There are many kinds of woods and each one has its special use in the arts and crafts. For carpentry and cabinet making you will probably not use more than half-a-dozen woods and these are, (1) pine; (2) cedar; (3) mahogany; (4) oak ; (5) birch and (6) walnut.

Pine. - This is a good wood for making things in general. There are two kinds of pine and these are (a) white pine and (b) yellow pine.

White pine is very soft, light and straight grained and it is a pleasure to use it even if it is only to sit on a fence and whittle it with a pocket knife. (I wish I could do it again.) You can make benches, boxes, toys and a hundred and one other things out of it but it is too soft for furniture and cabinet work.

Yellow, or Georgia pine has a fine yellow color, and a beautiful grain and together they are very showy. It is harder than white pine and while it can be used where the latter cannot, it is not nearly as easy to work.

Cedar

This fragrant wood belongs to the pine family and it is nearly as soft as pine. There are two kinds of cedar and these are (a) red cedar and (b) white cedar.

Red cedar is the kind you want to get to make things of; it has a pastel red color and a fragrant odor and it is this latter property that makes it a good wood for wardrobe chests, for moths do not like it. Next to white pine it is about the easiest wood to work and it is especially nice for making all small articles, such as glove boxes, handkerchief boxes and the like.

Mahogany

Also and likewise there are two kinds of mahogany and these are (a) Honduras mahogany and (b) Spanish mahogany.

Honduras mahogany is the kind that cigar boxes are made of and it is much softer and lighter in both weight and color than Spanish mahogany. You can make all manner of nice things of the better grades of Honduras mahogany and, curiously enough, it stays glued better than any other wood. It is nearly as easy to work as pine and it takes a fine polish.

Spanish mahogany is like Honduras mahogany in name only. It is a fine, close-grained dark-red-brown or yellow-brown colored wood, takes a very high polish and makes the finest kind of furniture.

Oak. - This is a strong, beautiful wood and is useful in making all kinds of furniture the design of which should be plain.

It is not an easy wood to work and tools when used on it soon lose their cutting edges. But after you have made a piece of furniture you can depend on it that it will last to the end of time, nearly.

Birch

This wood belongs to the oak family but different from oak it is quite easy to work. It is light in color, fine grained, so tough and elastic it cannot be easily broken, and it takes a fine polish. For these reasons it makes nice furniture and it is a very good wood for turning.

It is from the bark of the birch that the Indians made their canoes, but this is a story of the long ago and we must stick to the present.

Walnut

This is a good old English wood; it is the finest kind of wood that can be used for ornamental furniture, gun stocks and wherever else a beautiful color and a showy grain are wanted. It is easier to work than oak and is a fine wood for carving.