| One of the most well known timbers is the | | | | been introduced, it quickly became popular and |
| Mahogany, which is mostly imported from the nations | | | | stayed for long the principal timber used in cabinet |
| like Cuba, San Domingo, Bahamas and Honduras. It is | | | | making. |
| red-brown. There are others trees that have come | | | | Satinwood came from the West and East Indies, and |
| to be known as Mahogany but they are not actually | | | | was in use for furniture making from about 1780 until |
| Mahogany. Cuba produces the best variety of | | | | 1810. It is a wood with a warm yellow colour, and |
| Mahogany during the second half of the eighteenth | | | | has a close grain that takes a high polish. It was used |
| century. Mahogany is one of the best timber to work | | | | mainly as a veneer, but unless handled carefully by |
| with and easy to maintain. | | | | the cabinet-maker it has a tendency to split. Towards |
| At one time Queen Anne walnut furniture was very | | | | 1800 it was used in the solid for making chairs and |
| popular in the United States, but it was soon found | | | | for the legs of veneered tables. Satinwood was an |
| that central-heated rooms caused glue to dry up and | | | | expensive timber, and it was used, on the whole, |
| veneer to fall off in an alarming manner. | | | | only for special pieces for wealthy clients. |
| Consequently, veneered furniture is no longer looked | | | | English Furniture II |
| on with affection in America. | | | | Satinwood furniture was sometimes elaborately inlaid |
| Mahogany is such a well-known timber that it is | | | | with other light-colored woods, but mostly it was |
| scarcely necessary to say much about it in the way | | | | decorated by having oil painting as part of the design. |
| of description. To most people it is a familiar | | | | Much of it is said to have been the work of the |
| reddish-brown wood, and it has been used for | | | | woman artist, Angelica Kauffmann, but this is seldom, |
| making furniture since about 1730. The timber was | | | | if ever, true. Chairs, as well as tables and cabinets, |
| imported from the Bahamas, from San Domingo, | | | | were decorated with painting, and this took the form |
| from Cuba, and from Honduras. Strictly speaking | | | | of small bouquets of flowers and garlands of trailing |
| these different places produced trees that were not | | | | leaves, which suited the slender shaping of the |
| usually true mahogany, but the use of the word | | | | woodwork. |
| spread to cover all timbers of a red-brown colour | | | | About 1900 there was a revival of interest in |
| that resembled it closely in appearance and could be | | | | eighteenth-century satinwood furniture. Old pieces |
| worked in a similar manner. | | | | were brought out from cellars and attics, where they |
| It is the Cuban variety that has the very distinctive | | | | had been hidden as unfashionable, and were restored |
| markings beloved of cabinet-makers in the second | | | | and sold for large sums. At the same time, a large |
| half of the eighteenth century. This variety was used | | | | number of copies and near-copies were made for |
| often in the form of veneers, as was walnut, in | | | | those who could not afford the real thing. These |
| order to show the light and shade of the figuring to | | | | pieces have now had half a century of wear and |
| the best advantage. | | | | tear, so the prospective buyer should be on his |
| Mahogany is very strong, seasons quickly and does | | | | guard. Often, too, the old painting on an |
| not tend to warp and split, is seldom attacked by | | | | eighteenth-century piece has been removed because |
| woodworm, and is a good timber to work. It could | | | | it was worn, or for some other reason, and has been |
| be obtained in large enough pieces to make large | | | | replaced by the work of a modern artist. This |
| table-tops without joining, which had not been | | | | happens commonly with tabletops, which inevitably |
| possible before, and not only does it take a pleasing | | | | get scratched and stained in daily use. Such restored |
| smooth finish but is excellent for carving. It is | | | | pieces are worth less than those on which the |
| therefore not hard to understand why, once it had | | | | decoration is original. |