A Manual of the Hand Lathe / Comprising Concise Directions for Working Metals of All Kinds, Ivory, Bone and Precious Woods

by Egbert P. Watson

CURLED MAPLE.

This is one of the most beautiful of our native woods; in point of color, and power of retaining it, in marking and in variety, it is, to me, one of the most beautiful of all woods. The vein has a sinuous sweep and curve to it, which is heightened by varnishing and polishing, to a marked degree. All of the handsome woods, however, have a peculiar intractability, so to speak, which renders them slow and tedious to work. In fact, it is just this stubbornness of grain which renders them beautiful, for, by running in all directions, interlacing the fibres, so that the end of the grain is alternately presented side by side with the parallel grain, the light is caught and retained on dead surfaces that absorb it, making those beautiful contrasts which the most uncultivated admire.