IMPORTANCE OF CRAFTSMANSHIP
Furniture making is one of the oldest of human industries. For thousands of years it remained a craft industry. The transition to a machine industry began about 100 years ago. Since then, and especially within recent years, the use of machinery has been developed to a point of extraordinary efficiency. It is this fact alone which makes good furniture so low in price today. Indeed, were it not for the machine, most persons would have little furniture, and that of the crudest kind.
Figure 20.—Shows the names of the parts of a chair.
And yet it would be inaccurate to think of furniture as an impersonal, machine-made product; craftsmanship is still basically important in furniture making, and will remain so always. From 50 to 60 different and highly specialized machines are used in a modern factory making desks, chairs, and tables, and these machines perform all purely mechanical operations with amazing speed and more than human accuracy. Yet at every stage, from the selection of the woods to the final touches in the finishing room, the taste and accumulated skill of expert craftsmen are imperative. In the making of upholstered and reed furniture, machinery plays a subordinate part, and the skill of the craftsman is and always will be the dominant factor.
QUALITY OFTEN CONCEALED
Furniture making employs many materials and many processes. In every one of these materials and processes there are wide differences in excellence between the worst and the best. All of these differences are accurately known only to the manufacturer because they are concealed in the finished product. Many of them are known to the expert salesman. Few are known to the consumer who buys furniture too infrequently to become informed on concealed values, and naturally is disposed to base a judgment of value on the two obvious factors—eye appeal and price. As a result sales volume, to say nothing of public appreciation of furniture, is unnecessarily low.
MODERN FACTORIES BUILD CONCEALED VALUES INTO MANY PRODUCTS
It is obvious that all the operations of preparing wood, routing it through the factory, synchronizing the many processes, and eliminating waste can be performed most efficiently and economically in a modern plant and under the control of scientific knowledge and engineering skill. Factories so operated, therefore, may build into their product concealed or special values which are passed to the consumer in the form of lower price, quality for quality. These concealed values actually may take several forms; they may be concerned with materials and processes, or with construction and design. Although their service value is readily understood, their actual presence in any particular piece of furniture is not so easily determined by the inexperienced salesperson or the infrequent purchaser.
USE OF WOOD FREE FROM DEFECTS
When wood reaches the factory from the sawmill in the form of dimension lumber it contains some imperfections, among them rotted or discolored heartwood, stained sapwood, season checks, splits, knots, worm and grub holes, and decayed tissue. The more or less complete rejection of all defective lumber naturally affects production costs, and the use of perfect lumber in the unexposed parts of a piece of furniture constitutes a concealed value.
USE OF WOOD WITH CORRECT MOISTURE CONTENT
In wet lumber, wood cells will contain moisture in amounts ranging from 30 to 100 percent of the weight of the woody fiber itself. If a considerable percentage of this moisture is permitted to remain in the pieces which are used for building furniture, a disastrous shrinkage will result. Kiln drying the wood to secure the ideal moisture content and to free it from internal stresses requires time, expense, and great skill. Construction cost can be reduced by slighting the process. Accordingly, perfectly conditioned wood constitutes a highly important concealed value in good furniture.
Figure 21.—A shows a dowel. The spiral and longitudinal grooves permit the escape of air, and prevent air pockets in the glue. B shows the mortise and tenon, another method by which wood parts may be joined together with a fair measure of security. In both dowel and mortise and tenon construction the use of good glue is essential. The glue is applied to the portion which is inserted in the socket.
CHAIRS, TABLES, AND CASE GOODS HAVE CONCEALED VALUES
The points of concealed value in chair and table construction include, among others:
1. Choice of wood.
2. Method of shaping legs.
3. Method of building solid seats and tops (joinery; character of glue; and time spent in the clamps).
4. Character of joints (boring; mortise and tenon; kind, number, and position of dowels).
5. Use of corner blocks, braces, and stretchers.
6. Character of veneers, inlay, carving, or other ornament.
7. Technical skill of the machine operators and assemblers.
8. Care in sanding to ensure fine finishing.
Important points concerning the legs, tops, and end panels of cases are substantially the same as for chairs and tables. Standard five-ply for the tops of cases and standard three-ply for the end panels is the usual but not the universal practice. Other points include:
9. Construction of corner posts—solid wood to the floor, or with the turned legs separately made and doweled to the bottom of the posts, which cheapens but weakens construction.
