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Unique Home Furniture, Home Decorating and Home Decoration Store
Furniture Webbing:
Jute. This is a fiber that resembles linen and comes from the interior of the stalk of a tall plant that grows in India. It is used for burlap bags, twine, furniture webbing, and for bindings and backings of the cheaper grades of Rugs and carpets. The fiber is very long and does not stretch. The short fibers are used in the manufacture of wrapping paper.Wooden slats are sometimes used in place of seat webbing, but these produce a less comfortable support. In springless seats the webbing strips should be as close as possible. The best quality webbing is usually indicated by the insertion of four colored threads in the warp. In inexpensive furniture the webbing is often omitted and two steel bar supports, to each of which is attached three springs, are nailed to the seat frames. Springs should be placed as close to each other as possible but should not touch. They should be firmly sewed to the webbing or stapled to the slats. In the latter case a strip of webbing should be placed on each slat to prevent rattling. Small chair seats should have a minimum of nine and large chairs thirteen. Davenport seats usually require thirty-six. They should be made of 9- or 11-guage wire of a height to suit the seat. Back springs may be smaller and made of finer guage wire. The bottom coil of springs should be firmly sewed to the webbing or stapled to the wooden slats. The springs should be compressed to fit the curve of the seat and held firmly in place by French 8-ply twine stretched in two cross and two diagonal directions. Each cross-cord should be tied in two places to the top coil, making a total of eight knots for each spring. The ends of each cross-cord should be firmly knotted to nails on the framework. The springs should then be covered with 10J/2 ounce burlap or canvas as a foundation for the stuffing. The softness of a seat depends in part upon the number of springs, the amount of compression, the guage of the wire, and whether they have wide (soft) or narrow (stiff) center coils. The final comfort depends upon the quality of the cushions. Filling materials. Inexpensive types of upholstery are* filled with cotton felt, kapok, Spanish moss, sisal, tow, sea grass, and excelsior. All of these materials should be avoided in high-grade work. Curled horsehair is considered best, cattle tails next, and finally hog hair, which is short and must be mixed with a longer fiber. These materials should be evenly laid over the canvas, covered with a layer of cotton felt, over which should be stretched a sheet of unbleached muslin, which is tightly nailed to the seat rails and serves both to relieve any strain on the finishing material and prevent a filtration of the hair. Latex or foam rubber is also extensively used now as a substitute for stuffing or springs or both; it has many advantages among which are its lightness, softness, buoyancy, durability, freedom from moth or vermin attack, and shape-holding quality.
Some of the early factories produced nearly all the standard furniture forms; others specialized in one or more, but whether their product was a full line or limited, it was sold in wholesale quantities to a new type of merchant, the retail furniture dealer. At first he referred to his establishment as a furniture or cabinet warehouse and later as a furniture store. If located in one of the larger cities he might also have his own factory but he was essentially a middle man and with his coming, direct contact between the maker and user of a piece of furniture ended.
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