The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-07-07
Costly Cabinet Woods.

year The finest and costliest is French
walnut which, by the way, is not
French at all but is product OF ORR
entail countries. 1t grows in Persia,
Circassia and Asia Minor. You have
seen it in veneering upon costly turni-
ture, 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 | will
let you see it in process of cutting"
He led the way into some extensive
rooms, where ponderous machinery
wasrevolving and heavy chains rafting.
In one room steam rose from cracks in
the floor.
''Down there, said the gentleman,
sis pit where we lay large and valuable
logs and subject them to the action of
steam until they become almost as soft
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 q finely tenn
pered 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 machine is made with
greater nicely. The knife that shaves
off the sheets of wood is rigidly immov-
able and ground to a razor-like edge.
The heavy beam that revolves with its
great load of timber is firmness itself,
and is regulated like clock-work. The
slightest tremor in the beam or knife
would break and twist the thin sheets
that you see turned off here with the
regularity 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.n
He lifted a corner of one of the long
sheets, and it seemed to be cut the
thickness of ordinary writing paper.
The wood was warm and pliable.
'It is only in this condition that this
shaving process is possible. When
fresh from the steampit the knife slips
easily through it. Were the wood cold
and hard the process would be impos-
sible. Even if the knife could do the
work, the sheets would be too brittle
and would crumble into small frag-
ments.
4" For what purpose are these ex-
tremely thin sheets usedp"
1.-The veneers used upon furniture
t.,1la ~ ~.
these that we are now turning off. The
thinest veneers are used on picture
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 fas-
tened to the body of the frames from
showing through. These veneers are
also used to large extent in the same
way that wall paper is used-for COW
ering the walls of rooms. Besides 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
sheets?"
Sometimes, but rarely, with the
more expensive woods. Saving in
wolves a good deal of waste. For the
cheaper woods it is sometimes more de-
slrable, as it is not necessary to 90
through the steaming process when we
use the saw, but there is great differ
ence in the number of sheets that are
turned out in that way. The most that
we can get by sawingiS twenty-five to
the inch"
What is the value of the French
Walnut"
81 have seen it sell as high as two dol
lars pound. At the Paris Exposition
for 1878 one burl was sold for S., 900,
and its weight did not exceed 2,2OO
pounds"
"What is a burlP"
''This is trade expression, and means
the large and tough knots or eXcres-
cences like warts that grow upon the
trunk OF the tree. The French walnut
Is a small tree, crooked and dwarfed in
its growth, that grows, as have stated,
In Aslatlc countries, its value is confined
entirely to these curious, tough, and con-
torted bumps that grow upon it. The
trunk itself is of little or no value. You
have often noticed the singular grain
that French walnut has, if grain you
can call it. The fibres and tissues seem
to be twisted into the most singular and
complicated figures. The intricacy of
these figures, combined with their SYM
metry, is one of the elements that de-
termines the value of the French walnut
burl. Color and soundness are other
elements of value"
"Does the burl play the same import
ant part in mahogany and other valua-
BILE woods that it does in the French
walnutp'
''There are rosewood and mahogany
burls, but, unlike those of the French
walnut, they are of little or no value.
In those woods it is the trunk of the
tree that is priced; the knots are dis
carded.
'How do other woods compare in
value with the French Walnut"
"Next to French walnut, ebony is
probably the most valuable Occasion
ally a fine piece is found that brings
even better price than the French
walnut. Not long ago saw some that
sold for $3.50 ton. For particular
large piece, even five dollars q pound
might be paid. In ebony the main
thine 10 S;,o IL :, J;0; Ill a.. - -