Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



November 10, 1918 



Hen Talks About Glue Joints on Face Veneer 



Friend Jim. Nov. 25, 1917. 



I'll answer your letter tonight so you won't have to 

 wait too long. You know I'm leaving Nov. 27 for the 

 wedding. I'm much obliged for the invite to visit you 

 folks and I guess we will be there about Dec. 6 or 7 and 

 probably spend Sunday in my old town. Sue and me 

 will be married Nov. 28 and she wants to spend the 

 rest of the week with her folks. Then on Monday we 

 will go to Chicago and buy some furniture and have it 

 sent here so it will be here when we come home. Gee, 

 that sounds funny to think of me coming to my own home. 

 You say a veneer drummer saw you making glue joints 

 on the edges of your face veneers and told you it was 

 not necessary, because if the face veneers were taped 

 right and laid right the veneers would not open at the 

 joints after the panel was made. He said that after the 

 veneers were laid and the regular panel gluing done 

 right the veneer glue was sure to hold the joints together. 

 Then you told the old man and he told you to never mind 

 what the veneer salesman said, but to keep on glue joint- 

 ing the face veneers. You want to know what I do. Well 

 it don't make no difference what I do, Jim, the old man 

 pays you to do what he wants, and you better do it so 

 long as it don't do any harm. 



There can be a lot of argument about the business of 

 glue jointing face veneers, and the whole thing gets down 

 to the old matter of using material that is dried right. 

 If face veneers come to the glue room in the right con- 

 dition, without too much moisture, the chances are that 

 they can be laid without danger of joints opening, no 

 matter whether they are glued or not. But if the veneers 

 used are not dry it is a sure thing that after the panel is 

 made something will happen. If the material shrinks 

 even a little, the joint is apt to open unless it happens to 

 be glued so that it is stronger than the texture of the wood, 

 in which case the face veneer will crack at some other 

 point on the surface. 



I used to make glue joints on face veneer, but cut that 

 work out a few months ago, and don't have any trouble. 

 When I made them I done the same as I suppose you are 

 doing now. I used a high grade joint glue, such as would 

 cost about 42 cents a pound no^w. I made a mix of about 

 three pounds of water to one pound of glue. This made 

 a strong glue and a thin glue that would not show in the 

 joint. This mix I found was all right for any kind of 

 wood, and I never had no trouble with joints opening, 

 though I sometimes had checks in the veneer if we acci- 

 dentally got in a veneer that was not good and dry. 



Tliere is a lot of bum work done in making joints on 

 face veneers. I have seen fellers use the same thick glue 



they use on the other work. It was so thick and heavy 

 that it held the joints apart and made a line the whole 

 length of the veneer. But as I say, I cut out that work, 

 because I had heard that it isn't being done so much 

 these days. I guess it w^as more necessary when they 

 spread glue on the core with a brush and it took longer 

 to get panels under pressure than it does now v/e have 

 machines and hydraulic presses and can get the stuff 

 in the press quick. Still, if the old man wants you to 

 keep on doing it he's the boss. 



You say that you have to have some new cauls and 

 want to know whether I would make them or buy them. 

 Well, Jim, you know I'm a crank when it comes to cauls,, 

 and you know that I always made my own cauls out of 

 selected maple, and that they were alw^ays made about 

 an inch thick and were five ply. You say you forget 

 how I used to finish them off. I kept them in the 

 retaining irons until they were dry. Then I had them 

 run through the planer and the sander, and I tried to 

 be blame sure both these machines w^ere in good shape 

 to make a good level surface on both sides. Then I 

 heated the cauls and got some paraffine oil to boiling. 1 

 dipped a cloth in the oil and rubbed it over the hot caul 

 in such a way that the caul would get a little oil at a time 

 to soak up, and I gave the caul all it would take. I did 

 not use linseed oil because it does not make such a mois- 

 ture resisting surface on the cauls after they become 

 thoroughly dry and hard. That kind of a caul never 

 warps and will last a lifetime if treated right. If you 

 keep that kind clean and give it a rubbing once in a 

 while w^ith paraffine wax you can use it on the most deli- 

 cate veneers and not be afraid. 



Sometimes I think I may be too fussy about cauls. 

 We have about a dozen here that are made of zinc, and 

 we have a few made of aluminum. These metal cauls 

 are only about an eighth of an inch thick, and they hold 

 their shape and will of course stand rough use. They 

 are as heavy as my thick w^ood cauls, but because they 

 are not so thick the men can get more panels in a press 

 when they use these cauls. The boss got them to try, 

 and he will likely get some more when he has to, but not 

 before, on account of the price of them being pretty high 

 now. 



There is a caul made of something they call fiber which 

 is not too bad. We have ten of them here. They are 

 light and have a smooth surface and seem to work all 

 right, except that sometimes the glue comes through the 

 veneer and sticks to the caul. But this don't happen if 

 the men take care of them right. TTiese cauls are about 

 {Coni'inucd on page 31) 