Figure 21a.—C shows how a chair post is joined to the chair rails. Central figure is the chair leg; beneath it is a corner block; at either side are the rails with holes bored in them, as well as in the leg, to hold the dowels. The holes in the corner block are for screws. D shows how the joint looks when assembled. The pieces fit snugly and are braced to prevent pulling apart, the corner block augmenting the dowel joint.
10. Method of framing—solid framework above, between and below the drawers, with tongue and groove joints and three-ply veneer panel dust bottoms, or some cheaper method; frames "dadoed" (rigidly recessed) into the ends, and end panels dadoed into the legs, or some cheaper construction; shelves dadoed into end panels and also doweled into legs, and back doweled into legs, or some cheaper method, as nails or screws.
11. Drawer construction, including type of plywood; type of joint-dovetailed joints front and back, which is the best construction; lock joint (cheaper, but not nailed); nailed joint, still cheaper; butt joint (also requiring nails, the cheapest and poorest joint); drawer bottom dadoed into sides and ends, and supported by triangular rubbed-in blocks, or some cheaper method; center slides; perfect or less than perfect fitting.
UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE
Here the construction is almost completely concealed. The customer sees only the exposed portion of the frame and the covering and, except in the case of advertised goods, knows no more about the construction and concealed values of a piece than is told her by the salesperson.
Years ago much upholstered furniture was imported from a famous factory in London. It was costly, but vastly comfortable and of great durability. Yet when a piece was "taken down" it was found to contain far fewer springs, tied with fewer knots, than was the case with American goods of the same general price range. This indicates the folly, in the case of upholstered furniture, of setting up measures of excellence based upon exactly standardized practice. What applies to plywood or dowel joints does not necessarily apply to spring construction.
CONCEALED VALUES IN UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE
In general, the points of concealed value in upholstered furniture include:
1. The frame, which in the best construction is of clear, tough, dry hardwood, with properly glued and doweled joints, and necessary reinforcing blocks.
2. The springing, including foundation for the springs; number and character of springs; type of twine and number of knots per coil; skill of operator and speed at which he is compelled to work; presence or absence of spring edge.
3. Spring covering, including weight of burlap; method of attaching it to the frame and to the springs.
4. Stuffing: Double or single method; use of excelsior, tow, fiber, moss, cotton, or curled hair, alone or in combination.
5. Springing of back and arms.
6. Loose cushions; spring or down construction.
7. Skill and care of the workman; inspection standards for materials and labor.
REED FURNITURE
In the book Tropical Nature, A. R. Wallace, after describing the great trees of the tropical forest, says: "Next to the trees themselves the most conspicuous feature of the tropical forests is the profusion of woody creepers and climbers that everywhere meet the eye * * *. They twist in great serpentine coils or lie entangled in masses on the ground."
In such a forest grows Calamus, the rattan palm, whose slender stem often attains the enormous length of 600 feet. From Calamus is obtained the basic material employed in making reed furniture. It comes from the tropical forests of the East Indies after it has been passed through several primitive processes by native workers. In this country it is prepared in the forms of cane, rattan, and reed for weaving; maple frames are designed and built; the weaving is done by American craftsmen.
Points of excellence include skillful preparation of the raw materials; sturdy construction of the frames, including bracing; and skill in weaving. Unhurried work means better construction but higher cost, and is thus an element of value.
THE APPEAL OF FINISH
The appeal of finish is so potent as to require little demonstration. Most customers are quite willing to accept wood finish, as they accept dyestuffs or rayon, as one of the mysteries of chemical science. The results speak for themselves. No one thinks the less of an old Cremona violin because the secret of its varnish is known.
