February 10, 1919 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



29 



(Cttntitnn (1 from intgc 28^ 



Besides, the cross banding is mostly rotary cut material 

 which, as a general thing, breaks easier than sawed or 

 sliced veneers. Now cross banding may get as much 

 handling as 1 wrote about faces getting. But in addi- 

 tion to this when five ply work is being made most places 

 noviT run the crossing through the rolls of the glue 

 spreader so that can lay the panel in what is called one 

 operation. Now it stands to reason that in this operation 

 thin stuff will break more than thicker material, and if it 

 happens to be that loose cut stuff so common today the 

 waste is terrible. 



So there you are. I found from experience that the 

 cost of finished panels was far less when 1 used thick 

 veneers than when I used thin, and 1 found that it didn't 

 cost so much in the end if 1 used 20th-inch crossing as 

 it did when I used 28th-inch. 1 don't say but what may 

 be thin veneers would be all right in some work, but 

 that work is not making good furniture, because furniture 

 gets some hard knocks, especially when there are kids 

 in the house, and thin stuff with thin veneer on the face 

 will show up the knocks pretty quick. 



So Jim, lay off the thin veneer stuff long as you 

 can. Of course things seem to be getting worse and 

 worse all the time just at this time, and we have to take 

 what we can get or go without. But we got a right to 

 know what we want whether we can get it or not, and 

 one of these days some of these veneer guys that's telling 

 us what's what now will be mighty pleased to give a 



very attentive ear when we tell them what's v/hat from 

 our point of view. 



Sue wants to know when you and the family are 

 going to take a trip and see us. So do I. Regards to 

 the gang. 



Your friend, 



HEN. 



Severe Trial of Laminated Construction 



A method of making laminated gun stocks was developed at 

 the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., which w^ould. 

 without reducing the strength, permit the use of the small pieces 

 of walnut not suitable for single piece stock. This would facili- 

 tate production and result in appreciable saving in costs and 

 nnaterial. The application of laminated construction to many 

 articles of trade is a development w^orthy of close study. Shoe 

 lasts, bowling pins, saddle trees, oars and paddles, tanks, barrels 

 and kegs, and various parts of vehicles and agricultural instru- 

 ments may possibly be constructed with laminated wood. 



Origin of Commercial Shellac 



Shellac which is so extensively used as a finish for wood 

 comes from India almost exclusively. Attempts to produce it 

 elsewhere have been made but have not met with success. It is a 

 resin which is produced by a very small insect that feeds on the 

 sap of a certain tree. The resin accumulates about the body of 

 the insect and sometimes so completely buries it that the insect 

 perishes beneath the accumulation of resin. The deposits are 

 scraped from the surface of the tree in the form of a thin crust, 

 and this becomes the shellac of commerce. Before being put to 

 its final use it is refined and converted into liquid form. 



