February 25, 1917 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



25 



Preparation of Core Stock andCrossbanding 



There Are Many Expensive Methods Kept Up Merely as a Matter of 

 Habit and They Should Be Done Avv^ay With 



[ENEERING is one of the big items of expense in 

 the manufacture of high-grade furniture, but it 

 is well worth the cost if the work is well done. 

 The only way to make it worth what it costs, 

 and to keep the cost down to its worth, is to do the work 

 right the first time. Some managers have attempted to 

 reduce the cost by giving less attention to details in the 

 laying of the veneer, but the attempt has usually, if not 

 always, resulted in an increase in cost and much inferior 

 work. Others have tried the experiment of using inferior 

 materials and giving less attention to the selection and 

 preparation of the core stock, but the increased cost to 

 the cabinet room, resulting from the repairs rendered 

 necessary by the inferior work, proved the experiment 

 to be an absolute failure. It merely shifted the cost from 

 one department to another, and is an illustration of the 

 proverbial "penny wise and pound foolish" policy. 



The up-to-date manufacturer is one who not only ex- 

 periments for himself, but is willing to learn from the ex- 

 perience of others. The more ready he is to adopt ideas 

 that have been tried and found satisfactory, the more 

 successful he will be. For the benefit of those who have 

 a receptive mind would say that the only way to keep the 

 cost of veneering down is to keep up the quality of the 

 work. Never allow the idea to creep in that excessive 

 cost results from the work being done too well. On the 

 contrary, excessive cost usually, if not always, results 

 from poor work in the first instance. A little more time, 

 a little more care, a little more attention to details, will 

 save many dollars in repairs, to say nothing of the 

 enhanced value of the good will of the concern because 

 of its reputation for strictly high-quality work. All this 

 applies to medium as well as high-grade furniture. If the 

 goods are worth the time and material required to veneer 

 them, they are certainly worth the time required to do 

 it right. There is such a thing as high quality in medium- 

 grade furniture. 



Discussing this question recently with a manufacturer, 

 the writer pointed out what he considered to be the chief 

 advantages of having the work well done. This man 

 contended that it did not pay to have work "too well 

 done." A little blister here, a rough spot there, and a 

 glue joint slightly open somewhere else, would not do 

 any harm. 



"But," I said, "all manufacturers do not think the 

 same as you do on that point. A. B. & Co. would never 

 dream of sending out work like that." 



"Quite true," he replied, "but A. B. & Co. can afford 

 to spend a little time on their work. They have a repu- 

 tation to sustain and they can get $ 1 more for the same 



dresser and $20 more for the same sideboard than 1 

 can." 



What more argument was required? The man had 

 fully answered his own objections. If a few cents' worth 

 of time and care will increase the value of an article 

 almost as many dollars, it seems to me to be the part of 

 wisdom to make the investment. The larger price may 

 not come with the first sale, but with the enhanced repu- 

 tation for quality will come the augmented business and 

 the increased price. 



I remember reading something like this: "Work started 

 smooth and kept smooth wll continue smooth to the 

 end." This is self-evident and requires no argument. 

 But I sometimes think that in the matter of preparing 

 core stock for veneer the above axiom is altogether too 

 simple for some people to fully comprehend. How often 

 do we see the O. G. drawers of dressers and sideboards 

 and the rolls on expensive beds look as though they had 

 originally been intended for washboards. These parts 

 are run through the sticker, and, without removing the 

 knife marks, are either passed on to the veneer room or 

 sent to be toothed, with the ostrich-like idea that because 

 they are hiding for the moment they are not there, and 

 will never be discovered. 



But they are there and will manifest themselves at a 

 time when it is impossible to correct them. Hundreds of 

 dollars are expended every year in some finishing rooms 

 in applying extra coats of varnish and extra rubbing, in 

 a frantic effort to make work of this kind passable. To 

 spend a dollar's worth of time and material in the finish- 

 ing room in order to save a dime in some other depart- 

 ment is a piece of nonsense too ridiculous to mention, 

 were it not so prevalent. The writer has seen stock go 

 from the sticker covered with deep ridges from the knives, 

 and holes where the wood was cross-grained and chipped 

 out, on to be toothed and then veneered, without any 

 further effort to remedy these defects, the foreman think- 

 ing that when they were covered with veneer they would 

 not be seen. 



Let us change the wording of the above-mentioned 

 axiom: If work is to be finished right it must be started 

 right and kept right. 



All core stock coming from the sticker should be 

 smoothed off to remove the knife marks before being 

 toothed. This may be done in any way, according to 

 the facilities at hand for doing that particular piece of 

 work. If it is a core it may have to be hand-scraped; 

 if a roll, it may be smoothed on the sand to make it 

 smooth, the hot glue will swell out the bruises and drum, 

 or a plane run over it. If the wood is birch or other hard 



