April 25, 1919 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



25 



Solving Seasoning Difficulties 



Thick Stock Successfully Built Up of Layers of Dry Lumber 



THIN PIECE OF WOOD is easier to season than time, and seasoning defects are reduced to a low per 



a thick one; but it is often impracticable to re- cent. No difficulty with the glue joint has been ex- 



duce wood to small pieces before the seasoning perienced. Tests have shown that the glue holds, and 



process begins. The development of better it may show more strength than the wood, 



gluing processes will solve some of the problems by The success in overcoming seasoning difficulties shows 



making laminated work take the place of solid forms. that lasts can be made of yellow birch as well as of sugar 



The small pieces may receive their seasoning before the maple. That opens a new supply of material for lasts 



glue is applied. In that way, time can be saved and which in the past were neardly all made of maple, 



waste due to seasoning defects can be eliminated. It is The laminated bowling pin stands the test of use. A 



now practicable to make a glue joint as strong as natural good pin is expected to stand from 150 to 200 games 

 w^ood, or even 



stronger. 



The efficiency 

 of veneer panels 

 is well known; 

 but thick lumber 

 can be fastened 

 together with 

 glue as readily 

 as sheets of ve- 

 neer. The For- 

 est Products 

 Laboratory a t 

 Madison, Wis., 

 has been experi- 

 m e n t i n g with 

 laminated v^fork. 

 including a i r - 

 plane propellers, 

 cannon wheels, 

 gunstocks, shoe 

 lasts, and bov/1- 

 ing pins. Final 

 reports op these 



•NDKR THE TERRIFIC POtlNniNG THAT BOWLING PINS RECEIVE. THE LAMI- 

 XATEI) ARTICLE STANDS UP JUST AS WELL AS THE SOLID I'lN 

 (Soe illustration on page 2(5) 



before it is 

 pounded to 

 pieces by the 

 ball's impact. 

 Pins of glued up 

 stock have been 

 subjected to 

 games in regular 

 alleys in Madi- 

 son and Chicago, 

 and it has been 

 shown that the 

 glue jointf never 

 open, though the 

 adjacent wood is 

 pounded to splin- 

 ters. Endurance 

 tests concern the 

 wood, not the 

 glue. No failures 

 occur at the 

 joints. 



Birch shoe 

 lasts of laminat- 



experiments have not yet been published, but it is no ed stock are shown to be practicable; but so much can- 

 secret that progress thus far made indicates that in some not be claimed for the birch bowling pin, because birch 

 of the experiments ultimate and complete success is ex- is not hard enough to stand up to the punishment that 

 pected. maple sustains. Birch is a very hard wood, but it is not 



The accompanying illustrations show built-up shoe equal in that respect to the best sugar maple; and the 



lasts and bowling pins. The chief problem here con- bowling pin requires the hardest wood. The pin wears 



sists in seasoning the wood without the loss and delay out, and its surface develops splinters under the blows 



which commonly results from attempts to season solid of the ball; but maple holds out longer than birch. Thus 



billets in the old way. A shoe last block, for instance, far no reports have been made of the use of persimmon 



requires from eighteen to twenty-four months air drying, laminated stock in bowling pins. That is a very hard 



or from six to eight vk^eeks kiln drying, or a combination wood, considerably harder than maple, and tests of its 



of both methods. That takes time, and time is money. suitability would be watched with interest, especially in 



Besides, in seasoning the solid billets, loss from season- view of the fact that persimmon is not a scarce wood, 



ing defects run from five to twenty per cent. That In a number of exceedingly important industries using 



holds true in the manufacture of bowling pins as well immense quantities of wood, loss in drying thick stock 



as as shoe lasts. is an imposing item. The tests above referred to suggest 



The laboratory has experimented with lumber an inch a way out for many companies whose work requires the 



thick or less. The seasoning is completed in much less tedious and expensive drying of thick material. 



