Beech 4/4 and 8/4

   Beech (Fagus sylvatica) is a hard, strong, heavy, close-grained hardwood, from white to reddish in color, with some difference between the sapwood and heartwood; requires careful control in drying and gluing; is not too durable in contact with the soil and shrinks considerably in drying yet is especially wear resistant to mechanical wear when wet or in water; has a tendency to split with the driving of nails and screws but possesses excellent nailholding and screwholding properties.

   It is not toxic and does not impart odor or taste when in contact with foodstuffs and is much used in the form of veneer for baskets, fruit and berry boxes, and from lumber for barrels and boxes as food containers. Beech has strength, hardness, and wear-resistant properties which make it ideal for heavy-duty economical flooring and its excellent shaping and turning properties make it an excellent wood for bushes and handles and other turned and shaped woodenware and novelties.

   As a furniture wood, Beech is used extensively for bent-wood parts and interior frame and construction parts. It dresses very smooth and sands to a high polish. It takes practically any type of finish well. Its unusual reaction to friction set up by moving contact with other wood which causes it to wear slick and makes it ideal for drawer construction, guides, fences, and other jig and fixture work used in woodworking, as well as for bushings and loose pulleys. Beech can be used equally well for exterior parts where they are to be stained or where fancy grain figure is not required.

   Beech is a good toy wood because of its non-toxic qualities and its lack of any tendency to splinter on corners of square toys. Its peculiar spine, a combination of strength, stiffness and hardness, adapts it to the manufacture of slim, delicate turnings with high strength requirements, such as skewers, dowels, and candy sticks. It is also much used as a vehicle wood, for agricultural implements, sporting goods, textile, dairy and poultry equipment.

   Although Beech is very strong and hard and quite heavy, it is not difficult to machine. Its high shock resistance quality in combination with other properties has caused it to be used extensively for railroad ties despite its lack of decay resistance. It is one of the few hardwoods that is available in good quantity and up to now has suffered more from lack of knowledge of its excellent physical properties and possible uses than from any pronounced deficiency and has long been forced to masquerade in various wood product assemblies under the identity of other hardwoods used due to lack of favorable publicity which could lead to public acceptance of Beech as an all-purpose hardwood.

   Beech is a true all-rounder. The wood is light-colored, with a closed cell structure, very hard and abrasion-proof and takes staining very well. Beech is an excellent choice for all interior applications.