The story of modern chemistry is in fact more romantic than all the tales of the Thousand and One Nights, yet people generally speaking cannot be stirred by it. Tell them how the old craftsmen of Gothic Europe, hundreds of years ago, stained oak planks a beautiful rich brown by burying them for weeks or months under manure and you will interest them deeply. Tell them how American craftsmen, a generation ago, got the same results with the fumes of ammonia and a leaden vault and you will barely hold their interest. Tell them how other craftsmen today squirt a preparation of coal tar and water from one spray gun, and a preparation of wood pulp or old rags from another to finish fine furniture, and they will probably cancel the order.
In the late sixteenth century, Hepplewhite, Sheraton, and other cabinetmakers employed a process of staining, or rather of softly bleaching fine woods through the action of decomposing salts of chromium, followed by French polishing with oils and waxes. True varnish, a solution of resins in hot oils, was discovered in America in the middle nineteenth century, and achieved an immense popularity. Modern lacquer, which is totally unlike the Oriental lacquer, is a twentieth century discovery which combines gun cotton (nitrocellulose) with butyl alcohol, a byproduct in the manufacture of acetone.
WOOD FINISHING
The salesperson should learn that honest construction and careful finishing of a piece of furniture often count for more than the kind of wood used. Beautiful wood, however desirable it may be, is never the chief source of value. No piece of furniture is really completed until it has been given an appropriate and artistic finish.
What May Be Expected of a Finish.
There are at least three characteristics of a good wood finish.
1. Appropriateness.—The finish should be adapted to the needs which the piece is meant to serve. The polish of a piece of wood should not hide the beauty of the wood but should enhance it. Furniture should never make itself obtrusive. If furniture is noticeable, its artistic quality is usually to be questioned.
2. Serviceability.—The finish must protect the surface against the most common difficulties encountered in furniture finishing, such as bleeding, blistering, blooming, blushing, checking, caking, grain raising, bubbling, pitting, livering, and sweating.
3. Beauty.—Good finish should retain the characteristics of the wood rather than destroy their identity. Usually the natural wood needs to be softened and enriched to produce the most pleasing effects in keeping with its different nature and traits.
Beauty of finish depends to a great extent upon knowledge of how a surface should be prepared and the skill which is used in carrying out approved practices. The workman who understands the structure of wood, its mechanical and chemical properties, and has the right tools and equipment for preparing the surface, is not likely to use poor methods. He will understand that great care is required to produce a smooth surface on a piece of wood; that coarser defects of an improperly finished surface under the microscope reveal undreamed-of roughness on a carelessly scraped or inadequately sanded piece of wood. Also he will know that for permanence of finish and lasting qualities of construction, the wood must be properly seasoned and remain in a proper shop-dry condition during the entire construction and finishing periods.
Reasons for Staining.
Wood in its natural tones does not usually harmonize with textiles and wall colors.
The coloring often brings out unsuspected qualities and beauty in the wood itself, due to—
1. The reaction of the stain upon cells of the medullary rays;
2. Its effect upon the mass of wood fibers; and
3. Its greater absorption by the open pores or broken cell cavities.
Greater durability may be obtained through use of preservative stains.
Classification of Wood Stains.
There are four classes of stains, named according to the solvents used in making them:
1. Those soluble in water, sometimes called the acid stains.
2. Those soluble in spirits.
3. Those soluble in chemicals.
4. Those soluble in oils.
Two other classes of so-called stains are known as varnish stains and wax stains. These stains are not transparent as they obscure the grain and leave a layer of pigment on the surface.
These four classes of stains may be subdivided into two classes, acid and alkaline, depending upon their chemical reaction with other substances. Water-soluble stains, most largely used, are often made of coal tar dyes, which dissolve in water, and can be used in an acid bath. They are obtained from color substances having no body, such as walnut juice, logwood extract, turmeric, the juice of berries, and the bark of trees.
