Page:Cassells' Carpentry and Joinery.djvu/68

50 Fig. 176. After the logs are all stacked, the invoice mark, as $$\tfrac{24}{2783}$$, and number of the log are painted on the end of each with white paint to identify them more rapidly; and on the end of a log showing on the outside of the stack the name of ship and number of pile are also painted. The number of pile and name of ship are also painted at the side of each pile, on one of the logs, as in Fig. 177. The principal teak yard in London is at the South-West India Dock.

Mahogany.—The true mahogany (Swietenia mahogani) is a dense, hard, strong wood, of straight growth and close texture, and is a rich brownish red in colour, with dark wavy markings; the pores are small and are filled with a chalk-like substance. The weight of the wood, when dry, should average about 65 lb. per cubic foot. The commoner substitutes for true

Fig. 177.—Shipping Marks.

mahogany are numerous, but Honduras mahogany (baywood) and Panama mahogany may be taken as examples. The weights of these kinds of mahogany vary from 29 lb. to 35 lb. per cubic foot; hence, weight is evidently one of the surest tests of the quality of mahogany. Generally speaking, these commoner varieties are much lighter in colour than true mahogany, and are without the fine black lines running through the grain that form one of the distinguishing characteristics of true mahogany. The hardness of true mahogany is about twice as great as that of the commoner kinds; that is, the best mahogany may be taken as being equal in wearing power to hornbeam, while the inferior kinds would not be harder than Weymouth pine. A large quantity of the light-coloured inferior mahogany is used for furniture, etc., and after having been treated with a specially prepared darkening oil, or darkened by some other method and polished, in no way differs in appearance (as far as the uninitiated can judge) from the best kinds of mahogany. Light weight and lack of resistance to indentation should, however, make one suspect the quality of any wood that claims to be true mahogany. However, it may be said that "Panama mahogany" includes several useful varieties of woods, to this class belonging St. Domingo, City St. Domingo, and Cuba mahoganies. The grain of these varieties is very fine and even, and the surface of the wood is lustrous, and often has a watered or satiny appearance. These varieties of mahogany are not so dark coloured nor so dense as the true mahogany (Swietenia mahogani). Some of the most prominent timber experts state that the characteristics of the various mahoganies are so confusing that great difficulty occurs at times in distinguishing one variety from another; in fact, some go so far as to say that the wood that is sold and known commercially as Swietenia mahogani, or true mahogany, is almost entirely different from the specimens of that wood that are exhibited at Kew. This does not prove that these woods are in any way inferior to true mahogany, but that they are obtained from another and an entirely different kind of tree. Hence, therefore, density and colour are two important factors that should be considered when comparing one variety of mahogany with another. Other more minute points of difference are only apparent when the wood is examined through a microscope. The term "Spanish mahogany" is used principally in connection with Cuban mahogany, but sometimes St. Domingo mahogany is termed Spanish mahogany. The term is at best but a vague one, and is rarely used in connection with shipments of timber that arrive in this country from abroad. In such cases the cargo is usually spoken of as so many logs of Cuban (St. Domingo, Mexican, or other) mahogany. In a general sense the term "Spanish mahogany" is used in contradistinction to baywood or Honduras mahogany. No rule or regulation states precisely that Spanish mahogany must fulfil certain specified conditions, and a timber