White pine is often considered rather cheap and common in appearance, but it is suitable for many things in the way of furniture. It is one of the best woods to "stand," or hold its shape, and if not desired of the natural colour (which, is, however, suitable and attractive for some objects) it can be painted. It can also be stained, but is not to be compared with whitewood in this respect.

Whitewood is, like pine, easy to work, durable, can be obtained in wide boards, can be painted, and takes a stain exceedingly well.

Black walnut is good to work and is well suited for furniture, though its sombre hue is not always desirable.

Cherry, when soft and straight-grained, is easy to work and is often (when highly figured or wavy) one of the most beautiful woods. It is easy to finish.

Mahogany is a wood of great beauty and durability, and holds its shape exceedingly well, but the beginner should confine himself at first to the lighter, softer, straight-grained varieties, which can be easily obtained. You can then try the more highly figured and harder kinds, which will tax your skill in smoothing them.

Oak in its softer, straight-grained forms is well suited to the work of the beginner. It is durable, and an article made of oak will stand more abuse without serious defacement than most of the other woods used for furniture. When quarter-sawed it is more difficult to smooth than plain, straight-grained oak, but as you acquire skill you will find quartered oak one of the most satisfactory woods. Oak can be stained if desired.

Many other kinds of wood are sometimes used, as sycamore, ash, birch, beech, maple, rosewood, butternut, ebony, etc., but these woods you can try for yourself, if you wish, as you progress in skill, and thus learn their peculiar characteristics.

An important point, not always realised by the amateur, is that the stock for good furniture should be planed true, that is, free from winding. Buy stock that is as true as you can find (see Chapter III (Wood).) and have it planed to be as true as possible. Have as much of this truing done by machine as you can afford, for it is not worth while to spend an hour in working down a surface by hand (see Truing Surfaces, in Part V.) when a machine will do it in five minutes. There are, of course, cases in which this accuracy is not essential,- and judgment must be used, as in all intelligent work, - but, as a rule, it is highly important that the surfaces should be reasonably true if you wish to do your work as it should be done. The pieces, when fitted, should come together easily and naturally, and not require to be sprung or twisted or bent in order to be able to put the article together.

Your furniture should always be hand-planed and scraped, for, though the slight hollows and ridges left by the planing-machine may not be noticeable while the wood is in its natural state, as soon as the surface is finished and begins to have a lustre these inequalities become conspicuous. This applies to any small irregularities of the surface. You cannot get the surface too smooth. You will be surprised at first to see how noticeable slight defects in the surface become in the finished work.

Curved edges occur often in furniture. Many of these curves can be cut with a turning-saw or a keyhole- and compass-saw, but the easiest way (and the most accurate, until you have acquired considerable skill with the saw) is to have them cut at a mill by a jig-saw or band-saw at but slight expense. Have a piece of waste wood put on the under side to prevent the burr, or ragged edge, left by the sawing. These curves can be smoothed with the spoke-shave alone, or spokeshave and file, or file alone, according to the conditions, as you will soon learn by experience, the final finishing of the surface being given with fine sandpaper.

Put the different parts of your article of furniture completely together once (without glue or nails) to see that everything fits right, that the joints close properly, and that the whole job is as it should be, before putting together permanently.

This often seems to the amateur a needless precaution (and it occasionally is), but, although it takes some time, it is the practice with skilled workmen and therefore a precaution which should not be neglected by the beginner. You will discover the importance of this when you carelessly assume that all the parts of a writing-desk, for instance, will come together properly, or that you can easily correct errors as you go along, only to find, when you have the work nearly put together that something is wrong. In the effort to mend the trouble you will be apt to loosen the parts already fastened, or will have to take the whole apart, which, when glue or nails are used, is particularly discouraging, and apt to damage the quality of the work.

Be particular to clamp the parts of your work together thoroughly when using glue and to allow time enough before removing the clamps (see Clamps and Gluing).

Care should be taken in putting your work together to get it "square," that is, to prove the accuracy of the right angles. In some cases this is of course essential to having the work come together at all. In others, the appearance will be much injured if the article tips to one side or is slanting or twisted. In all cases it is essential to the proper closing up of the joints. It will not do to assume, as the beginner often naturally does, that because the parts of the work seem to be accurately made that the whole, when put together, will, therefore, be square. It must be tested. You will be surprised to see how much "out of square " and how winding the result of your most careful work will sometimes be if you do not test it as you put the parts together. In addition to the obvious way of applying the square (see Square) to the angles, using the large steel square when you can: there are many cases in which measuring diagonals is a good test, altering the angles of the work until the two opposite diagonals are equal, when the vvoik will, of course, be rectangular. This is a good way for large "case" work, using a stick, or fitting two adjustable sticks, after the manner described on page 167, between the angles, when the latter can be altered until the diagonals are equal.

At the same time that you are testing for squareness you must also look out for winding, by sighting across the front or back, using winding-sticks, if necessary.

When your work has a back fitted in, as in the case of a bookcase or cabinet, this will help you much in the final adjustment.

Do not attempt to put your case work together in an upright position, but upon horses horizontally, or flat upon its back or face.

It is well to use corner-blocks in the angles of your furniture, in places where they will not show (see Corner-blocks, in Part V.).

After you begin to acquire some proficiency in your work, a little beading or chamfering can sometimes be used to good advantage, but it is well not to be too lavish with this kind of ornamentation.

Wall-cabinets and other articles to be hung on the wall can be neatly attached to the wall by brass mirror-plates screwed upon the back. These should usually be sunk into the wood so that the back will be smooth.

Your furniture can be finished with oil or wax alone, or with shellac or varnish, as described in Part V. In the case of articles to be hung against wall-paper or where any delicate fabric will be exposed, it is well to avoid finishing with oil alone unless the greatest care is used, for a very slight surplus of oil will quickly soil the paper. For the work of the amateur nothing is better than shellac.

When your work is made of parts which can be readily separated, such parts as are joined without glue or nails, it is best to take the work apart before finishing. Unhinge doors and take off locks, escutcheons, mirror-plates, handles, and the like. Take out removable shelves, backs, and all detachable parts. Finish all these parts separately and then put the work together again. You can finish the separate parts better and more easily, but of course this can only be done with such parts as are readily separable.

In some cases it is desirable to stain your furniture, but as a rule you cannot improve on the natural colouring, which deepens and mellows with age. If you wish mahogany-coloured furniture, use mahogany, or, if you cannot afford that, simply paint or stain some cheaper wood of the desired colour, but do not try to imitate the grain of the mahogany. There are two objections to these attempts at imitation. First, they are not honest; and, in the second place, the deception is usually a failure.

Finally, be simple and honest in all your designing, your construction (which above all things should be strong and durable), and your finishing. Do not put in your room an object which appears at a distance of ten feet to be a mahogany or black walnut centre-table, but which on closer examination turns out to be a pine washstand in disguise.

There are, as you know, hundreds of articles of household utility, other than those here given, which are suitable for the amateur to make, but it is hoped that the suggestions about those which are included in this chapter will be of service in the construction of other objects.