Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1895-10-15
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CHARTERED White Oak Said to Be the Very
Eest Material How to WAX and Polish:
= They Do These Things Better In England
Than We Do In America. =
1t is only a.few years since advocates
of the house beautiful began to preach
i'll favor Of hard floors, and there is now
hardly a village i'll the country where
this doctrine Of health and beauty has
not penetrated. Yet every one who has
discarded carpets and adopted hard wood
floors has found some drawbacks in the
way. In nine cases out Of ten the floor
is simply shellacked, often without pre-
vious filling, and every scratch of the
bootheel shows on it's surface. The wood
is soon laid bare and permanently
stained, or perhaps the wood is oiled
with clear oil which has not been prop
erly rubbed in. The residue gums on
the surface and collects dust and debris,
and altogether the hard wood floor,
which has been well laid by the carpen-
ter, is a source of discomfort and disap-
pointment.
European housel1eepers suffer from
none of these disadvantages because
they try none Of these experiments. The
European floor is floor of parquetry.
1t is made by gluing together thick
nesses of hard wood on pine backing,
a method by which they obtain a
stronger and more durable floor than
when thick floor of hard wood alone is
used, for every builder knows that the
best door is not one of solid hard wood,
but one of two thicknesses of hard wood
over pine core. These doors are natu-
rally more expensive, because they are
more trouble to make. So the veneered
floor is more durable, though very ex-
cellent floor may be laid in hard wood
seven eighths thick over rough floor
Of pine, providing the wood has been
properly seasoned. Or a thinner floor
may be laid over perfectly level floor
of pine.
Builders recommend CHARTERED white
oak as the very best material for floors.
This is western wood and costs about
500 1000 feet in this state. Maple
and birch, which are much cheaper
woods, also make excellent floors. Ma.
tive birch, which may be bought in this
state as low as $40 1000 feet, is a
very hard, smooth wood, and makes a
very durable kitchen floor which does
not silver up like Georgia pine. Narrow
boards, measuring about two inches OF
less laid, make most desirable floor.
The skillful carpenter matches his joints
with faultless precision, planes and
scrapes his floor and polishes it down
with hard wood shavings after it is laid,
as we'll as finishing it before. When this
is properly done, hardly joint is visi
BILE, and it is then ready to be filed.
1t is this process that is so often neg.
lected and upon which so much depends.
1t should be thoroughly Trustworthy
wood filler, purchased from dealer
whose name Is a guarantee for his goods.
These filters usually come by the pound
often in paste form, and may be Trimmed
to a proper consistency with turpentine
It is applied to the wood with a brush
and all that remains on the surface il
polished off with hardwood shavings o.
excelsior. This filler is allowed to dry
about 10 hours, when q coat of wax i.
applied, Or Of prepared oil if you prefer
it. Where oil is used it should be thinnet
with certain amount of "drier.''
The best wax is a preparation Of tur
pentine and beeswax, properly melted
together, and is kept by all dealers il
parqustry floors. The chief mistake tha
amateurs make is to apply this wax tot
generously. An expert in this matter
says that pound Of wax ought to covel
300 feet of surface. After the wax il
applied and rubbed in with a weighted
brush it should be allowed to stand fo1
awhile and a second coat applied before
the floor is used.
A great many American families at
tempt to take care Of a hardwood foo,
without a brush. This is waste O
much laborious energy. The work cal
be accomplished by the use of bricl
wrapped i'll flannel and then in cotton
but it cannot be properly accomplished
except by strong man, while an ordi
nary servant can readily WELD the 2:
pound brush, which sells in our shops Al
from So. SO to 81 and with care will las
many years. It should be passed frs
across the grain of the wood. Then tn,
floor should be vigorously polished will
the grain Of the wood.
Finally a piece Of old carpet is lait
down and the floor is polished under
this. A properly cared for floor should
be polished with the brush once week
1t should not be rewaxed oftener THAI
once a month or once in two or three
months, according to the amount O
wear on it. After certain period O
time it may be necessary to scrape tn
floor and apply some kind of restorer
though this should be hardly require,
unless the floor has been improperl,
dressed. .. =
Of course the best way of polishin,
such floor is in the foreign fashion
|, with brush attached to one foot of !,
robust man, who goes skating abou
until the surface CLEANS like marble
But this method is not often possible il
this country except in those household
where there are foreign menservants. .
New York Tribune.
{ In Hurry. ~ s.
!: = Its q rapid age said the big pc