The right board in the right place page 2

Over the years, I've spent more and more of my time on the trail of wood: buying logs, having them sawn, drying, sorting and storing them, and then selecting just the right wood for the many pieces of furniture being built by the men in my shop. With this article, I hope to convey some of what I've learned about lumber and particularly about selecting specific pieces of wood for the various parts of a piece of furniture. Although I've chosen a Newport secretary to illustrate the reasoning behind my wood selection for a complex piece, the principles can be applied to any furniture in solid wood. Some of the methods I recommend require extra time, but the rewards are great.

A great deal of the period furniture that has been my inspiration appears to have been built mostly from lumber from the same tree, and I try to follow this ideal. There is tremendous variation within every species of wood - in color, grain and even density - and these differences are often obvious only after a finish has been applied to the piece. I combat this by using matched lumber whenever possible. Matched wood - planks cut from the same tree - is much simpler to work with because the maker does not have to examine every piece for color and grain matches. Of course, the average lumberyard will not have boards stacked in sequence, but with a little detective work you may be able to identify boards cut from the same tree. Small mills may also be a source for matched lumber. And there are a number of specialty dealers (like myself) who sell matched planks and will ship the wood, if necessary. It is particularly important to match the focal parts of a piece of furniture, especially those that are on the same plane or face. In a piece like the Newport secretary above, the primary focal points are the pediment panels, and door panels, the lid and the lower drawer fronts. In an ideal situation, these parts should all be cut from the same set of planks and should contain the strongest grain and/or figure in the piece. The wood for rails, stiles and face frames should usually be chosen from calmer-grained stock. These parts should support rather than upstage the panels. If an important part of a piece is not in the same plane as other focal points - the top of a low desk or the top of a table, for instance - you want a special piece of wood, but it does not necessarily have to match any other part.

	Got a match?
Over the years, I've spent more and more of my time on the trail of wood: buying logs, having them sawn, drying, sorting and storing them, and then selecting just the right wood for the many pieces of furniture being built by the men in my shop. With this article, I hope to convey some of what I've learned about lumber and particularly about selecting specific pieces of wood for the various parts of a piece of furniture. Although I've chosen a Newport secretary to illustrate the reasoning behind my wood selection for a complex piece, the principles can be applied to any furniture in solid wood. Some of the methods I recommend require extra time, but the rewards are great. A great deal of the period furniture that has been my inspiration appears to have been built mostly from lumber from the same tree, and I try to follow this ideal. There is tremendous variation within every species of wood - in color, grain and even density - and these differences are often obvious only after a finish has been applied to the piece. I combat this by using matched lumber whenever possible. Matched wood - planks cut from the same tree - is much simpler to work with because the maker does not have to examine every piece for color and grain matches. Of course, the average lumberyard will not have boards stacked in sequence, but with a little detective work you may be able to identify boards cut from the same tree. Small mills may also be a source for matched lumber. And there are a number of specialty dealers (like myself) who sell matched planks and will ship the wood, if necessary. It is particularly important to match the focal parts of a piece of furniture, especially those that are on the same plane or face. In a piece like the Newport secretary above, the primary focal points are the pediment panels, and door panels, the lid and the lower drawer fronts. In an ideal situation, these parts should all be cut from the same set of planks and should contain the strongest grain and/or figure in the piece. The wood for rails, stiles and face frames should usually be chosen from calmer-grained stock. These parts should support rather than upstage the panels. If an important part of a piece is not in the same plane as other focal points - the top of a low desk or the top of a table, for instance - you want a special piece of wood, but it does not necessarily have to match any other part.

	Library:
		The Right Board in the Right Place		page 2 of 4

Got a match?