Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/67

VIII.] largest proportion of useful wood, are most in request for the general purposes of the architect and engineer, but they are also fully appreciated by ship-builders, who employ them for beams, waterways, keelsons, &c.

Oak timber of the gnarled description, and having some figure in the grain, is in request for articles of furniture; and even when in a state of decay, or in its worst stage of "foxiness," the cabinet-maker prizes it for its deep-red colour, and works it up in a variety of ways.

The economical uses of Oak timber, and especially the English varieties of it, are, on account of its many valuable properties and freedom from excessive weight—the specific gravity being only about .730 to .900—so extensive that it would be impossible to enumerate the many useful purposes to which it is applied, while in wood ship-building it is invaluable, and, indeed, almost indispensable, as it is flexible enough to bear bending to the most curved and difficult parts in a ship's construction, without breaking.

The wood is light-brown in colour, hard, tough, and very strong; it does not splinter readily, and its solidity of character is such that it resists well the action of water. In seasoning it is apt to warp and shrink, although not to any considerable extent; consequently it cannot be used in a partially dried state without incurring some risk to the stability of the work; but when once its moisture is completely evaporated, few woods are liable to so little change, particularly when employed in situations where it is protected from the influence of moisture or draught. If subjected to alternations of wet and dry, it withstands the change better than most