Courtesy American Walnut Manufacturers Association.
Figure 19.—Location of cuttings in tree body. Not every tree has a stump that can be cut into beautiful stumpwood. Fine crotches are much rarer and burls so precious that the choicest burl veneers, when mounted and matched for use in furniture, are worth more than their own weight in sterling silver. All other figure types are cut, by varying methods, from the long trunk.
The price range of veneer varies directly with the ready availability of the species, its color and figure, and its working and finishing qualities. Some veneers cost 20 times as much as others, and certain of the rarest and most beautifully figured sheets are literally worth their weight in silver. Well known commonly used species may be either high priced or inexpensive, depending upon the desirability and current demands for that figure.
To illustrate, American walnut may vary exceedingly in price. Taking the cost of the finest burl as 100 percent, crotch walnut might cost 57 percent as much; stump wood and figured long wood, 30 percent; and plain long wood approximately 5 percent. These percentages represent only the finest of each of these particular figures.
Therefore, instead of calling a suite "walnut" as if that is all there is to be said, it would be wise to point out that it is made of a particularly desirable piece of walnut, both rare and costly because of its fine figure and color. The same type of reasoning may be used in speaking of mahogany, maple, oak, and other beautifully figured cabinet woods.
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.
