 |
|
| Antiques Digest | Browse Auctions | Appraisal | Chat Cafe | Antiques And Arts News | Home |
|
( Originally Published 1935 ) DESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF FURNITURE 1. Utility. Utility. Utility is the first test of a piece of furniture. Unless it is useful it should not be given space in the home, regardless of its beauty or sentimental association. Space is so important that any article of furniture that is not used should be removed. This applies to extra tables and chairs, as well as to pedestals holding urns, and obsolete phonographs. Families have very different needs, however, so that the furniture that would have utility for one group might be useless for another. For example, if a member of the family likes to lie beside a living-room window and read, a sofa in that place is preferable to a love seat. For a small apartment, where it is necessary to provide an emergency bed sometimes, it is unwise to buy a Duncan Phyfe sofa, when it is possible to procure a good-looking couch that can be transformed into a bed. A storage box in the bottom of a couch is an additional advantage in small quarters. Sometimes double purposes make furniture more valuable, as the radio that serves as an end table, the low bookshelves that can be used as a seat when a large group is to be accommodated for a short time, or the useful electric cabinet that is a heater in winter and a cooler in summer. Strength is regarded as such an important factor in utility that a section of this chapter is devoted to the proper construction of furniture. Comfort. Comfort is an important requisite of furniture. Comfortable seating furniture does more to make a room appear inviting than any other furnishing. It should be understood that huge chairs are not necessarily more comfortable than others. Chairs lower than usual are inconvenient for old people. There are standard measurements for chairs, and the safest policy is to use chairs which have them. Every one should choose the chair intended for himself by sitting in it, the best of wives not being qualified to select her husband's easy chair. An ottoman in the living room is conducive to comfort as it can be used with an upholstered chair for lounging. Dining-room chairs should have upholstered seats and should be exactly the right height for the table. Tests have shown that comfortable beds are necessary for complete rest. The individual who is to use a bed should select it, so as to be sure of getting the right degree of softness. All the furniture in a home should be shod with smooth metal disks so that it can be moved easily. Beauty. The beauty of a piece of furniture depends upon good design, good color, and interesting texture. Distinction comes through the use of unusual designs, colors, and materials. Design. Design is so important that only well-designed furniture should be purchased in any price range. With all the poorly designed furniture in the shops it is indeed an achievement to avoid it. It is now possible, however, to procure furniture that is the product of the best designers in the country and is sometimes manufactured in their own shops. There should be a pleasing variety in the designs of articles of furniture to be used together. Furniture sets or suites are monotonous and to be avoided, particularly in small houses. A sofa and two chairs alike ruin the appearance of a small living room. Bedroom furniture too should have the charm of variety. Color. Color in furniture has been treated fully elsewhere, but it can never be stated too often that it should harmonize with the color scheme of the room. Painted furniture should be used more than it is, for it provides a happy way of contributing more color without the addition of useless things. Texture. Texture in furniture mav be so unusual that it is distinctive. For example, some of the Spanish Colonial reproductions have iron bands, leather seats, and rope cords that support chair cushions. Of course the texture of the wood furniture and the upholstery covering should harmonize with the rest of the furnishings in the room. Definite Character. Definite character is a desirable quality in furniture. For example, a piece expressing informality in an unmistakable way is better than one of no particular character. It is necessary, of course, that the furniture should express the same idea as the house where it is used, and that it should be compatible with the personality of the owners. FURNITURE MATERIALS Wood. Wood is used for about nine tenths of our furniture. Its popularity is natural because it is generally available, has beauty in itself, is flexible to use, is not hot or cold to touch, and is not noisy under impact. Wood has been much abused by craftsmen who have had less regard for their materials than for their tools. They have often failed to see that the beauty in the grain, and the color of the wood itself were usually superior to anything they could add to it. Modern furniture, however, often features the natural beauty of the wood without adornment of any kind. Nearly all woods can be roughly grouped in two main divisions, hardwoods and softwoods. The hardwood trees are those that shed their leaves in the fall, like the oak, maple, gum, and walnut; the softwood trees are those with needle-like leaves which they retain during the winter, like the pine and spruce. During 1928 about 88 per cent of the wood used for furniture in the United States was native hardwood, 3 per cent was imported hardwood, and 9 per cent was native softwood. The following figures from 1928 approximate those compiled by the United States Department of Commerce and report the wood used for furniture in units of 100,000 board feet. AMERICAN HARDWOODS IMPORTED HARDWOODS AMERICAN SOFTWOODS Walnut. Walnut, called juglans by botanists, is almost perfect for furniture making as it is workable, durable, and beautiful. About fifty years ago walnut furniture passed through a very ugly period when it