Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-08
CARVED FURNITURE.
A Trade in Which Machinery Cannot
Drive Out Handwork Entirely.

Ftom the New York sun.
Those thousands of articles In carved ma
hogany turned out by the furniture fac
tories and made to look like antiques ara
carved by machinery. The machine Ia one
of the most ingenious elaborate and ex-
pensve of modern inventions-so much So
indeed. that IT can be used probably only
by those who turn out furniture whole
sale. Even the introduction OF the ma
chine has not been able TO ruin the hand
carvers. for the work OF the machine must
be followed by that of the skilled carver
who shapes and smoothes Il until to the
eye OF the untaught II seems to be all hand
work. So great has been the demand for
carved furniture. indeed that IL Is by no
means certain that the Introduction of the
wood carving machine has not made more
work for the hand carver.
Wood carvers In New York are chiefly
Germans or men of German descent Itai-
fans and few skilled Frenchmen. Some
men work In the factories as fnishers
others work for the skilled cabinet makers
and still others have little shops OF their
own where they employ a few men and
boys and do perhaps the most delicate
work themselves. The best carvers earn
"a or 50 day, but are seldom employed the
year around. A few Of much more than
average skill get considerably higher wages.
A man employed by the year In a cabinet
making shop may hope to earn from SIS
to SIG a week. The little shops OF the self
employing carvers are filed with men and
boys at all sorts of wages Some OF the
rougher work is done by boys who earn
only 81 or s. week. A man who can fol-
low copy and cut true line may get three
or four times as much
The old French quarter used to have
many such little shops and a new one
springs up every now and then In the Ger
man quarter The cabinet makers find IL
profitable to have some of their work done
by the piece at such shops. To the cabinet
maker piece work thus done is often cheap
er than he can have 1t done In his own
Shop by his carvers regularly employed by
the year or working at 81 or s. day. A
single carved chair leg is sent along with
dozen legs In the rough to the little shop.
and the whole dozen come back looking so
like the model that only the cabinet maker
can tell model and copies apart.
The woodcarver's trade is still haunted
by medieval traditions. and the best men
In the trade have a strong sense Of its re-
lation to the fine arts. There are few
carvers VINO are known to all the cabinet
makers of the town. and sure OF profit
able employment the year round even in
the dullest times. Some carvers are special
lists in their art and known for their skill
In doing the acanthus leaf or some other
pattern or in handling rosewood or ma
hogany Perhaps the invention that the
skilled carver most resents is the substitu-
ton In cheap furniture of pressed work for
carved work. In some of the cheapest fur
niture the design is impressed directly upon
the wood. In other cases pier mache de-
signs, often of the most elaborate kind, are
applied TO the wood. securely glued to 1t
and stained and polished In such fashion
that only the skilled eye can distinguish
the thing from genuine wood carving.
Strangely enough. this false carving Is
really durable. II seldom separates from
the wood unless long exposed to dampness
and never. like even the best OF genuine
carving. cracks or chips. 1t is a form of
competition that the wood carver does not
like to meet though. of course IT is never
used in the finest furniture.