Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-06-03
USED IN FURNITURE.

WOODS USED IN FURNITURE.
Points About MahoE~ny-Timbcr Formerly
Neglected but Employed Now.
Experts in old furniture are much
guided in their judgment as to par
ticular pieces by the wood Of which
they n made. Mahogany furniture,
purporting to be as much as two
centuries old, is subject to suspi-
cion, because mahogany was little
used in furniture until about the
middle Of the eighteenth century.
A colonial New England piece is
much more likely to be Of oak than
of mahogany, unless it belong to the
late colonial period. Mahogany was
a luxury even then, and oak was
used in ordinary households as be-
ing at once moderate in price and
durable.
It is easy to tell whether a pro-
fessed European piece of walnutfur
niture is genuine, by the quality Of
the walnut. European walnut is a
denser and finer wood than most of
our walnut. A piece Of furniture
made of ash at unexposed points
is almost certain to be of American
manufacture, but a piece having
beech at such points is likely to be
of European manufacture. Beech
is plentiful in Europe and relatively
scarce in this country, and with
American makers Of furniture ash
Is a cheap substitute for beech and
oak. A chair made entirely of beech
is almost certain to be of European
manufacture. Such chairs are often
beautiful in form and extremely
durable. Modern taste demands,
however, that the beech be stained
to initiate mahogany.
New woods have come into use of
late years, partly because timber Of
the sort long used in furniture max
ing, has become scarce, partly be-
cause modern machinery makes 1t
possible to work woods that in BAR
lier times could not be profitably
worked. Birch, which is tough,
crooked and difficult to work, is
coming into use for factory made
furniture. This wood warps easily,
but it looks we'll and serves the
needs of the factory makers. Aspen
also is coming into use for the man.
ufecture Of furniture, though 1t,
too, is a Grabbed wood, unfit to be
worked save by modern cutting
machinery. Another of the woods
that the furniture makers have been
driven to use is sycamore. 1t is fair
~ abundant and cheap in the United
States. and its markings are dis
tinctive and beautiful, but it is un.
trustworthy because of its tendency
to warp. 1t is Sometimes useaeas a
veneer over less beautiful bu aore
trustworthy wood. Some OF the
North ritter ferryboats are veneered
with sycamore. All of these trou-
blesome goods have been improved
fogt ro5 in f9rnspre by modern
psdSds of rap Reasoning.
a..Sirch, sycansDre and the other
woods are not used by the
Cabinet makers because their furni-
tire is hand made, and the labor and
expense of working these woods
Without the aid of machinery make
them improbable for cabinet made
furniture. Mahogany lie much softer
and more easily worked than these
woods. Some New England folks
before the middle of the present cen.
tHryy2skad craze for furniture made
Of ironwood, otherwise known as
horLbeam, and cabinet made furni.
ture of this material is found now
and then in Connecticut. Tho wood
is regarded by modern wood work.
r as utterly unfit for working into
furniture. New York cabinet max.
ers avoid the use of beech, and it il
used In this country mainly for fine
tool handles, in planes and the like,
Just as lignum vitae is in furniture
casters, blocks for pulleys and othe,
small articles.
Very old furniture in cherry is al
most as highly priced as mahogany,
and fine old pieces in maple fetct
high prices. The best walnut furni
ture Of good old pattern is also high
1y priced by the cabinet makers, al
walnut has become a very scarce
wood in this country.-New Yorl
Sun.
Nothing Like Reality.
Some amateurs in a provincial
Ao~x,n on,,o = Lon%, so,1