The age-herald., 1902-02-23

facilities for producing the wood and the devices for reducing it into lumber have so improved that it's cost today compares favorably with some of our domestic hard woods, such as cherry.
 ''The cost of working it is certainly not greater than any of the domestic woods It lasts better than the domestic article, though
 "The process of yeneering is what makes all the. hard woods expensive as this work costs as much as the timber in the rough. The wood is cut very thin, about one-thirtieth of an inch say "A layer of glue is placed over the wood to which the strip is to be applied after which the strip is lad on, smoothed down by hand and then clamped between two hot presses, or cauls, as we call them. It takes some time for the glue to dry.
 "Then the clamps are removed, the wood sandpapered and scraped and the real work of polishing begins with the application of filters to fill the pores Of the wood and make it smooth. Then al most endless rubbing has to be done to develop the polish.
 "It is a long process and expensive for that reason. but no more costly in the case of mahogany than any other wood. The average cost of mahogany in the rough is from s15O to S25O a thousand feet.
 "1f you think mahogany Is very ex- pensive. what do you think about Cir cassian walnut. which we import from Russia and costs almost double? Rose wood, which comes from South America, costs from three to four tim ee as much as mahogany and is fully as rich in color ing. It is used but little, however, on account of it's cost.
 Satin wood, a product of the West Indies, costs almost as much as rose wood, too. This is a beautiful light vel low wood which also takes a high pol ish.
 English brown oak Is also fully as ex- pensive as mahogany. At present it is scarce, the supply Is limited by laws restricting the cutting of 1t. It Is also very defective and this fact makes it's cost mount up.
 It costs 90 cents a foot in the log and the waste makes the real price amount to great deal more builder told me recently that he put a large quantity of English oak in the new home of mil lionaire and that by the time perfect pieces had been procured, the cost of the wood had amounted to a foot.
 Tt is one of the most beautiful woods we have when polished. At it's best it has a rich deep brown color and contains many very dark, almost blotches.
 Ebony is all going out because 1t is so hard to get good specimens of it now adays. Good ebony is almost jet black but that which is imported now is full of gray streaks which spoil t Very little curly maple is used these days and bird s-eye maple is compara- lively cheap for a handsome wood. It sells in the rough for ten cents a foot and Veneers cheaper than most of the others. Walnut has gone out of style too and has given way to maple, white and quartered oak. ash. cherry and birch
 Chinese teak wood Is another that Is expensive and also very defective Still 1t is used very extensively. The keeis of the battleships Indiana and Massachu- setts are made of it, and I happen to know that it cost the government a pret- ty penny.
 The British admirality uses a great quantity of this wood for the decks of the British warships and it is used com monly on the swell yachts for railfngs and hatch combings, as it stands the weather excellently
 What is the most expensive wood that 1 l know of? Snake wood, I guess. It is 1 imported from the northern part of South America in logs weighing from 50 to 200 1 pounds, and costs from 10 to 25 cents a | pound.
 Tt is very hard and when polished shows a grain much like the marking Of snake skin. It Is used mostly for walking canes and for fancy turninsg. Black Sea walnut costs a lot too | from 3o to 50 cents foot. so you see that mahogany is not so expensive after all and as I said before it Is truly the kine l of all woods"