was highly ornamented and stained dark, and as a result came to be regarded with disfavor. Now that it is handled more simply and with lighter finishes, so that the natural beauty of the grain shows, it is again appreciated. Much of the furniture used at the present time is made of walnut or walnut veneers. In this country the term walnut ordinarily refers to American black walnut, but the butternut is a member of the same family and is called white walnut; there are also European and Oriental walnuts, some of which are not genuine walnuts. Circassian walnut comes from the Caucasus and is prized for the pattern produced by its gnarled fibers. Oak. There are two general groups of oak woods, the red and the white. This wood is rather heavy, hard, and tough, but is easily worked with tools; the grain is interesting though rather coarse. The red oak and any quarter-sawed oak are popular. Quarter-sawing is cutting a log into quarters and then into boards by cutting alternately from each face of the quarter-a more costly process producing more beautiful grain than ordinary cutting. There was also an ugly period in the use of oak, the recent golden oak era, that made oak disliked by people of taste. At the present time, oak is returning to favor with the interest in Early English, Spanish, and French provincial styles. Usually oak pieces are rather large, solid, and masculine in effect so they should not be used in small rooms. Maple. There are two principal varieties, hard and soft maple, with the Oregon maple about halfway between the two. Hard maple is best for furniture because of its great strength, its hard smooth surface, and fine light reddish brown color. The grain is usually straight, although veneers of curly and bird's eye maple are prized. Maple is one of our choicest furniture woods, suitable for dining rooms, bedrooms, and living rooms. It is commonly used for reproduction of early Colonial furniture, and is also utilized for commonplace furniture and for frames of furniture, drawers, stretchers, and for applications in which strength is very important. Gum. Red gum is the name of the tree and also of the heartwood of the tree, which varies from rich reddish brown to dark chocolate brown in color. Sap gum is the name of the sapwood of the same tree; it is light pinkish in color. Gum is a recent addition to the furniture woods, as its use has been made possible by modern methods of seasoning the wood. Formerly it became twisted while drying. Now it is one of our most important hardwoods although it splits and becomes dented rather easily. It has a pleasing grain and color and takes finish so well that it is often stained to imitate other woods. It is used for the less important parts of mahogany pieces, posts and rails being made of red gum and the veneered panels of mahogany. Furniture manufacturers consider that this substitution is perfectly legitimate provided the piece is not sold as all mahogany. Tupelo and black gum are also called gums but are not botanically related to the gum. They are harder and heavier than red gum and in color range from white to grayish brown. They are almost identical, but the tupelo is considered to be superior. Black gum has a ribbon stripe when quartered. These gums are used for kitchen furniture and for hidden parts of furniture. Birch. Birch is considered to be one of the strongest furniture woods. It takes and retains finish well over its fine grain, and it can be made to imitate costlier woods. It is combined with other woods for strength in ply wood and is also used in the construction of early provincial pieces and bentwood. Ash. White, green, and black ash all have white sapwood. The heart wood of white and green ash is light grayish brown; black ash has darker heartwood. Ash is desirable furniture wood as it has a nice grain, is fairly strong and hard, is easily worked, bends well, and does not warp. Black ash is not quite so satisfactory as the others. Ash is sometimes used for medium-grade furniture and for concealed parts, but it is not common. Other Domestic Hardwoods. Beech is a plain, strong wood. Chestnut resembles oak and is used for outdoor and simple indoor furniture. Cherry is strong and beautiful in grain and color but is very scarce. Elm is a durable plain wood. Holly is a hard white wood used for inlays. Yellow poplar and hickory are strong, tough, and elastic, but hickory shrinks and is attacked by boring insects. Pecan is the most-used of the hickory group. Sycamore is used for concealed parts of furniture mostly, although it has grain. Cottonwood is soft and uniform in texture. Domestic Softwoods. Many western softwoods are used in furniture manufacturing, being especially valuable because they are flexible. Western fir, spruce, hemlock, red cedar, pine, white pine, and redwood are all employed. Southern yellow pine is used for common furniture. Eastern red cedar is used largely for chests, because of its fragrance and its resistance to moth larvae. Imported Hardwoods. True mahogany is the best known of the imported woods. It comes from the West Indies, and Central and South America. Many other similar woods outside these areas are called mahogany, such as the African mahogany, but are not so strong as the true mahogany. The purchaser of mahogany furniture should try to find out where the wood came from, so as to know what she is getting. Prima-vera is produced in Mexico and Guatemala. It is creamy yellow, but is sometimes called white mahogany as its grain is like mahogany. The Philippine hardwoods, tanguile and red lauaan, come in many colors from pale to deep red-brown. Rosewood, a red-purplish wood from Brazil, is used for veneers, as it is hard, heavy, and straight grained. Satinwood now comes from Ceylon and the West Indies. The grain is fine, dense, and even, and the surface is satiny, so it is used for veneers and inlay. Other imported hardwoods are purple heart, ebony, loa, hura, omboyna, padauk, snakewood, teak, tulipwood, and