The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-20
UP FURNITUR e.
Other Advantages Besides Rconomyt TO He Found
in the Use or veneers.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. Feb. ls.-The samples
shown at the spring opening Of the furniture
manufacturing trade in this city indicate that
in bedroom furniture mahogany Is far in the
lead in popular demand. with birdseye maple
holding second place, and oak. which n few
years ago almost monopolized tho market. n
distant third. In dining.room furniture oak
and mahogany divide tho honors; in hall furni.
ture oak is used almost entirely, and in the
library It Is oak and mahogany. with the latter
leading.
Tho man who pays from $3.50 to $500 for q fine
mahogany bedroom suit and imagines he is got
ting tho real thing Is mistaken. Some solid
mahogany furniture is manufactured, chiefly
fancy cabinets. desks. and small tables; but Of
the general mahogany furniture put on the
market not one piece in a thousand. not one In
ten thousand, is mahogany all the way through.
The mahogany is only skin deep. and II all that
enters into,the construction of the average bed
room suit could be brought together there would
scarcely be enough of 1t to make n respectable
stick OF stove wood.
Modern furniture is not solid. but Is built up.
1t has q body Of elm. ash or Eastwood, with an
outer layer OF mahogany and this outer layer or
surface Is so Thin that thirty-two layers OF IL
will make scarcely an inch. In some classes OF
work 1t would require 100 or even 200 layers to
make an inch. A large proportion OF the OAK
FURNITURE Sccn Ill inc UluThCI IL tOLlhl ' III
the same way. Tho Sumo is true OF tho birds
eve maple and curly birch furniture.
II the owner of n modern suit OF mahogany
furniture wants 10 test this statement, let MIN
take "a penknife and sink a shaft into the wood.
He will find the surface Of mahogany thirty-two
thickncsscs to the inch. Beneath this, with'the
grain running at right angles TO the surface wood
will be n layer OF ash. or elm. IN
thickness from four to sixteen layers 10 the
inch. Beneath this will be found another layer
OF the same chcap wood, with the grain running
crosswise TO the second. and SO 1t VIII continue
until the last layer Is reached, and then II this
Is in a place exposed to view, as in the interior
Of a drawer. IL will be OF mahogany, as thin
and frail as tho outer surface. The, panel
will bc found to have been built UP,
and to consist of from five, TO seven dis
tinct layers of wood, each layer running
crosswise in grain to its. neighbors ana AL
bound together into q solid mass with glue. IL
10 "a construction that Will never warp, swell.
shrink or crack. Each of the inner layers, thor
oughly kiln dried in advance, Is protected by us
double coating of glue, and the yarnish outside
makes it imperviouS to atmospheric changes.
Even though mahogany were as abundant as
pine and economy in its use were unnecessary
II would still be yeneered instead of used Solidly,
because In no other way can tho beautiful grain
and figure In tho wood be so effectively ,broughI
out. An ordinary mahogany log, plain sawed
or QuRrtered, might yield a few nnely figured
pieces of lumber. but the same. log converted
into veneers would yield enough TO cover the
front OF o brick block, and each piece DC a cream
which human art could not dunl'eato IN design
! and coloring.