fades, but it is
very pleasing, with its hard, solid knots,
even then, No doubt some wash might
be applied that would preserve its color.
There is a species of birch growing
upon our mountains hat makes an admir-
able finish. 1t is usually called red or
cherry birch, and it has a long wave or
curl that is found in no other wood. 1t is
very tough and refractory, and must be
securely fastened. A black ash door,
with maple or white pine pannels set in a
heavy frame of this red, wavy birch, is a
most pleasing chamber finish. Fora hard
wood floor, in connection with oak or ash,
it is to be preferred to cherry. Growing
alongside Of the birch is the soft maple
the curly species, that must not be over
looked. 1t contains light wood and dark
wood, as a fowl contains white meat and
dark meat. 1t is not unusual TO find a
tree of this species, the heart of which
will be a rich grayish brown, suggesting,
by something in the o n and texture of
it, the rarer shades of silk, while the outer
part is white, and hard as ivory. l have
seen a wainscoting composed of alternate
strips Of this light and dark wood from
the same tree, that was exquisite, and
a great rarity. Aside from its cost
l think black walnut should be used
very sparingly in finishing. Alone,
and in large masses, it is too
dark, unless the light is very strong; and,
used in connection with lighter woods,
the contrast is too great. The eye soon
tires of sharp, violent contrasts. 1t is
pleased at first, but wearied in the end.
In general, that which is striking, Or
taking, at first sight, is to be avoided in
interior fnishings or decorations, espec-
tally in the main or living rooms. In
halls, a more pronounced style is permits
sible, and the contrast of walnut with
pine or maple or oak, is not in bad taste,
or open to the objection of being too
loud" For mantelS, l know of no other
wood 30 suitable. And wooden mantels
are what you want. Marble makes good
tomb-stones, but it is an abomination in
a house, either in furniture or in mantel.
The hand dislikes it as it does a corpse,
and it ottends the eye. Marbleized slate
is much TO be preferred. What one want
in his living-rooms is quiet, warm tone,
and the main secret of this is dark furni-
ture and hangings, with a dash of color
here and there, and floods of light-big
windows and plenty of them.-Iech-
n0l0gsst.