Somewhat similar in texture, though by no means generally used, is the wood of the Elder, which is quite different, be it observed, from the Alder, although I often hear the names confounded together. The wood I allude to is that of the tree which bears umbels of sweet, white blossoms, which give place to those jet-black berries we find upon them late in summer, and which are made into elder-wine, for home consumption at Christmas, when, no doubt, most of my readers have drunk it, hot and spicy and sugary, to keep out the wintry cold. From the same tree are commonly made those harmless engines of mimic warfare—pop-guns!
If it were not for the presence of the pith, which is in fact the very quality which makes it valuable to boys for the latter purpose, this wood would certainly have been eagerly seized upon by turners. Even with this defect, it is used instead of box for the inferior kinds of carpenter’s rules and other purposes, and the larger pieces will make very good chucks, if a little care is exercised to prevent splitting them. It is indeed a wood that might be far more extensively used in this way than it is.
The Yew, perhaps, should come next in order, for this too is very close-grained and very beautiful, and when highly polished it will bear comparison with many foreign woods which we import at a high price; it is, however, brittle and apt to splinter.
Walnut varies considerably in quality, some being harder and richer in grain than others. This wood, however, is not to be classed among those which are properly speaking hard, as it can be cut with ease, and can only be planed and worked as deal would be, viz., with the grain; whereas the hard woods work with almost equal facility in either direction. This indeed in a great measure constitutes the difference between soft and hard woods, in the turner’s sense of the words. If you were to hold a chisel flat on the rest, so as to let it scrape a cylinder of wood as it revolved in the lathe, you would find in some cases that it would tear out the fibres in shreds—these are soft woods. In other cases it would leave the surface rough but otherwise tolerably even, and with some it would leave the same fairly turned.
I cannot call to mind any English wood but box that can be turned by a chisel held so as to scrape it, but the greater number of foreign woods are always turned in this manner, being hard and close in the grain.
Birch.—Oh, once-dreaded tree! birch! with its long, swaying, switchy boughs, drooping as in sorrow at the mean uses to which it was applied! It is nevertheless a very useful tree, and the young mechanic can take full revenge upon it by cutting, and chipping, and turning it into all sorts of useful articles. It is, however, now more generally used in cabinetmaking, for wardrobes, bedsteads, chests of drawers, and such like, as it looks very neat when planed and varnished. Perhaps, as a wood for the exercise of the turner’s art, it must give place to
Beech, which is a common and excellent material for the essays of beginners, who can turn tool handles especially from the small trimmed billets of it which are kept by the chairmakers, and which can generally be bought for a trifling sum in any town, and in many villages. If not, the wheelwright may be applied to for a supply, as he uses it rather extensively for the felloes of his wheels. It is peculiarly liable to the attacks of the little worm, weevil or maggot, who drills such innumerable and such beautifully round holes in furniture that stands long unused.
Beech is often used for the screws of carpenters’ benches, as it takes very well a thread of such size as is required for that purpose. It will also, for the same reason, answer very well for chucks, for which it has the recommendation of cheapness and toughness.
Ash seems to come next upon the list. It is probably the most useful of all English woods, and where toughness, pliability, with moderate hardness, are valuable qualities, no English wood can exceed it. For frames of carts and carriages, shafts, agricultural implements, wheelbarrows, and smaller articles of husbandry, it is precisely what is needed, and in the workshop of the turner it is equally valuable. Tool-handles of ash are very durable, and hold the tool with great firmness, owing to the natural elasticity of the material. It may be stained and polished, and is then, for real work, preferable to the more costly hard woods of which handles are very generally made for the workshops of rich amateur mechanics.
Oak is little used for turning, the grain being too coarse. The young mechanic need never make use of it for this purpose, and the same may be said of the elm.