The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Furniture Finishing

The figured grain of mahogany burls and crotch, taken from the crotches of trees where the limbs join the trunks, makes a very valuable veneer. Most of the mahogany used in furniture is plywood made from very thin slices of the wood to preserve the supply. The pencil stripe mahogany is very popular. The light stripes of yellowish color alternate with reddish-to-brown stripes. This figure is made by quartered cuts. The tangential surface shows an indistinct strip of wider proportions of light and reddish shades and is not pronounced. The figure is also coarse compared to the pencil stripe cut.

The real dark stripes in some mahoganies are caused by dark gum in the pores, especially African mahogany, used to a large extent by the industry at present. The pores are larger in this species and may be seen on a longitudinal or end surface.

WHITE OAK

Of all the oaks white oak is the principal one used in the manufacture of furniture. It is found in the central Eastern section of the United States, in the Ohio River valley north to the Canadian border.

Identification.—The pores of oak are very large, especially in the spring wood, but decrease abruptly in the summer wood. These pores contain dark tyloses and this causes the dark appearance of the open pores when finished. The heart-wood is a brown with a reddish tinge. The wood is heavy but varies considerable in weight. The sap-wood is often discolored by tannin and other materials that leak out of the bark. The annual rings are easily distinguishable.

Utilization.—This wood was formerly u.sed to a large extent in furniture, but owing to the present high price of the lumber and due to the fact that the styles lean to the u.se of walnut and mahogany, less of this wood is used in the manufacture of furniture. It is finished natural and with stain. The pores may be filled or left open. Oak can be finished in various shades of brown for fumed oak, Jacobean oak, and real dark for Early English oak; it is also finished silver gray. Furniture made from this wood is very durable because of its great strength.