when rent than when sawn: but it will be found on examination of the Dale of old panelling that it was usually rent, and as you can only cleave oak on the line of the medullary rays, the figure shown by rent oak is much better and more abundant than when sawn on the quarter, and though the practice is more wasteful and is only possible in the case of straight-grained trees, yet it should certainly be tried by those who admire finely figured oak.
Strange to say, the importance of selecting and matching the figured pieces, and of placing them in the most conspicuous positions, does not seem to be noticed, for I have seen in modern houses, and in old castles on whose restoration no expense has been spared, panelling in which new and plain pieces have Peet introduced amongst splendid old panels, and finely figured new and old panels put in dark corners where they were unseen. When one considers how small a proportion the cost of the wood bears to the workmanship, it is extraordinary that this should be allowed, or that American oak should be used, as I have seen sometimes done, in restoring ancient houses, when infinitely better and more beautiful wood was growing, and often rotting on its roots, within a very short distance.
Experienced cleavers are not to be found in every county, but in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Hants, and where rent oak palings are much used, as in the neighbourhood of London, such men may be found, who with a tool called a "break-axe" or "flammer," will convert straight-grained oak into slabs of suitable dimensions for panelling, which, when properly seasoned, show better figure than sawn timber. For this purpose logs of not less than three feet diameter should be selected, as straight as possible in the grain, and cut into the lengths of which the panels are required. The slabs come out rather irregular in size, and are, of course, much thicker on the outside. They should be carefully piled for about twelve months in a dry, airy place, when they can be reduced by a thin circular saw and by planing to the proper thickness, choosing whichever side shows the best figure for the face. Longer and narrower pieces, either rent or sawn, must be selected for the stiles and rails, and if put together by a competent joiner, I can say from experience that the effect will be much Superior to work done by the best London firms with foreign timber, especially when brown oak can be found fit for rending.
The diagram, Fig. 1, on the following page shows the best method of rending oak to show its fine figure.
For quartering by the saw different methods are adopted, the best being that shown on the following page, Figs. 2 and 3, taken, by permission of Messrs. Rider and Son, from a very useful little book.[1] By this method, which, though rather wasteful, produces the best results, only the central boards of each cut are on the true quarter, and the others are narrower, and more or less across the natural line of cleavage.
Of the different styles of oak panelling it is not my intention to speak, but it seems to me that elaborate carving is out of place in such wood as this, which wants no extraneous adornment, Many beautiful specimens of ancient panelling in various
- ↑ English Timber and its Economical Conversion, London, 1904.
