August 23, 1919 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



23 



Plywood Situation Abroad 



A British View of the Future Needs and Supplies 



1 RECENT ISSUE of the London Timber Trades 

 Journal published a review of the present panel 

 market and a prophecy as to what the future may 

 be expected to bring forth. It was shown that, although 

 plywood is an invention or innovation of recent years, 

 the manufacture of this article is now an important and ex- 

 panding industry, and the demand is so universal that 

 most timber merchants handle it as a complement to their 

 stock-in-trade. New uses for this manufactured material 

 are springing up every day, and its utilization has extended 

 to nearly every wood-consuming industry. It has revolu- 

 tionized the manufacture of many wooden articles, where 

 lightness combined with strength are a desideratum, and 

 for which qualities plywood excels every other ligneous 

 or metallic material. A further and an important con- 

 sideration, in view of the gradual contraction of the 

 world's timber supplies, is the economy of wood its use 

 effects. 



Although not complicated, the process of manufacture 

 requires an extensive and costly plant, therefore plywood 

 must be considered as a manufactured article. Consider- 

 able skill and experience is necessary to successfully pro- 

 duce satisfactory boards, especially when expensive woods 

 are manipulated. The rotary cutting lathe is the key of 

 the process, and above all the glue or cement must be 

 highly efficient. 



It would be impossible to enumerate the multifarious 

 uses that have developed in the wood-consuming trades 

 for this unrivalled product, as the manufacture lends it- 

 self to the utilization of almost every wood that grows. 

 It also especially provides an outlet for the lower-grade 

 timbers, which can be used for the inside veneers. Three- 

 ply is now employed for almost every utilitarian and com- 

 mercial purpose where w^ood is required and the costly 

 exotic kinds can be economically employed for artistic 

 effect in interior decoration. 



British firms have taken up the manufacture during re- 

 cent years, when imports have been only possible on a re- 

 stricted scale, and are now turning out large quantities, 

 stated by some to be sufficient for the present home de- 

 mand, and British manufacturers are also open to enter- 

 tain inquiries for export, London having become the inter- 

 national centre of the trade. 



During the war the demand for three-ply by the Gov- 

 ernment was very large, and the many uses to which it 

 was put stimulated the manufacture. In aeroplane con- 

 struction it was extensively used, and it was found ad- 

 mirably suitable for the interior sheathing of submarines 

 and other craft. For shell cases and packing boxes the 

 consumption was enormous; the great advantage in its 

 use for containers being its lightness and thinness com- 

 bined with strength. The plywood panelled packing case 



and the wire-bound box are constantly growing in in- 

 creased favour, the saving in freight being an important 

 consideration on large consignments. Considering the 

 enormous consumption of timber for boxes and packing 

 cases, the saving of material in using plywood is really a 

 matter of national importance. 



That the extraordinary demand which plywood manu- 

 facturers and merchants expect w^ill arise for their goods 

 as soon as our manufacturing trades get to work on peace 

 conditions cannot be met by home manufacturers is the 

 opinion held by members of the trade with whom we 

 have been in communication. Even with possible sup- 

 plies from Russia — and at the time of w^riting the pros- 

 pect of obtaining much from that country seems very 

 doubtful — it is thought that we shall have to look to 

 America for some time to come in order to meet a large 

 share of the demand. 



Laminated or built-up wood has for a number of years 

 been extensively used in the cabinet and furniture trades 

 in the United States. Its construction is akin to that of 

 ply-w^ood, the layers of w^ood used being thicker than 

 veneers. In aircraft manufacture built-up wood has been 

 found of great advantage. The propellers and other parts 

 of aeroplanes which are subject to heavy strains, if made 

 of hardwood boards glued together are much stronger 

 than if fashioned out in the solid, and boards can be more 

 readily and effectively seasoned than a log or flitch. 

 Piano cases and heavy framings in joinery, if laminated, 

 are excessively strong and durable. Veneering will also 

 stand well on built-up structures, and the cores can be 

 made of low-grade timber. 



The foregoing remarks will convey to the reader some 

 idea of the importance, from an economic standpoint, of 

 the adoption of plywood and laminated wood, and the 

 enormous saving of timber they effect in every wood-con- 

 suming industry. The great and increasing demand for 

 these materials in all parts of the world is therefore no mat- 

 ter of surprise. The efforts that British manufacturers and 

 merchants are making to meet the expected increased de- 

 mand w^ill be gathered from a perusal of the numerous 

 pages containing their announcements of the various 

 grades and qualities of plyw^ood. 



Minimum Pl3rwood Strength Test 



A government report concerning inspection tests for plywoods, 

 having particularly in view airplane stock, states that the mini- 

 mum allowable strength of plywood glue joints is at present con- 

 sidered to be 1 50 pounds per square inch. When averaging the 

 results in the reports all failures which occur entirely in the wood 

 and below 150 pounds per square inch are, therefore, excluded, 

 since the glue might have passed the requirement had the wood 

 been stronger. Some manufacturers are turning out panels hav- 

 ing plywood glue shear strength frequently as high as 600 pounds 

 per square inch. 