zebrawood. Willow, Rattan, Reed, and Fiber. Technically only willow furniture should be called wicker, but often the term is meant to include rattan, reed, and fiber furniture also. Willow is the only native wood that can be woven. Rattan is an Asiatic vine. It does not take color, so it is sometimes scorched by a blow torch for decoration, although this type of decoration is usually poor. Reed is the heart of the rattan left when the hard outer covering is taken off. It is usually woven like willow and is used in making seats. Fiber is a wood pulp or paper product consisting of strands wound around wire, which is woven into furniture. This furniture is often inexpensive, colorful, and well designed. Seasoning of Wood. Lumber from the sawmill must be seasoned or dried until its moisture content is from 5 to 8 per cent before it can be used for furniture. Natural air drying usually reduces the moisture content to 15 per cent, after which kiln drying completes the seasoning. Improper or inadequate drying is not evident when furniture is purchased, but warping and shrinkage presently show. A reliable manufacture will guarantee the proper seasoning of the wood that he uses. Veneering. There are certain freak logs and stumps that have eccentric figure and grain. These are cut up as thin as possible so that the interesting figure will not be wasted, and are used as veneering. A small amount of veneer wood is produced by sawing and slicing, but nearly all is made by rotary cutting. In this process the logs are first steamed or boiled and then turned against a knife, making a continuous sheet of very thin wood, which is dried by air or heat. In plywood or veneered construction, several layers of wood are glued over each other with adjacent grains at right angles. The inside layers are made of plainer woods and the surfaces are usually made of more beautiful woods. It is economical to utilize plain or blemished wood for the core of veneered surface, and to spread the area of rare and beautiful woods about thirty times by using them as veneers rather than as solid wood. Most of the furniture made today is of veneered construction, as it is more beautiful, more serviceable, and more economical than the solid wood. Veneered wood makes interesting figures and curved shapes possible in furniture. Well-built veneered furniture is equal to and often superior to solid-wood furniture in strength. It offers much better resistance to changes caused by the dry air in our homes than does solid wood. A properly made veneered panel is said to be 8o per cent stronger than solid wood. Veneered construction may be very unsatisfactory, however, through inferior workmanship, poor glue, or unseasoned wood. Sometimes attempts at matched panels result in unpleasant failures. Solid Wood. There are certain advantages as well as disadvantages in solid-wood construction. Solid wood can be carved, and it can be chipped or worn or planed down without danger of showing other wood underneath. It does not peel or blister and there is no danger from poor workmanship. Solid woods, however, may check or split from the lack of humidity in our heated homes. This danger is minimized by making a part such as a table top of three strips, and sealing all the surfaces of the wood, the back as well as the front. FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION It is difficult to examine the structural features of a finished piece of furniture. Chairs can be turned upside down, and drawers can be pulled out, but the salesman has to provide information about the joints and other features. If the bottom of a piece of furniture is well finished, and has no nails in it, that is a good sign. Legs and posts should be examined to see whether there are short lengths of grain that might crack off; built-up legs should be examined with care. Joints must be taken on faith, so it is well to seek reliable manufacturers and distributors. Joints may be of the mortise-and-tendon or of the dowel type. They seem to be equally good, although the dowel is used for most of the finest furniture made today. In the mortise-and tendon joint a small block on one piece of wood is glued into a cavity on another piece. The dowel joint consists of a wooden peg, for which holes are bored in both the pieces of wood to be joined. Cylindrical dowels are best, if grooved spirally and longitudinally to take care of air bubbles. Too many dowels close together may weaken structure. Corner blocks, triangular in shape, are used to reinforce corner joints in all good furniture. Carving. Furniture procurable in the shops today is practically all machine made. In the very finest furniture the finishing of the carving is done by hand. Wood compounds are sometimes used in place of carving, as they look like wood when stained or painted, but they are likely to chip or even fall off. The buyer of furniture should realize that this is a substitute for carving, and is not costly. Sometimes carved portions are glued to a furniture piece, instead of being carved from it. This is less desirable and less expensive than carving the piece itself. Sometimes imitation carving is pressed into wood that has been softened. This is a poor way of decorating and should be discontinued. The modernists say that since carving is a handwork process it should not be used on machine-made furniture at all; it belongs to the time of handwork, previous to the machine age. Inlay and Marquetry. Inlay is a form of decoration in which contrasting segments of wood, bone, ivory, or metal are set into grooves made to receive them. Marquetry refers to an elaborate type of inlay, using colored wood, ivory, and shells over an entire surface. This is often put together in a sheet of thin veneer and then glued on the article to be decorated. When the design is sunk into solid wood it is called intarsia. Overlay or onlay refers to decoration produced by gluing segments of wood to the surface of a panel. Imitation