HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



tiirer usually considers that higli class work of this uaturo can 

 be done only by the use of erossbaiidiug. 1 should say that the 

 preparation of the veneer and the building up of same into panels, 

 tops, etc., in the white, was no better than here, but the finish they 

 put on their work in many cases excels ours. Labor being cheaper, 

 they can afforil to sjiend more time on this part of their opera- 

 tion. As one Austrian long in the business expressed it to me, "It 

 takes the human touch to get the right finish." While 1 am 

 unfamiliar with the materials generally used for finishing purposes, 

 both here and abroad, 1 understand that at some points iu the 

 ' iiishing process they use materials little, if ever, used in this 

 Miintry. The deep appearing finish which they obtain, I consider, 

 IS very pleasing to the eye. Beech is used largely in France in the 

 making of panels, a.s it is a comparatively cheap wood in that 

 country. Today threeeighths-inch veneered panels are in demand 

 there for use in places where they before hnve been in the habit 

 of using thin, solid lumber, as much trouble was encountered 

 with the latter on account of splitting. 



In Germany quite a business is maintained in the manufacture 

 and sale of "wood plates,'' as they call them. These are made 

 up three, five and seven-ply, being about three-fourths, one and 

 one-fourth and one and three-fourths inches thick, respectively. 

 These are made up to as large as six by twelve feet and sold for 

 various uses, such as beds of printing presses, billiard tables, etc. 

 The large sized plates are oftentimes bouglit by the users with- 

 out regard to the particular purpose for which the}- are to be 

 used, and they are then cut up into different sizes as required. 



In London there is a panel factory which struck me as being 

 unique. In this plant there is not a single power driven machine, 

 the reason being that there is a law prohibiting the use of any 

 power driven machinery in the district in which the factory is 

 located. In making panels they place the center stock on the 

 floor and the glue is applied by hand with a large brush. This 

 plant presented an instance of modern and obsolete equipment 

 in that it had several hydraulic presses which were worked by 

 a hand pump, while, on the other hand, the glue was kept in condi- 

 tion by placing the bucket in which it was contained over a gas 

 flame. The method of handling resulted in a great deal of 

 blistered work, which was repaired by placing a wet cloth over the 

 blistered portion and then running a hot flat-iron over the wet 

 <loth until the veneer was stuck down. 



In Germany I saw a veneer clipper, a description of which 

 may be of interest to some of you. It is built along the lines of 

 an ordinary veneer clipper, but it is very much more powerful 

 than those ordinarily used in the United States; the knife comes 

 down very slowly on an angle of somewhat less than forty-five 

 degrees. This machine clips the ends off from a whole flitch of 

 sliced veneers at one time and leaves so clean a cut that the ends 

 can be spliced into a perfect .ioint. It is used for cutting the 

 veneers to proper length and width, and also for jointing veneers 

 ready to splice. The splicing is done by young girls who tack 

 the edges of the veneer to a board and then stick a strip of gauze 

 tape over the joint. On the tops turned out by this concern 

 cross-banding and back veneers used arc nearly all one-twenty- 

 fourthinch poplar, with a very small proportion of such sliced oak 

 veneers as are not good enough for face stock. The face veneers 

 nsed are sliced one-twenty-eighth-inch black walnut and plain 

 sliced one-twenty-eighth-inch oak. AH five-ply work is glued in 

 two operations, that is, the core is first veneered with the cross- 

 banding and when this comes out of the bales in which it sets 

 over night it is put on sticks ami left to dry out for six daj.i. It 

 is then taken to the sander where about one-half of the cross- 

 banding is sanded off, thus leaving the cross-banding about ono- 

 forty-eighth inch thick when the face and back veneer are put 

 on. When this is finished it is left on sticks another six days 

 before the face and back veneers are sanded. Upon inquiry it 

 turned out that the main reason for gluing-up this five-ply stock in 

 two operations, and giving it the twelve days' drying out, was that, 

 inasmuch as the operators wished to lay up the veneer slightly 

 damp on the theory that it would lay flat, and cause less troiihlc in 



splicing, there would be less likelihooil of the finished work 

 drying out and checking afterwards. 



