May 25, 1922 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



35 



Some Face Veneer Questions 



There are some interesting and live questions today about face 

 veneer. Among these questions is that of waste in trimming and 

 fitting, and that of the advisability of the average veneer user 

 buying his face veneer cut to specified dimensions. 



The other day the writer cut in on a discussion betw^een a veneer 

 salesman and a panel factory superintendent on this very matter, 

 and afterwards asked the veneer salesman a lot of questions about 

 waste in face veneer and the problem of selling veneer users on 

 face stock cut to specific dimensions. 



The salesman in this case was a man of wide experience and 

 was selling w^alnut face veneer. He had been discussing w^aste and 

 the comparative prices on straight run veneer and veneer cut to 

 specific dimensions, so he was asked if he could give a specific 

 answer to the question of how^ much face veneer goes to waste in 

 the process of using. 



He said a specific answ^er w^as not practicable in a broad sense, 

 because the waste varied with different kinds of veneer and differ- 

 ent uses. He found that it varied all the way from 30 per cent 

 up to 70 per cent. Also, he said that in most cases the veneer 

 users seldom recognize, or are willing to admit, that their waste 

 in face veneer runs as high as it does. Moreover, he contended 

 that if he should go to a veneer user to sell him face veneer and 

 tell him that he might figure on it running to 50 per cent w^aste 

 the chances were he w^ould spoil his sale because the veneer user 

 would jump to the conclusion that the salesman was offering him 

 a lot of ragged veneer that would run too high in waste. For this 

 reason he found the question one he had to handle with gloves. 



He gave it as his opinion that the better plan for most of the 

 face veneer used would be for the furniture and panel factories 

 to buy the veneer cut to specific dimensions. His reasons for this 

 then w^as that the veneer producer is in a better position to trim 

 out and match up the veneer and utilize some of the waste than 

 the individual user. Also, it means a saving in freight as well as 

 a saving in time for the user. 



User Depreciates Dimension 

 The trouble w^ith this idea is the same as the trouble in selling 

 dimension stock in solid lumber. The average user wants to gel 

 clear dimension cut to specific sizes at a price somew^here near 

 what he would pay for log run. In a word, he doesn't want to 

 pay for quality plus the work of cutting to specific dimension. If 

 quoted a price on log or flitch run veneer, say of 1 2 '/2 cents a foot, 

 then the salesman tries to sell him the clear stock cut to specific 

 dimension at 25 cents, or double the log run price, the veneer user 

 generally goes up in the air and refuses to buy. Yet frequently 

 that same veneer user, when using his veneer, trims off half of it 

 in the process of matching up and fitting, and actually doubles the 

 price of his veneer in this round and adds to it the cost or trim- 

 ming, jointing and matching up. 



Back of it all is the lack of realization on the part of veneer 

 users of the amount of face veneer which goes to waste. They 

 assume that they are using a lot of their waste, which they do at 

 times. They take cuttings from the matching up of large panels 

 and make smaller pieces for other uses and this helps some. In 

 the final analysis, however, the waste in face veneer is likely to 

 run around 50 per cent and in special matching for figure may even 

 run higher than this. The consequence is that many a man's face 

 veneer is costing much more than he thinks it is, and if there w^as 

 a full realization of this there would perhaps be more buying of 

 veneer cut to specific dimensions at the veneer plant. 



Economy Sacrificed to Beauty 



This applies perhaps more specifically to the average run of 

 figured veneer. There are crotches and special figures w^hich 

 prompt veneer users to prefer to buy the whole flitch and do their 

 own assembling and matching. There are some veneer users who 

 have men in the veneer room with a talent for assembling and 



matching veneer to get striking and unusual figure results. Then 

 it IS more a matter of developing artistic features than of economy 

 in veneer. Then, too, the w^aste so far as getting the original 

 match-up is concerned may run as high as 70 or 75 per cent. 

 Some of the trimmings will be utilized for small work, and anyw^ay 

 the waste is justified by the superiority of the results obtained. 

 The point to it all, however, is that too often the veneer user does 

 not realize hovir small a percentage of his face veneer is actually 

 utilized. 



As explained by this salesman, one reason why there is no more 

 enlightenment on the point of waste in face veneer is that the 

 salesmen themselves, who gain quite a lot of knowledge of these 

 things in their rounds, naturally hesitate to talk about and to 

 emphasize the heavy percentage of w^aste because the chances are 

 the talk w^ill handicap their own sales. It will create some im- 

 pression in the mind of the buyer that the veneer they are offering 

 is out of line and will not yield as much in the way of good cut- 

 tings as it should. 



It is about time for the veneer users themselves to do a little 

 more checking up on this matter of the amount of face veneer 

 actually utilized and the amount which goes to waste. A careful 

 follow-up of this matter might lead to better utilization, and, any- 

 way, it will lead to a better order of enlightenment, and probably 

 some revision of cost figures as w^ell as a clearer understanding of 

 how to buy veneer and the relative value of log or flitch run and 

 of face veneer cut to specified dimensions. 



Purchases White Oak and Poplar 



The Evansville Veneer Company of Evansville, ind., has closed 

 a deal for all white oak and poplar timber on the last tract of the 

 noted Rowan timber land on Rough river in Ohio county, Kentucky, 

 a few miles southeast of Evansville. Henry Riggs, representative 

 of the company, closed the deal for his company. The timber will 

 be cut and shipped to Evansville and sawed into veneer. 



Evansville Furniture Plants Nearly Back to 

 Pre-War Basis 



The large furniture factories at Evansville, Ind., are being oper- 

 ated steadily and in some instances they are running on practically 

 a pre-war basis. Many of the factories received large orders at the 

 last furniture market held in Evansville during the first week of 

 April, and these orders have enabled the manufacturers to keep 

 their plants busy and they are looking for a very good business for 

 the next several months. The outlook is now better than it has 

 been for some time past. The Evansville manufacturers w^ill give 

 another market some time during the coming fall and plans for 

 this market will start within a short time. Chair, desk and table 

 factories at Evansville are being operated on very good time. 

 The problem of the unemployed at Evansville is becoming less 

 intense each week and manufacturers believe that it is only a 

 question of time until trade conditions become normal again. 



Karges and Wertz Made Bank Officials 



Alfred F. Karges, president of the Karges Furniture Company at 

 Evansville, Ind., has been elected president of the Mercantile- 

 Commercial bank of that city to take the place of C. Howard 

 Battin, who resigned to enter another line of business. Daniel 

 Wertz of the Maley & Wertz Lumber Company has been elected 

 president of the board of directors of the bank to take the place of 

 Mr. Karges. 



