,52 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



l*ritcljett, K. K., .Mai-t'v WiM-nirke l,'o., Cinind Kap- 

 ids, Mich. 



Perrine. Van B., Perriuo-Armstrong t"o.. Kt. 

 Wayne, Ind. 



I'litoliaid. ,1. M., Long-Knight 1,1)1-. I'".. Indian- 

 apolis. Ind. 



Iliisse. W. II... Ftusse & lUirgess. Merapliis. Tenn. 



Smith. (Jeoi-fie I,.. Surveyor Ceneral N. II. I.. 

 .\.. Iudianap<ilis. Indl 



Smith. Sam I).. Allen & Iliggins I.hr. I'u.. l-'i. 

 Wayne, Ind. 



Strode, C. D., Strode's Lumber Workl. Chicago. 

 111. 



Stimson. ,T. V., IInntin^'V>iiiK. Iml. 



Shepard. I-"iin ,1., Kagleslield & Slicjiard. [ndiau- 

 apulis, Ind. 



Swain. H. I'., D'lleur & Swain Lhr. Co., Scy 

 niour. Ind. 



Stewart, KIlis V., The Sinker Davis Co., Indian- 

 apolis, Ind. 



Talbert. W. K., W. E. Tall)ert I.hr. Co., Greens- 

 l)ur£r, Ind. 



'i'lireikeld. William. Indiana (>uarlered Oak Co., 

 New York City. N. Y. 



Wood. Charles A., Kirby-Wood Lhr. Co., Muncie. 

 Ind. 



Wcriz, Daniel, Maley & Wertz. Kvansville, Ind. 



Waters, George M., New Palestine. Ind. 



Y'oung, B., Young & Cntsinger, Kvansville Ind. 



Veneer Talks. 



Present day niechanics are liuilding 

 veneer cutters anil dryers that are revolu- 

 tionizing the veneer industry in a general 

 way. Some of the timber now manufac- 

 tured into veneer was a few years ago 

 thought to have no commercial value, but 

 automatic dryers and advanced cutters are 

 perfecting heretofore incomplete methods 

 and making possible the successful manu- 

 facture of a number of these supposedly 

 inferior woods. 



Especial attention is called to the beech 

 trae and to what has be.en said of it by 

 botanists when speaki:!g of its intrinsic 

 merits as a lumber product, and to what 

 has been lately proven of its value as a 

 veneer wood. 



Botanists class the beech in the Fagacw 

 family, and call it one of the truly beauti- 

 ful trees of the American forest, with its 

 bluish-grey bark, well rounded top, wide- 

 spreading branches and symmetrical bole. 

 Its body they describe as tough, strong, 

 inclasti<-. iu)t dural.le when exposed, and 

 subject to surface checks, but taking a very 

 fine polish; the wood has conspicuous medul- 

 lary rays and beautiful, varying shades of 

 red heartwood, with sapwond that is almost 

 white but comparatively thin. 



The allegations of the botanists regard- 

 ing the unstable qualities of beech are true 

 if the wood be handled by primitive meth- 

 ods. However, hiniliernicn a few years ago 

 discovered it could be worked to advan- 

 tage by the use of advanced methods. 

 Since then the beech output has been mate- 

 rially increased and now constitutes an im- 

 portant, clement of northern lumber manu- 

 facture. ' 



Among veneer manufacturers the state- 

 ments of botanists have never been ques- 

 tioned because their requirements in raw 

 material have, until recently, been compara- 

 tively small; but the large increase in the 

 number of mills has created such a de- 

 mand for veneer logs that manufacturers 

 are taking up the matter of future supply 

 and many are experimenting with nearly 

 every timber but beech, which can be had 

 almost at the doors of every veneer mill. 

 The beech tree is a native of thirty-one 

 -lates. Jt grows from two to four feet in 

 diameter. In some sections a slightly bet- 

 ter quality is found than in others, but 

 only the eye of an expert can tell it. North- 

 ern Michigan, southern Imliana and eastern 

 Tennessee have the finest growth, the wood 

 rrr,»\i-in(_' there Ii*"ing liiirdi-r th:iii lh:it f()und 



in till' liuvlands of the central southern 

 states. "'■' 



.\t'tcT cnreful experiments of long dura- 

 tion with leech from all sections, it can he 

 authentically stated that in some respects 

 it is as botanists have said, in that it is 

 strong and tough; in other respects, it is 

 totally different. As to its lack of elas- 

 ticity, by the use of the automatic dryer 

 all the elasticity of the green veneer is re- 

 tained, which is equal to that of birch or 

 .African mahogany (lagos). Its inability 

 to stand exposure is also overcome by the 

 im]irove(l kiln dryers which do the work 

 tlioroiighly, instead of partially drying and 

 pilinu it lip to sweat, as was necessarily 

 done wlien drying by the old sticking 

 method to keep it flat. Surface cheeking is 

 attributalile to poor cutting and improper 

 drying, lioth of which can be obviated if 

 proper jirecautions are taken. Cheeking is 

 no more likely to occur in beech than in 

 other woods; in fact, not so much so as in 

 oak. of wliic-li no complaints are heard since 

 the iuiproved pressure bar cutters have 

 made solid cutting possible. 



