The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-02-24
BUILT.UP FURNITURE.
Advantages Besides Economy to BE
Found in the Use Of Vcneers.
Grand Rapids Letter in the Sun.

Grand Rapids Letter in the Sun.
The samples shown at the snrinp
opening of the furniture manufacture
ing trade in this city indicate that in
bedroom furniture mahogany is far in
the lead in popular demand, with birds
eye maple holding second place. and
oak, which a few years ago almost
monopolized the market, a distant
third. In dining-room furniture oak
and mahogany divide the honors: in
hall furniture oak is used almost en-
tirely, and in the library it is oak and
mahogany, with the latter leading.
the man who pays from $3.50 to $500
for fine mahogany bedroom suit and
lmaGines he is getting the real thing
Is mistaken. Some solid mahogany fur
niture is manufactured, chiefly fancy
cabinets, desks, and small tables: but
or the general mahogany furniture mt
on the market not one piece in a thou
SAND, not one in ten thousand, is ma
hogany all the way through. The ma
hogany is only skin deep and if all
that enters into the construction of the
average bedroom suit could be brought
together there would scarcely he
enough of it to make respectable stick
of stove wood.
Modern furniture is not solid, but is
quit up. 1t has body of elm, ash or
Eastwood, with an outer layer of ma
hogany and this outer layer or surface
is so thin that thirty-two layers of If
will make scarcely an inch. In some
classes of work it would require 100 or
even 200 layers to make an inch A
large proportion of the oak furnitura
seen in the market is constructed in
the same way. The same is true of the
birdseye maple and curly birch furni-
ture.
If the owner of a modern suit OF
mahogany furniture wants to test this
statement, let him take a penknife and
sink a shaft into the wood He will
find the surface of mahogany thirty
two thicknesses to the inch. Beneath
this, with the grain running at right
angles to the surface wood will be a
layer Of ash, Eastwood, or elm, in thick
ness from four to sixteen layers to the
inch. Beneath this will be found an.
other layer of the same cheap wood
with the grain running crosswise tc
the second, and so it will continue un-
til the last layer is reached and then
if this is in a place exposed to view. as
in the interior of a drawer, it will be
VI HldHOSdHy, as lnln ana trall as the
outer surface. The panel will be found
to have been built up, and to consist
of from five to seven distinct layers OF
wood, each layer running crosswise in
grain to its neighbors and all bound
together into a solid mass with glue
1t is a construction that will never
warp, swell, shrink or crack. Each OF
the inner layers, thoroughly kiln dried
in advance, is protected by its double
coating Of glue, and the varnish out.
side makes it impervious to atmos
pheric changes. Even though mahog,
any were as abundant as pine ant
economy in its use were unnecessary
II would still be veneered instead o
used solidly. because in no other way
can the beautiful grain and figure II
the wood be so effectively brought out
An ordinary mahogany log, plain sawed
or quartered, might yield a few finely
figured pieces Of lumber, but the sam,
log converted into veneers would yielC
enough to cover the front OF a bricl
block, and each piece be a dream which
human art could not duplicate in de
sign and coloring.