AMERICAN AND FOREIGN WOODS.
By George J. Henkels.[1]
AMERICAN WALNUT.
In a previous communication, we gave a cursory history of the different woods, both native and foreign. This article we will confine to the descriptions and uses of Walnut.
Beginning with our first knowledge of its adaptability for cabinets, &c, we find that many of the old pieces of furniture, family relics, which were brought out to America by the first settlers, were made of Walnut. The quaint-looking, old escrutoires, cases of drawers, and chairs, which are so much prized for their antiquity, are either made of walnut, or mahogany, both woods being in use in Europe at the general period of pioneer emigration.
As to grain, the walnut of Europe widely differs from our Western walnut, but much resembles the white walnut, or butternut, which is found on the western slope of the Alleghanies.
In Europe, from the scarcity of the wood, they are obliged to work economically, and consume all, even to the roots, which they cut into veneers, [2] producing from 60 to 100 of these to the inch.
The process of cutting veneers will be explained at the proper time.
The root of French walnut is beautifully variegated, the markings being map-like, with black lines intersecting the light ground. For panels of beaufets, and for ornamenting the plain walnut, by raised veneered tablets, this wood has no equal. French cabinet-makers make the most of it, as they skilfully piece up the holes in the veneer, which are the natural result of defects in the root. Sometimes a panel-veneer will have a hole in the middle, large enough to put a man's head through; but the natural diversity of figure in the wood, aiding the skill of the workmen, enables them to match or fit in another piece of veneer, which is difficult to detect, in many cases actually adding to the beauty of the panel. Every square inch is pieced up, and worked in cross-banding, giving us an example of economy in the use of wood, which we will do well to follow, as we are notoriously prodigal in working all kinds.
Walnut was first introduced to any extent, as a furniture wood, about 1845. Cabinet-makers had no experience in working it, and were timid about recommending it to their customers. The only kind to be had, on the seaboard, was a very hard-grained Pennsylvania and Delaware wood, such as is now used almost exclusively for gun-stocks. This was prior to the completion of the Pennsylvania Central railroad, and before the States of Ohio and Indiana were aware of the great wealth of their walnut forests, as walnut, to their inhabitants, was of less value than any other wood, being used extensively for fencing. The growing demand, in the Eastern States, induced the shipment of large quantities of a soft-grained northern wood, which was sent, by way of the lakes, to Albany, N. Y., and thence distributed to the Eastern cities. There is still a great quantity of this wood sent by this route, and New York and the New England States depend on it for their principal supply. The Pennsylvania Central railroad is the avenue to market for all of the best Ohio and
- ↑ Cabinet and Upholstery Warerooms, N. W. corner of Thirteenth and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia.
- ↑ The term veneer (a double corruption—the English being from the German noun furnier or furnir, and that in turn, from the French verb fournir, to furnish) is not confined to wood; but signifies any thin leaf or layer of a more valuable and beautiful material used to overlay an inferior one.