Summarizing the proofs of its merits, it 

 I an readily be seen that beech veneer is 

 adapted to both interior and exterior work. 

 Considering the demand, its use is recom- 

 mended for door work mainly because of 

 its accessibility, beauty and uniformity of 

 growth and color. 



Birch, which is a large factor in door stile 

 manufacture, has no important feature 

 other than its uniform color and an occa- 

 sional wave, both of which are found in 

 beech. There are also 'freqrteiit flash(?s of 

 golden flakes such as are found in quarter- 

 sawed oak, and a growth stripe of marked 

 beauty. Red oak, the most used of all 

 veneers, in this branch of the industry, has 

 become so scarce that manufacturois who 

 make a specialty of door stiles are unalilc 

 to get the raw material. Most southorn 

 oak being inferior to that of the north, 

 door makers generally do not care to use it 

 and are looking al-oul for a suitable sub- 

 stitute. 



In view of existing conditions, it serins 

 that the market is waiting for something 

 which has not yet been produced. The mat- 

 ter of cutting beech logs to get a maximum 

 of godil with a minimum of waste and lalmr 

 should be briefly mentioned, altlnrngh it 

 must be understood that these observations 

 arc not applicable to all sorts and condi- 



tions; in the ni;iiii. however, they will pro- 

 duce the best results. 



Divide a log into quarters of equal size, 

 the two flat sides then being equal to about 

 one-sixth of the log's circumference, and 

 the rounded, of course, equal to one-fourth 

 of tlic same. Logs 24 inches in diameter 

 will iiriiduce quarters 12 inches on each flat 

 side and a little over IS inches on the 

 rounded. Placing either flat side to a slicer 

 plate gives the same result in grain effect, 

 but may cut smoother one way than an- 

 other. In the event of a flitch cutting 

 roughly, it can be turned to its other flat 

 side or end to end. Whichever way it is cut. 

 nine cuts of %-inch each bring the quarter 

 down to a S^^-inch face, or a piece wide 

 enough to make a 5-inch stile. At every 

 cut thereafter, the face of the flitch in- 

 creases in about the same proportion as the 

 thickness, unless it be an odd-shaped flitch 

 which cannot be reckoned in theory. The 

 amount of veneer cut from a flitch of this 

 size taken from a well rounded log, is 

 close to 400 feet averaging Si/j inches, 

 wide and about equally divided into ,'), 6, 

 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 inch veneer. The 

 ~>. (i ,Tnd 7-incli pieces are used without 

 fiirtlic'r tiininiing or dividing; the 8-inch 

 pieces are cut into 5 and 3-inch pieces in 

 one cut; the 9-inch pieces cut to 5 and 4- 

 inch pieces, or three 3-inch pieces; the 10- 

 inch pieces make two ,5-inch pieces or ;i 

 single full width piece, and 11 and 12-inch 

 the same. In cutting logs smaller than 

 24 inches they work out proportionately. 

 Quartering and cutting the log in this 

 manner gives two distinct veneers, plain 

 and quartered, about equally divided into 

 each, plain in the narrow pieces, quartered 

 in the wider pieces. 



If slicing for quantity altogether, a 

 log can be split into equal portions from 

 the heart, and the flat heart side fastened 

 to the slicer jilate. cutting from the log's 

 outer surface; veneers of almost 24 inches 

 can be produced by cutting this way. This 

 ]il,'iii is not always desirable, however, be- 

 cau.se the tlitch is too wide for less than 

 an eight-foot drive slicer to cut smooth- 

 ly, and as there is but one such slicer in 

 existence and it is patented, the probabil- 

 ity of slicing large logs in this manner is 

 not likely to become universal for stock 

 over 1/20 of an inch in thickness. An 

 other ob.iection to slicing such wide flitches 

 is the possibility of a large waney heart 

 wliicli will come in the middle of the 

 veneer throughout its length, requiring two 

 cuts of the clipper to cut it out; while if 

 cutting a quarter, it comes on the edge and 

 can lie trimmed out in a single cut. There 

 is, of course, the advantage of cutting 

 twice as nuicli sto.k in the same amount 

 of time it lakes to cut a quarter, but 

 allir Ihc extra cost for ])Ower, trimming, 

 liandling, and the inferior (piality of the 

 veneer ])ioduccd arc figured in, a big ciif 

 looks small in comparison. Cutting two 

 small flitches requires more than twice the 



