FAKING THE GRAIN
Wood craftsmen and finishers of fine furniture are not nearly as common to our times as they were 100 years ago. For that matter, they are not found as much today as they were around even 25 years ago.
Some of these men were literally artists when it came to taking an old piece of furniture and restoring the elegance and the power back to it’s original state. So gifted were a lot of these workers that they would be able to work wonders out of even the simplest of furniture.
In the New England regions, there is a type of wood known as the Tulip Poplar. It is sometimes referred to as Whitewood and occasionally it will be called simply “Tulip.” This wood has a very unique capability in that it can imitate other woods that are far more valuable.
Some dealers have mistakenly identified pieces of furniture as high-dollar cherry only to find out later that a very talented finisher had properly “faked the grain” as it once was referred to.
This Whitewood grain can be taken by a master craftsman and be turned into a wood that imitates a perfect Mahogany. It can ever serve as a very highly passable Birch, Walnut, Cedar, Hazel, and even a straight-grained Maple. When the grain is “faked” a lesser wood becomes far more valuable in appearance. Because of this change, much more can be served by this particular piece of wood.
In fact, the Whitewood has come
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