inlay can be made by painting; this much inferior type of decoration should be recognized by the purchaser of furniture. Finish. The ideal finish for furniture is a lustrous, eggshell, semi-gloss rubbed to a soft glow. Very shiny hard varnish finishes are offensive, making wood appear almost metallic. Wood should look like wood, and all its natural beauty should be preserved. After the wood in a piece of furniture is sponged, sanded, and dusted, the staining, filling, and final finish with oil, wax, varnish, or lacquer are applied. Fine transparent stains are now available, so that dark, muddy ones can be avoided. Many woods are more interesting without stain of any kind, wax alone providing a fine protective covering. A coat of filler closes the pores of the wood so that they do not collect dust. Any of the finishes named above are desirable if they suit the texture of the furnishings with which they are used. They must be properly applied, well dried between coats, and thoroughly polished. Wax is often used as a finishing coat on lacquer or varnish. Painted furniture is often desirable, to mix in with other pieces. The little painted wreaths or nosegays sometimes stenciled on furniture, however, are usually unrelated to the article that they decorate, in design, scale, or character. They are in addition generally poor in design, in fact, they are often just pictures of flowers and not designs at all. These decorations should not be confused with the quaint colorful flower painting used by European peasants on their furniture. Upholstering. Upholstering on furniture depends largely for its real worth upon its inner construction. Two easy chairs that look exactly alike may actually be so different in the quality of inside materials and workmanship that one is worth five times as much as the other. The purchaser has to depend upon the integrity of both the manufacturer and the retailer when he buys upholstered furniture. Important pieces should be bought in reliable places which guarantee their goods. The frames of upholstered furniture are usually made of ash, birch, chestnut, or hard maple. These woods are strong and take glue and finish well. Gum and pine are somewhat less desirable and are less expensive. The base for the springs may be of textile webbing, steel webbing, or wooden slats. All are satisfactory if they are strong and placed so that deep springs can be used, to give comfort. The coiled springs are made of enameled hightempered steel wire. They are fastened together, and to the webbing and to the frame, with strong hemp twine. A layer of burlap or canvas is placed over the springs. The stuffing is placed over this, and it in turn is usually covered with a pad of cotton which makes a smooth surface for the lining and covering material. Materials that are used for stuffing are long, curled hair (horse), short hair (hog), down, kapok, palm fiber, moss, tow, cotton, and excelsior. Unscrupulous manufacturers use papers, dirty old clothes, carpets, and old mattresses as stuffing for new furniture, sometimes without fumigating them. Some states require a label or guarantee as to the kind of stuffing used in upholstered furniture and mattresses, but even so, regulation is difficult. The buyer should ask for the state label or other assurance that she is getting new materials, provided she is paying enough to demand them. Curled horsehair is one of the best stuffings because of its resiliency. Cattle hair and hog hair are somewhat less desirable. Used hair from old auto seats is to be avoided. Moss is a vegetable growth from the South, which, after the outer case is rotted away, closely resembles hair. Palm fiber consists of shredded palm leaves. Coir fiber is from the husk of the coconut and is not so good as palm fiber. Kapok is a soft, silky fiber which encloses the seeds of the bombax tree, grown on the island of Java. Tow is used a great deal as it is less expensive than hair or moss. It is the crushed fibers of flax straw grown in the north central states and Canada. The tow bug often accompanies this stuffing. Cotton stuffing may consist of the regular fibers used for spinning or the shorter "linters" which are not so desirable. Excelsior is shredded wood that is sometimes used in cheap furniture. "Wood wool" is only a fine grade of excelsior. Down is the soft plumage next to the skin of birds and fowl and makes excellent but costly stuffing. Feathers are often mixed with down to give it body, goose feathers wearing better than chicken feathers. Loose down cushions are used extensively on seating furniture. Textile Coverings. A person selecting upholstered furniture should inquire whether the articles may be covered with textiles other than those used on the floor samples. As this is usually the case, one may first find a piece of furniture that is satisfactory in line and then choose a covering material that suits one's own scheme in character, color, and texture. The fabrics commonly used are the printed textiles such as linens, toiles de Jouy, and warp prints; the decoratively woven materials such as damasks, brocades, brocatelles, armures, reps, and denims; the pile fabrics such as velvets, velveteens, corduroy, plush, and friezes; the smooth silks and satins; crewel and needlepoint embroidery; and composition materials such as Rayon and Cellophane. Leather and the new waterproof materials are desirable for certain types of furniture. Durability in textiles for furniture covering is extremely important and does not depend upon price. The coarser materials usually wear well and clean well. Texture is one of the first considerations, as the material must never be scratchy or harsh, but should be pleasant to touch. Mahogany furniture of rather small size should never be upholstered in coarse, large-patterned material, nor should oak be upholstered in smooth, pale silk. It is evident that the upholstery fabric on a piece of furniture should agree with it in texture, size, and color. |