On the Pacific Coast, Douglas fir, Port Orford cedar, redwood, and Sitka spruce find a large use in ship and boat building; while in Maine and some of the Eastern States, the manufacture of high-grade pleasure canoes has assumed large proportions, these canoes being often made with white cedar ribs, planking of Western red cedar, gunwales of spruce or mahogany, thwarts of birch or maple, and seats of birch, maple, or ash.
New York is the largest ship and boat building State, due to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Pennsylvania takes second rank because of its large shipbuilding plants; while California, Oregon, New Jersey, and Maine are also large producers of ships and boats.
Chestnut and white pine are most largely used in the manufacture of cloth-covered caskets and coffins. Chestnut is also much used as the backing for a veneer of more expensive woods of ornamental appearance. The exterior often consists of mahogany, yellow poplar, white oak, red oak, or birch. Cypress, cedar, and redwood are used because of their resistance to decay; while white pine, shortleaf pine, and yellow poplar are common woods for outer boxes and shipping cases.
In the manufacture of caskets and coffins, New York ranks first, followed by Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ohio, and Illinois.
Table 27 Caskets and Coffins (Annual lumber consumption, 160 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Chestnut 30 White Pine 22 Cypress 13 Yellow Pine 8 Yellow Poplar 6 Oak 5 Red Gum 5 Cedar 4 Basswood 2 Hemlock 1 Other Woods 4 Total 100 14. Refrigerators and Kitchen Cabinets. Nearly 20 species of wood are used in the manufacture of refrigerators and kitchen cabinets; but oak supplies 23 per cent of the total, ash 14 per cent, and red gum 10 per cent. Other woods used to a considerable degree for this purpose are white and yellow pine, hemlock, maple, yellow poplar, spruce, basswood, cottonwood, and birch.
Woods for refrigerators and kitchen cabinets must meet a wide variety of requirements. The outside finish must look well, and here the usual cabinet woods are employed. Strong, stiff ma
terial for frames is supplied by hemlock and shortleaf pine; elm and beech stand up well under dampness, and scour well when washed. It is also essential that, in certain places, woods shall be used which impart no odors to food; for these purposes, elm, maple, basswood, cottonwood, and cypress are satisfactory. Iceboxes are often made of spruce, refrigerator backs of white pine, and ice cream freezers of redwood.
In the manufacture of refrigerators and kitchen cabinets, Michigan ranks first, and Indiana second, followed by New York, Wisconsin, and Indiana.
Table 28 Refrigerators and Kitchen Cabinets (Annual lumber consumption, 140 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Oak 23 Ash 14 Red Gum 10 Elm 9 White Pine 6 Yellow Pine 6 Hemlock 5 Maple 5 Yellow Poplar 4 Spruce 4 Basswood 4 Cottonwood 3 Birch 3 Cypress 1 Chestnut 1 Other Woods 2 Total 100 15. Excelsior.Excelsior finds a large use for packing, mattresses, and upholstering. It is made in a number of grades based on quality and fineness; and the best requires a wood which, in addition to working easily, gives a tough, flexible product. The finest grade—called "wood wool"—has a strand less than 1/100 of an inch in thickness.
The true poplars, including the various aspens and cottonwoods, supply more than half of the excelsior manufactured in the United States. Basswood and yellow poplar give a product of similar character, while coarser grades are made from yellow pine and several other woods. Among the States in which excelsior is most largely produced, are New York, Virginia, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire.
Table 29 Excelsior (Annual wood consumption, 100 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Cottonwood 54 Yellow Pine 15 Basswood 14 Willow 4 Red Gum 3 Maple 3 White Pine 2 Yellow Poplar 2 Buckeye 1 Other Woods 2 Total 100 16. Matches and Toothpicks. Although put into one table in the statistical reports, matches and toothpicks are by no means made from the same woods. White pine has long been a standard match material, and basswood is used to some extent for this purpose in the Eastern factories. On the Pacific Coast, sugar pine and Port Orford cedar are used for match sticks; while in Virginia yellow poplar and soft maple are also used. Spruce is employed for the making of match cases.