Ash

There is a very valuable wood which is used as a veneer commonly known as Circassian Walnut. It is not a walnut at all, but is an ash called by the name of Hungarian Ash. It is very beautiful, with fine markings ranging in color from white to a medium shade of brown. When it is used as a veneer, poplar is generally the foundation wood. The common ash is a very different wood. It is light in color, tough and hard, with somewhat of a resemblance to oak. As a rule there is almost no figure. The beauty of the common ash is considered to consist mainly in its color, which is unusually light, and for this reason it is especially popular for bedroom furniture.

Maple, Beech, Birch

Three other woods which are suitable for dainty bedroom furniture are Maple, Beech, and Birch. Birch is more beautiful than ash because of its figuring, which is similar in character to the figure in mahogany. For this reason it is often stained to an excellent imitation of that wood. Beech is a similar wood and is often also stained to imitate mahogany or rosewood. Furniture of maple rivals that of oak. The wood is heavy, hard, strong, and tough, and of fine texture. It is frequently wavy-grained, giving rise to attractive "curly" and "blister" figures of a creamy white, with shades of brown toward the heart.

Rosewood

Although the majority of woods are characterized by their grain or peculiar figure, Rosewood may be identified by its remarkable fragrance. There is probably no other wood which is so often imitated and sold as the genuine. The color is a dark red or brown with strong markings of a much deeper tint.

Red Gum

Red Gum is a comparatively new wood in furniture manufacture. It is a rather heavy wood, soft, quite stiff and strong, tough, commonly cross-grained and of fine texture. It is being used in large quantities the past few years to take the place of the less abundant oak, and is popular because of its beautiful grain and because of the fine finish which it takes.

Veneered Wood

Because of the scarcity of the best woods, much of the furniture of the present day is veneered. A cheaper grade of wood is used for the foundation and the surface is covered with a thin layer of more expensive wood applied with glue under strong pressure. By the use of a veneer rich-appearing furniture may be manufactured at comparatively small cost, and very beautiful effects may be obtained by the use of small and very rare pieces of timber. Veneering also keeps out the dampness from the inner, and usually more porous, wood of which the furniture is constructed.

Inexpensive Veneered Furniture

When veneer is employed in preference to solid wood for the purpose of reducing the cost of production, it is often the case that a piece of furniture made principally of pine may look as handsome as if it were made of solid wood of the more expensive kind. For practical purposes it is entirely satisfactory and provides really good-looking furniture for people of moderate means. The practice of veneering furniture may be regarded as a means of placing beautiful objects within the reach of those who could not otherwise afford them. If the wood serving as the foundation is good and sound, free from knots and cracks, and if the veneer is applied with careful workmanship, there can be no valid objection to work of this class. Of course it should be sold for what it is.