Omaha daily bee., 1883-04-25
COSTLY CABINET WOODS
The Knots from n Persian Tree In
Sheets IA Thin as Tissue Paper.

New York Sun.
"rhe demand for iue woods" said
one of the members CT q well. known
Centre street firm, sis Increasing ev.
cry year. The finest and oostliest is
French wslnut-whioh, by the way, Is
not French at oil, but is a product of
Oriental countries. 1t grows In Per-
sia, Ciroassia, and Asia Minor. You
have seen It In veneering upon costly
furniture, but you probably have no
notion how expensive It Is, nor how
careful we are to prevent waste In its
use. Come into our work rooms, and
l will let you see 1t In process Of cut.
ting"
He led the way into some exten.
sive rooms, where ponderous maohin.
cry was revolving and heavy chains
rattling. In n roc steam %
from cracks In the floor.
Down there" said the gentleman,
Ills q pit where we lay large and valu.
able logs and subject them to the &c.
ton of steam until they become al.
most Al fofs as butter. Then we take
them out, fasten them to an iron beam
(here he led the way into another
room) and this beam revolves around
a iuely tempered knife, of the same
length as the log.
With each revolution a strip Of wood
was shaved of smoothly, and laid In
piles upon the floor like skins Of
leather or sheets of paper.
Every time this beam turns around
it moves a fraction of an inch nearer
to the knife. The whole apparatus
works with extreme precision. No
printing press or weaving.machlne Is
made with greater nicely. The knife
that shaves off the sheets of wood is
rigidly immovable, and ground to a
razor-like edge. The heavy beam
that ~revolves with Its great load of
timber is irmness itself, and Is regu.
lated like cIockwork. The slightest
tremor In the beam or knife would
break and twist the thin sheets that
you SEQ turned off here with the regu-
larity and perfection of newspapers
turned out by the printing press.
These sheets are about 1-120 of an
inch In thickness, but frequently we
shave off veneers as thin as 175 to the
inch."
He lifted a corner of one tf the
long sheets, and It seemsd to be about
the thickness of ordinary writing pa
per. The wood was warm and pliable.
"It is only in this condition that
this shaving process Is possible. When
fresh from the stssmpit the knife slips
easily through 1t. Were the wood
cold and hard the process would be
impossible. Even If the knife could
do the work, the sheets would be too
brittle, and would crumble into small
fragments"
For what purpose are these OK.
tremely thin sheets used2"
"The veneers used upon furniture
are, as q rule, somewhat thicker than
these that we are now turning off.
The thinest veneers are used on pic.
ture frames. They are as thin as the
finest tissue paper, and must be backed
with ordinary paper attached with
paste, to prevent the glue by which !
they are fastened to the body of the
frames from showing through. These
n are also used to a large extent
In the same way that wall paper Is
used--for covering the walls of rooms.
b ssides this, there are many other
and novel uses to which they are put.
A short time ago somebody conceived
the idea of having business cards
printed upon them, thinking that the
novelty of the material would cause
people to preserve the cards"
"Do you ever saw logs into such
sheets2"
Sometimes, but rarely, with the
more expensive woods. Saving In
wolves q good deal of waste. For the
cheaper woods 1t is sometimes more
desirable, as 1t Is not necessary to 20
through the steaming process when we
use the saw, but there Is o great diff.
ference In the number of sheets that !,
are turned out In that way. The most
We can get by saving Is twenty-five to
the inch"
what Is the value of the French
Walnut"
81 have seen it sell as high as 80 a
pound. At the Paris exhibition for
1873 one burl was sold for $5, 900, and
Its weight did not exceed 1900
pounds"
"What Is a burl2"
"This Ia q trade expression, and
means the large and tough knots of
exerescenes like warts that grow upon
the trunk of the tree. The French
walnut Is a small tree, crooked and
dwarfed In it's growth, that grows, as
l have stated, in Asiastic counti les,
Its value Is confined entirely to these
curious, tough, and oontorted bumps
that grow upon 1t. The trunk itself
10 Of little or no value. You have often
noticed the singular grain that French
walnut has, If grain you call 1t. The
6bres and tissues seem to be twisted
into the most singular and complicated
figures. The intricscy of these figures,
combined with their symmetry, is one
of the elements that determines the |
value of the French walnut burl. Color
and soundness are other elements of
value"
does the burl play the same Inn.
por,snt part in mahogany and other
valuable woods that 1t does In the
French Walnut
there are rosewood and mahogany
but, unlike those of French wal.
nut, they are Of little or no value, In
those woods 1t is the trunk Of the
tire that Is prized; the knots are dis.
carded."
"How do other woods compare in
value with the French Walnut"
"Next 10 French walnut, ebony Is
probably the most valuable. o ca
sionaily a fine piece is found that