December 10, 1916 



Hardwood Record — ^Veneer & Panel Section 



31 



The Question of Defective Veneered Work 



A Case Where Serious Defects Were Shown to 

 Have Resulted From Apparently Simple Errors 



FURNITURE MANUFACTURER had been 

 ly troubled with blisters in crotch veneer and 

 jjkf ^ with veneer coining loose along where it had 

 been jointed. Being unable to find out the causes he 

 called in a specialist in woodworking and learned that 

 everlasting vigilance is necessary to produce high grade 

 veneered w^ork. TTie investigation was started in the 

 usual way, beginning at the place where the trouble w^as 

 first discovered. This was on a returned article, since 

 much of such trouble was not found until after goods 

 had been shipped. In this case a customer had returned 

 a large mahogany hall rack because the varnish was full 

 of fine cracks along the line of the joint in the veneer, 

 extending about a quarter of an inch on either side of 

 the joint. These cracks were present on all joints except 

 one, and along that one the varnish was as good as 

 anywhere on the piece. Along some of the joints the 

 edge of the veneer was raising, w^hile this one particular 

 joint seemed to be perfect in every way. 



The finishing foreman said the cause was not in his 

 department, because all parts of the case had been 

 treated alike, and if the cause of the trouble lay in the 

 manner of finishing, or the materials used, the case vfould 

 be affected all over. Asked for his theory as to the 

 cause, he said that the veneer man could not have put 

 enough glue where the joints were loose. Asked for an 

 explanation of the cracks in the varnish along the line 

 of the joints, he said that there must have been some 

 dope or acid in the glue, and this came through the 

 joint and burned the varnish. 



The foreman of the veneer room, when asked for his 

 theory of the cause of the trouble, said that there must 

 have been some dope in the finishing material, which 

 went through the joint and burned the glue, causing it 

 to loose its hold. Asked for an explanation of why the 

 varnish cracked along the line of the joints and nowhere 

 else, and that one joint was not only free from cracks, 

 but was not even coming loose, he said that it was a 

 question for the finishing department to explain. But his 

 theory was that when the dope in the stain came in con- 

 tact with the glue through the joint, a combination was 

 formed that was injurious to the varnish. 



There was not much to be gained from these conflict- 

 ing opinions, so an independent investigation was con- 

 ducted. They started in the finishing room, tracing the 

 work through the different processes, making inquiries 

 regarding the materials used in the stains and fillers, but 

 could find nothing that would show that the system of 

 finishing was in any way responsible for the trouble. 



They then went to the cabinet room, where the men were 

 cleaning up the stock. Here were men with different 

 jobs advanced to various stages, but nothing could be 

 seen that appeared likely to cause trouble. They were 

 about to pass on to the veneer room when they 

 noticed a truckload of stock that had no tape on the 

 joints, and did not look as though it had ever had any. 

 They then went to the veneer room and found men lay- 

 ing the veneer with the tape side down. In reply to in- 

 quiries as to why this was done, the foreman said the tape 

 was put on the under side so that it would not have to be 

 removed before the stock was put through the scraper. 

 This, the expert said, was the cause of the trouble. The 

 tape did not hold the veneer with the grip necessary to 

 keep it down. It is true that glue was used to stick the 

 tape, but the conditions under which the tape was put 

 on were not conducive to permanent work as when the 

 glue was applied and the stock put under pressure at 

 once. 



But the question arose as to what that had to do with 

 the varnish cracking along the edge of the joint, and 

 took them back to the finishing room, where they began 

 a very close examination of the returned article. Rais- 

 ing the veneer along the line of the joint, they found that 

 the tape, which was clinging firmly to the core stock, had 

 been the means of holding considerable glue — much 

 more than was required. Now, too much glue is fully 

 as bad as not enough, and the case under investigation 

 was no exception to that rule, as it had cracked all along 

 where it was held by the tape. In addition to this, the 

 veneer along the line of the joint was raised up the thick- 

 ness of the tape, and the scraper and sander had cut this 

 part down very thin — so thin in some places that the 

 glue was showing through and had to be touched up in 

 the finishing room. When this body of glue cracked it 

 forced the thin veneer above to spread, and this cracked 

 the varnish. 



During this time they had been looking for some- 

 thing that would likely reveal the cause of the crotch 

 veneer blistering, but had not found anything. So they 

 went to the finishing room and found the stainer using 

 a water stain and rubbing it in with a rag. He said he 

 could not otherwise get the stain to take to the wood, 

 but did not know why. A close inspection showed that 

 the veneer was saturated with oil. He said that the 

 stock was that way when it came from the cabinet room. 

 Then, in the cabinet room, it was found that the cabinet 

 makers were complaining because they could not make 

 a good job cleaning up on account of so much oil in the 



