34b 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



January 25, 1917 



Buying and Selecting Veneers 



There Are Other Things to Consid 



Thi^ One On 



AE BUYING AND SELECTING of veneers for 

 the panel plant or furniture factory for high- 

 grade work is something that cannot receive too 

 much attention. Yet there are many factories 

 where the buying is done by men who know practically 

 nothing about the quality of the article beyond the figure, 

 and even of this they do not know what effect the finish 

 may have on it. 



In many factories the buying is done by the manager. 

 Sometimes he may call in consultation the superinten- 

 dent; but the men who ought to know, and who do 

 know most about the veneer — i. e., those who lay it and 

 those who finish it — are very rarely consulted when it 

 conies to buying this important article. 



The manager of a factory very seldom sees the veneer 

 after it is bought, until he looks at it in the finished 

 article. Consequently, he can have no practical knowl- 

 edge of the working qualities of veneer, while the men 

 who use it very seldom see it until it comes to their 

 respective departments. 



When a man who has no practical knowledge of the 

 working qualities of veneer does the buying, what are 

 the factors which influence him in making a selection? 

 Generally, price and figure are the two main points con- 

 sidered. A veneer salesman once called on a furniture 

 manufacturer who was his own buyer, and, during the 

 talk, showed him a sample of some mahogany veneer 

 which he recommended as quite suitable for backs and 

 drawer bottoms of high-grade goods. 



The figure was good and the price was all right for 

 drawer-bottom stock. The manager looked at the 

 sample hard for several moments and did some fast 

 thinking. This veneer looked good to him; better, in 

 fact, than some he was then using on some of the more 

 medium-priced suites; and yet this was two cents a foot 

 cheaper. Why could he not buy it and use it on these 

 goods? Yes, he could do that, and perhaps use some 

 of it on the ends of some of the better grade of dressers 

 and sideboards. 



"How much of this veneer have you?" he asked the 

 salesman. 



"About 20,000 feet," was the reply. 



The manager's eyes glistened; 20,000 feet at a saving 

 of two cents a foot — $400. He would not let a snap 

 like that go by. "Put me down for the whole lot," he 

 said to the salesman. 



When the veneer arrived the veneer man was in- 

 structed to use it as a face veneer on a batch of goods 

 that was going through. He took a piece to the manager 



er Besides Figure and Price, 

 the Manager. 



Read 



and said: "The people who sold you this veneer 

 soaked you." 



"What makes you think so?" asked the manager. 



"\'ou say you want me to put it on that colonial suite 

 that is going through, but it is not fit for anything but 

 insides, drawer bottoms or glass backs." 



"Why, man, you are crazy!" exclaimed the manager. 

 "That is a nice figured veneer, much nicer than what 

 was put on the last batch that was put through." 



"True, the figure is all right, but the veneer is full of 

 fine checks, and the fiber is broken and loose like scales; 

 and these will show up after the goods are finished," 

 answered the veneer man. 



The manager looked crestfallen. He did not know 

 what to do. He did not want to use the veneer if it was 

 as bad as the veneer man said it was, and yet there was 

 too much of it to be used up on inside work. Not only 

 that; he had been depending on this veneer and had 

 neglected to order a better quality. For a moment he 

 was puzzled about what to do. Then he welcomed the 

 fact that there was no other veneer as an excuse for 

 using this lot. 



"I don't see anything else to do but use it," said the 

 manager. "I will take chances on it being all right. " 



It was put on that batch, and the next, and the next, 

 and in due time the first batch arrived at the finishing 

 room. When the finisher saw the kind of veneer that 

 was given him to finish, he told the manager that no 

 finish would stand on such stuff. 



"Why not?" asked the manager. "What has the 

 veneer got to do with the finish?" 



"Everything," replied the finisher. "This veneer is 

 covered with scales, and with every change of tempera- 

 ture these scales will move, and as soon as the varnish is 

 dry it will check along the edge of every scale." 



"Well, what can we do about it now? The veneer is 

 on and we can't take it off," said the manager. 



"I have no suggestions to make at this stage of the 

 game, but had I been consulted earlier I would have 

 said to not put it on," replied the finisher. 



The manager looked at the finisher as though he 

 would like to say something sharp, but evidently changed 

 his mind, for he contented himself with, "Well, it is up to 

 you to do the best you can with it." 



"And it is up to you to foot the bill," said the finisher 

 to himself, as he turned and left the office. 



The goods were bodied up and put away in the stock 

 room to dry, and when they were brought out to be 

 rubbed, a faint outline along the edge of each scale could 

 be perceived. When the rubbers began their work they 

 found that this outline opened up into a check. The 



