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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



February 10, 1917 



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traoeTmark 



MEDFORD VENEER CO. 



MEDFORD, WISCONSIN 

 I 5^1 Specialists in- 



BIRCH VENEERS S;S 



Northern 

 Grown 



Long experience, modern equipment, care in cutting, drying 

 and crating render you FIRST QUALITY — always in the 

 end the cheapest. 



LET US CONVINCE YOU 



im 



J3oautl/ut 



birch 



Prices on Common Logs 



Relative to the situation in the market for logs, a prominent veneer 

 and panel manufacturer says that it in a way may bo due to the 

 active condition of tlie veneer trade. He says though that it is also 

 attributable to the active market for hardwood lumber and the preva- 

 lent disposition on the part of the man in one line of trade to dip into 

 tlie line of the other fellow. In other words, acconling to this operator, 

 the condition is chargeable to the sawmill man fullj' as mucli or more 

 than to the veneer man. He says: 



' ' Until a few years ago the veneer mUls were etiuipped to get out 

 their own flitches. Suddenly some one anxious to go into the manufac- 

 ture of veneers discovered that the samnill man would furnish him his 

 raw material for flitches. No sooner had the practice of thus buying 

 raw material lieen inaugurated than the number of veneer mills in- 

 creased appreciably and sawmDls went into the flitch business, until 

 today the sawmill man in the oak district is more anxious to get out 

 flitches than firsts and seconds cpiartered oak lumber. Why? Simply 

 because tlie foolish veneer men bid against eacli other for the flitches. 



" It is a matter of daily occurrence for the veneer man to get prices 

 from the sawmill man soliciting orders for flitches, but in no case are 

 prices asked; rather the question is put, 'How much wOl you pay?' 



"These are the reasons that make the business desirable for the, 

 sawmill man : 



"First: The high prirces obtained; second: sales from saw to buyer 

 direct are made. Tliere is no yarding, sticking, insurance, nor carry- 

 ing charges. On the other hand, at the sawmill quartered oak lumber 

 is reduced in grades and widths by taking out all of the clear No. 1 

 flitches, leaving only lower grade logs and similar waste for lumber. 

 If there is a kick coming to somebody, it is due to the sawmill man. 

 The price of logs has been and continues to be forced up by the mill- 

 man who controls the price for the raw material for the veneer man." 



AU Three of Ui WUI Be Benefited if 



The Profit Side of Veneering 



Tlie object of every veneer and panel manufacturer in the conduct 

 of his business is to make money. This is true of every business 

 I'literprise, and tliere is also in every business the question of where 

 and how the best money is to be made. 



In the veneer business one often finds that those cutting cheap, plain 

 veneer products and having a hard struggle of it feel that the best 

 money is made by those cutting face veneer and fine figured stock, 

 because they get a big price for their product and ought to show more 

 profit for the same amount of timber worked and sold. 



Tlie other side of the picture is presented by the fine face veneer 

 man who often contends that there are so many uncertainties involved 

 and he has to pay so much for his raw material and it costs so much to 

 work and handle it that the risk is greater and the profits more uncer- 

 tain than in cutting plain stock that has a staple value and a ready 

 sale. 



We have something of the same line of contending arguments in 

 the lumber business. Some argue that most money is made in a big 

 volume of business on railway ties and common lumber stock that only 

 pays a small margin of profit but moves in large volumes and is a more 

 ready sale. Others contend that the only profit is in the high-grade 

 stock, and that low-gi-ade stock is cut at a loss. And so it goes. 



The veneer and panel trade has been disposed in the past too much 

 toward arguing about where and how money is lost. Very elaborate 

 statistical arguments have been prepared to show where and how men 

 lose money in the veneer and panel business, and these have a certain 

 beneficial effect by arousing the trade to the point of watching closely 

 its cost and methods. This is a pessimistic line of discussion, how- 

 ever, and it would be a refreshing change to have the scenes shifted 

 and the discussion of the future shaped around the subject of where 

 and how money is made in the veneer business. 



Some of those who have been singularly successful in the operation 

 of veneer and panel industries have included in their products both 

 plain, low-priced stock and fancy figured high-priced veneer and panels 

 and at times have even combined basket and package work with it all. 

 Wlieii these are asked where and how the money is made they are 

 rather puzzled as to a definite answer and usually say that it is made 

 out of the combination of making one part of the business help the 

 other so that tlic whole pays a profit whereas any one particular line 

 by itself might not do so. 



Really every line of endeavor in veneer and panel making should 

 show a profit and make money. It may be found easier to make money 

 out of some particular branch of the work than others, and if so it 

 should be worth something to the industry to be able to point out 

 these particular lines. Perhaps in some instances tlie pointing out 

 of them would jeopardize the future profits in that particular line by 

 encouraging an overcrowding; but that is a cliance worth taking. 



Wliat the veneer and panel industry leally needs is a tmning away 

 from aU talk of where and how people lose money and instead find out 

 where and how money is to be made in the business. That, after all, 

 is the object of any industry, and while some attention may well be 

 paid to how money is lost, the center of attention should bo where 

 money is to be made and how. 



Big Veneer and Panel Plant for Louisville 



The Imnan Veneer and Panel Company, with a capital of $150,000, 

 is being organized at Louisville, by Charles W. Inman and associates, 

 to erect a large plant on the K. & I. terminal for the manufacture of 

 glued-up stocks, panels and veneers. Mr. Inman is president of the 

 Inman Furniture Company and well known in the furniture trade. 

 The Louisville Industrial Foundation, controllers of the publicly sub- 

 scribed million dollar factory fund, has announced that its first stock 

 subscription would be for ,$50,000 w.orth of stock of this new corpora- 

 tion. Mr. Inman has announced plans for the new company which 

 will erect a three-story brick plant at Twenty-eighth and Broadway 

 with 200,000 feet of floor space, storage capacity of 2,000,000 feet of 

 lumber and trackage capacity for fifteen cars. It is proposed to have 

 the plant running by July. 



You Mention HARDWOOD RECORD 



