Small handles for chisels, mallets, planes, awls, saws, etc., are often made from apple wood; while the handles for many small articles in which good appearance is desired are made from boxwood, walnut, mahogany, rosewood, and ebony.
Like the vehicle woods, much of the handle material is produced in the South, and worked up in the North. Arkansas and Kentucky supply large amounts of hickory for handles; while among the States in which handles are most largely manufactured are Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
The making of cases for pianos and organs requires a great deal of lumber, maple being used to give strength, yellow poplar and chestnut as the backing for veneer, spruce for sounding boards, the finer hardwoods and imported woods for the keys, red gum and maple for action parts, birch for key rails and hammers, and beech and elm for backs. Many woods are used to give a varied and beautiful effect in the smaller musical instruments. Spanish cedar is used for the necks of banjos, guitars, and mandolins; boxwood, for inlay work; mahogany, bird's-eye maple, rosewood, yellow poplar, birch, walnut, and oak, for drums; bird's-eye and curly maple, and rosewood, for harp boxes, etc.
Illinois uses more wood than any other State for the manufacture of musical instruments, and New York ranks second; while Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Michigan are large consumers of material for this purpose.
Table 24 Musical Instruments (Annual lumber consumption, 260 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Maple 17 Yellow Poplar 16 Chestnut 15 Spruce 11 Oak 8 Elm 6 Birch Basswood 4 White Pine 3 Red Gum 3 Mahogany 3 Black Walnut 2 Beech 2 Ash 1 Other Woods 4 Total 100 11. Tanks and Silos. Wooden tanks and silos require straight-grained, easily-worked, durable material which can be obtained in good sizes and which will not impart any objectionable taste to the contents. The woods most largely used for these purposes are Douglas fir, yellow pine, cypress, white pine, spruce, redwood, and larch or tamarack. Douglas fir and yellow pine
are used to a very large extent for silos, because of their abundance; while, to a lesser extent, silos are made from cypress, tamarack, redwood, and hemlock. Tanks and vats for holding oil, water, and distillery and brewery products are largely made from cypress and redwood. Oak is also used for distillery tanks.
In the manufacture of tanks and silos, Indiana has the leading place, followed closely by Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and California. However, silos are not necessarily factory products, since material for them is often produced at sawmills and sold through lumber dealers in the localities where silos are erected. For this reason, the figures given in Table 25 are less than the total lumber consumption for tanks and silos.
Table 25 Tanks and Silos (Annual lumber consumption, 225 million board feet) • Woods Used Per Cent Douglas Fir 40 Yellow Pine 18 Cypress 16 White Pine 8 Spruce 5 Larch 4 Redwood 4 Oak 2 Cedar 2 Other Woods Total 100 12. Ship and Boat Building. The ship and boat industry in the United States annually consumes some 200 million feet of lumber, of which yellow pine supplies one-third, Douglas fir about one-fifth, and oak about one-sixth. Important woods in this industry are also white pine, ash, spruce, cedar, and cypress; while nearly forty other woods are used to a less extent, including such imported species as mahogany, teak, prima vera, Spanish cedar; circassian walnut, balsam, lignum vitae, padouk, and rosewood.
Table 26 Ship and Boat Building (Annual lumber consumption, 200 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Yellow Pine 33 Douglas Fir 22 Oak 16 White Pine 7 Ash 4 Spruce 4 Cedar 4 Cypress 3 Hemlock 2 Other Woods 6 Total 100 Yellow pine and Douglas fir are the most important shipbuilding woods because of their strength and their availability in large structural sizes. Both longleaf pine and Douglas fir are used for spars, decking, keels, keel-blocks, rails, guards, and the like. Cypress, white pine, oak, yellow pine, and Douglas fir are also used for inside finish, as well as for ceiling and decking; while numerous hardwoods and imported woods are used for inside finish. Teak is used for armor backing; and balsa, or corkwood, for life preservers.