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Hardwood Record — ^Veneer & Panel Section 



September 25, 1919 



Fortunately, manufacturers have learned how to use 

 our most valuable woods with more economy. A much 

 handsomer and more serviceable product can be made 

 from veneer, which takes only a small fraction of the 

 expensive wood that is required when thick lumber is 

 used throughout. The lighter finishes now given to walnut 

 which more nearly resemble its natural color are becoming 

 well liked. 



The foregoing article w^as submitted to the Pickerel 

 Walnut Company, St. Louis, by Hardwood Record, and 

 the following comment was written by Ray E. Pickrel 

 of that company: 



1 have read the manuscript which you mailed me concerning 

 walnut, which 1 think is very well written. I would have been 

 pleased, however, if he had picked out the ordinary log which does 

 not produce any propeller lumber, and only gunstock material, 

 wherein it takes an average of at least I 2 feet to make a gunstock. 

 He could then see that logs of this size w^ould only be worth, in 

 the finished material, slightly over $80 per 1,000 feet. His figures 

 concerning the costs which he shows to be from $100 to $120 per 

 1,000 feet, are quite correct. We would add that the diam- 

 eter of logs which we purchase run only about 14 inches, on 

 an average, with the average length about I feet 4 inches, showing 

 that his estimates are based on logs above the average which we 

 receive. But his article is a very good one, and very sensibly 

 written, and 1 see no harm in printing it, as this war business is 

 now over. 



Exhibit of Laminated Work 



The chemical industries of the United States opened to the public 

 an exposition at the Coliseum, Chicago, on September 22, for one 

 week. The exhibits were on a large scale and the range was wide. 

 Dyes, mining, paper, coal products, crockery, glass, explosives, 

 petroleum derivative?, and apparatus of numerous kinds, made up 

 the bulk of the exposition. The exhibits of wood products were not 

 numerous, but those shown were very good. Among such was 

 that by the Forest Products Laboratory of Madison, Wis., which was 

 prepared by the United States Government for the purpose of 

 showmg the result of tests and experiments in laminated work with 

 wood and glue. It was in the immediate 

 charge of George M. Hunt, glue expert at 

 the Madison laboratory, where tests and 

 experiments have been carried out during 

 two or more years past, at first in connec- 

 tion with war work and lately on problems 

 relating to the uses of laminated work in a 

 commercial way. 



Throughout the entire exhibition demon- 

 strations of the proper method of mixing 

 water-resistant casein glues were given. A 

 small power mixer formed a part of the 

 exhibit and the glue was used in preparing 

 test specimens. Boiling and soaking tests 

 on plywood glued with water-resistant 

 casein glue were carried on. A small 

 testing machine was installed and plywood 

 shear tests, showing the strength of the 

 glue both before and after water resistance 

 tests, were made at stated intervals. In 

 addition to the live exhibit there were 

 samples of glue, glue ingredients, and 

 wooden g!ued-up articles of various kinds. 



There was a comprehensive exhibit of 

 various kinds of hide glue and liquid glue, 

 and cassava oiarch, casein, blood albumin. 



the preparation of water-resistant glues. There were samples of 

 plywood ranging in thickness from 3/120 inch to 1 inch, including 

 a patented plywood made up with corrugated core and w^oven 

 faces, and several samples showing fancy face veneers. The 

 very thin samples are glued with the dry blood tissue glue de- 

 veloped at the laboratory during the war. There were typical sam- 

 ples of aircraft parts, illustrating the scope and character of the 

 laboratory's aircraft researches, and samples of the exceedingly 

 strong and light airplane ribs developed for use in various army 

 and navy machines. These were made with plywood webs, the 

 plywood being glued with water-resistant glue. A number of 



short sections of typical built-up aircraft wing beams were prepared 

 to illustrate the best typ^s of construction. A strut section show- 

 ing the use of veneer and of laminated construction was shown. 

 There were also several samples of the very efficient built-up 

 elevator spars, which have recently been developed. These spars 

 are made of special construction and are much stronger and 

 stiffer than the types used heretofore. 



There was a miscellaneous collection of material illustrating the 

 great possibilities in the commercial application of laminated or 

 glued-up wood construction. In this collection were hat blocks, 

 artificial Hmb blanks, bowling pins, shoe lasts, gun stocks, and 

 baseball bats. Tests already completed or well under way have 

 shown that laminated construction is perfectly feasible for all of 

 these articles and that they may be expected to give practically the 

 same service as solid ones. The advantages arising out of the use 

 of thin material which can be cuickly dried and odds and ends 

 w^hich would otherwise be w^asted are very great. 



For instance, the built-up baseball bat has stood the test of actual 

 use in a way that proves that the glue joint is stronger than the 

 ash wood which is bound together by the glue; for in the roughest 

 usage, the bat may break, as solid bats occasionally do, but the 

 glue joint holds. The same is true of the bowling pin. The built-up 

 pin stands every whit as much punishment as the solid pin. 



A specially prepared sample of plyw^ood illustrated the method of 

 applying aluminum leaf coating to wood surfaces, and the appear- 

 ance of the coating during the various stages of application. This 

 coating is many times as resistant to the passage of moisture as 

 even the best spar varnishes. 



The buckeye is reputed to be poisonous, yet squirrels ami Indiana 



eat it "with impunity, but it kills cattle. Little buckeye wood 

 changes hands on the market under its own name; but some passes 

 as sap yjoplar and thus escapes special mention. 



INTERESTING EXHIBIT OF FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY AT EXPOSITION OF CHEMICAL 



caustic soda and other ingredients used in INDUSTRIES AT CHICAGO IN WHICH IS SHOWN THE ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT IN GLUE USE 