In Austria I saw a machine which to me was something new. 

 This was a miniature lathe, specially coustructe<l for the purpose 

 of turning down the cores from the large lathes. These cores, of 

 an original diameter of from five to six inches, were placed in 

 this small lathe, or "coffee grinder" as the owner of the plant 

 called it, and turned oft' until a core of only about one and one-half 

 or one and three-fourths inches diameter remained. The veneer 

 produced by this small lathe was naturally not of a quality suitable 

 for anything outside of core stock, to be used on the cheaper 

 grades of panels, etc., but for this purpose the veneer thus recov- 

 ered, and which ordinarily would have gone to waste as cores, 

 answered the purpose just as well as veneers cut from the original 

 log. 



In making any sort of comparison whatsoever between Amer- 

 ican manufacturing' plants and methods and those of Europe it 

 should be remembered that, generally speaking, manufacturing 

 operations are carried on in this country on a much larger scale 

 than they are in Europe. Of course manufactured products of all 

 kinds are consumed in Europe, as a whole, in great quantities, but 

 these commodities are usually turned out from factories having a 

 smaller output than ours, the result being many factories with a 

 small output rather than a relatively smaller number of factories 

 w-ith larger outputs. This has a tendency to allow of much closer 

 supervision, wherein the personality of the workman or operator 

 can be made to enter. The wages paid in Europe vary more or 

 less for the same class of work in the different countries. Eng- 

 land undoubtedly heads the list in this respect, followed by Erance, 

 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia in the order named. It is 

 no uncommon sight over there to see the father and mother and 

 all the children working together in the same plant, but it struck 

 me as entirely new and novel to see women working as hod 

 carriers and railroad track laborers. 



We are very apt to complain of high taxes, but as compared 

 to taxes in the most of Europe ours are exceedingly reasonable. 

 For instance, I was told by an Austrian manufacturer that the 

 government expected ten per cent in the way of taxes, based on 

 the net profits yearly realized from his business, and that they 

 were supposed to pay twenty-five per cent yearly of the gross 

 income realized from any property owned and rented by them to 

 other parties. In answer to my inquiry as to whether or not this 

 excessive rate of taxation was actually collected, and if not, what 

 was done about it, he smilingly replied that in Austria the citizens 

 paid their taxes the same as they did in America. As this gentle- 

 man had visited America on several occasions, I had nothing 

 more to say on the subject. I cite this instance in regard to the 

 rate of taxation simply in order that, when things seem to go 

 wrong, you may have the satisfaction of remembering that there 

 are other people who are not so well off as we are. 



The sum total of the impressions which I received by reason of 

 coming in contact with the European conditicns and manufacturers 

 was that they would follow the lead of American manufacturers 

 so far as the veneer and panel business was concerned, and they 

 are quite willing, I believe, to acknowledge this fact. Further- 

 more, it liohonvps us to remember that they are very apt pupils. 



Legal Point of Interest 



In Kentucky a lumber dealer i^annot acquire a mechanic's lien 

 for materials furnished a contractor for use in constructing a build- 

 ing, unless notice is given the owner of intention to claim a lien, 

 immediately after the last item of materials is furnished. Presen- 

 tation to the owner of an order for payment given by the contractor, 

 together with an account of materials furnished for the building 

 will not operate as such notice. Nor does the fact that the owner 

 gives the lumber dealer a check for the amount called for by such 

 ;hi order and account show such acknowledgment of indebtedness 

 on the part of the owner as makes him personally liable for other 

 materials. (Kentucky Court of Appeals, Wright vs. Monroe Lumber 

 ('(iiiip.-uiy, Kil) Southwestern Heporter 7SS.) 