Stains are applied by brushing, wiping, spraying, and dipping, the latter on quantity production of cheaper grades. Because hardwoods absorb stains more slowly than softwoods, the advantages of the first three methods are apparent. Where this strong contrast between sapwood and heartwood exists, the salesperson should know the sapwood requires more stain than the remainder of the wood. A coat of stain may be applied to the light streaks and after it dries, the entire surface may be stained.
Aside from color there are "polished" and "dull" finishes. Varnish is the original finishing medium, serving as a protective agent and as a means of building up a high finish. For wood finishing the varnish is transparent, but for other uses is sometimes colored, as in black varnish or japan, or by the addition of dyestuffs, as in lacquers.
Lacquers permitting a polish finish are replacing gum varnish finishes to a great extent because lacquer dries in about one-tenth the time required for varnishes, and because lacquer finishes wear well under exposure or use. Chemical action ceases in lacquer films after they harden.
Fuming.
Fuming wood means subjecting the wood to the fumes of ammonia of full strength (specific gravity 880). The process really comes under the head of chemical staining. It is particularly well adapted to the treatment of oak for it brings out in varying shades of brown the rugged quality of this wood. It is penetrating; it does not fade. After the oak has been fumed, a coat of raw linseed oil will have a pleasant darkening effect upon the wood. Age only serves to darken and beautify the result.
Enameling.
Enameling differs from ordinary varnishing in that the material used is opaque. For this reason it is folly to use it over expensive woods. Enamel has the brittleness of a piano varnish and the brilliancy that is given by a hard resinous gum. Maple, birch, pine, and poplar are well adapted to this treatment, which if it has been applied carefully and in accordance with approved methods, will yield all the luster and softness of a high grade varnish. Manufacturers have met the demands for several surface effects or types of finish by producing enamels having high gloss, eggshell gloss, and flat or dull effects. The tinting of enamels is accomplished by mixing the proper amounts of colors which are ground either in japan, oil, or special enamel-varnish with the best process zinc-white. More recently other materials, such as lithopone (barium sulphate) and zinc oxide are used in many of the cheaper enamels. The decorative possibilities of stencils and transfers are almost unlimited when used upon common woods and metals finished with good enamel. This accounts for the rising demand for breakfast room furniture, sun parlor furniture, porch furniture, and many steel, plastic, and wooden novelties in bright designs using two or three colors.
BLOND FURNITURE WOODS
The so-called blond woods are of two types—bleached, consisting of normally brunette woods which have been artificially lightened, and the unbleached woods, which have a naturally light color. They run the gamut of shades and colors from white through eggshell, cream, straw, sand, beige, and yellow to tan and light brown.
Among the bleached woods, blond walnut and blond mahogany are probably the most used. This is true partially because of their wide acceptance as desirable cabinet woods, and partially because of a type of beauty of natural grains which is brought out effectively by the blond treatment.
The unbleached blond woods include not only maple, light oak, aspen, and birch, but also a wide variety of such exotic and unusual woods as satinwood, myrtle burl, zebrawood, lacewood, holly, harewood, and avodire, to mention only a few.
The blond treatment employs a transparent rubbed finish which is effective in bringing out the natural pattern of the grain. English harewood, one of the most distinctive, owes its beautiful silver grey to a dye which is used on the light yellow natural color of harewood (sycamore). Maple attains its warm reddish brown color also by staining. Some most striking and beautiful effects in today's furniture are achieved by using blond woods in combination with trimming of dark woods.
The use of blond treatment has resulted in the creation of light, airy effects which tend to brighten the room in which it is used. While the present trend is toward its widest acceptance for bedroom and boudoir use, it is being used for the living room, dining room, and occasional pieces.
Consult Reference Books Freely.
Volumes have been written about the furniture woods and wood-finishing. From the great fund of information available, selection has been made of material describing the most common process of wood finishing. Those who desire to make exhaustive or more searching study of this subject will do well to consult such books as have been listed on page [103] of the Suggested Reading List.