36 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



November 10, 1921 



"COMBINATION 



"Bed Room or Dining Room Furniture designated as COMBINA- 

 TION shall have the tops, Drawrer Fronts or Doors and Ends of ply- 

 wood or solid wrood of the kind designated. The remainder of 

 the case to be constructed of such vifoods as the manufacturer may 

 consider most suitable for the purpose. 



"SUBSTITUTE 

 "When the vvford TINISH" is used in connection with the name 

 of a wood, such as Walnut Finish, Mahogany Finish, Oak Finish, 

 etc., in describing Bed Room or Dining Room Furniture it may be 

 applied to furniture made of any woods considered by the manu- 

 facturer as most suitable for the purpose." 



"GENUINE 



"Bed Room or Dining Room Furniture designated as GENUINE 

 shall have all exteriors, except case back, case bottom and mirror 

 back, of the kind of wood designated. The Tops, Fronts and Ends 

 may be Plywood. 



"The interior of the case may be constructed of such woods as 

 the manufacturer may consider most suitable for the purpose. 



These terms were referred to the various associations affiliated 

 with the National Council for their adoption. According to a reso- 

 lution presented by J. A. Conrey and adopted by the Council, they 

 will be printed and distributed to the retail trade when they are 

 ratified by the member associations. 



In adopting these definitions the Council recommended that each 

 branch of the furniture industry use them and adopt a definite 

 description to apply in connection with the terms Solid, 

 "Genuine," "Combination" and "Substitute." The descriptions 

 were framed to apply specifically to bedroom and dining room fur- 

 niture, but the Council held that they can be used to describe other 

 kinds of furniture, provided proper definitions are adopted to 

 accompany them. 



At a meeting of the Central Bureau of Dining Table Manufac- 

 turers, held on October 28, the descriptions recommended by the 

 Council were adopted with an amendment providing that the phrase 

 "or unexposed parts" be added to the second paragraph under the 

 heading "Solid," making this paragraph read, "The interior, or 

 unexposed parts, of the case may be constructed of such woods as 

 the manufacturer may consider most suitable for the purpose." 



Why Lumber Is Steamed During Kiln Drying 



From the questions asked by numerous students taking the 

 short courses in kiln drying at the Forest Products Laboratory, 

 Madison, Wis., it is evident that many who operate kilns and 

 handle lumber do not understand the object of steaming lumber 

 in a kiln. There seems to be a common impression that the pur- 

 pose of steaming lumber is to "remove the sap." This is far from 

 being the fact, for when lumber is steamed it takes on moisture, 

 as a rule, instead of giving ofl anything. 



The reason for steaming lumber during drying depends on when 

 it is done, but nearly always the treatment is given for one of the 

 following purposes — (I) to heat lumber through quickly at the 

 start; (2) to relieve stresses which otherwise would produce 

 checking, casehardening, and honeycombing; (3) to equalize 

 the moisture content and condition the lumber ready for use 

 at the end of the run: (4) to kill fungi and insects in the wood. 



When lumber should be steamed, how long the treatment should 

 last, and what temperature should be maintained are points which 

 have been determined at the Forest Products Laboratory by experi- 

 ments on many species of wood. A thorough understanding of 

 the steaming operation is essential, because the whole kiln charge 

 can easily be ruined by too severe a treatment. One of the chief 

 needs of many commercial kilns is proper steaming facilities, 

 without which a high degree of success in the artificial season- 

 ing of wood is impossible. 



Casein Glues Exceptionally Durable in Damp Places 



Casein glues are as a class more water-resistant than animal 

 and vegetable glues, but they are not, strictly speaking, water- 

 proof. There is no glue that is waterproof in the sense that it is 

 absolutely unaffected by water after a long immersion. Neverthe- 

 less, there are casein glues that are so water-resistant that ply- 

 w^ood glued with them will w^ithstand soaking for many weeks in 

 water or exposure for many months to a warm, damp atmosphere. 

 Under similar conditions, animal and vegetable glues would lose 

 their strength in a comparatively short time. 



When casein glue joints are kept fairly dry, they can be ex- 

 pected to retain their strength and remain unchanged for an in- 

 definite period, as is the case with animal and vegetable glues. 

 Water-resistant casein glue in a joint, kept constantly wet, will 

 after a long time weaken, but it will ordinarily regain a great deal 

 of its strength if the joint is dried. In a study aimed to discover 

 the reason why casein glues ultimately decompose when kept 

 moist, the Forest Products Laboratory found that under certain 

 conditions the decomposition seemed to be due to a hydrolysis of 

 the casein, undoubtedly brought about by the sodium hydroxide 

 that is always present in casein glues. 



This explanation when published was misunderstood to some 

 extent. It should not be taken to mean that casein glues are 

 unreliable, and not durable enough for use in manufacturing ply- 

 wood and other glued products. On the contrary casein glues 

 are considered as permanent as any under dry conditions, and the 

 water-resistant casein glues are more permanent than animal or 

 vegetable glues under wet or damp conditions. 



Brazilian Woods for Furniture 



Research at the Forest Products Laboratory has provided some 

 information on the value of nine Brazilian woods for furniture. 

 The woods were all satisfactorily cut into veneer, kiln dried, and 

 glued. Their chief characteristics are indicated in the table below. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF BRAZILIAN WOODS 



Wood Resistance Color of 



submitted to saw bolt Figure Finish 



as similar to submitted 



Cabreuva American Dark Distinct No stain needed 



larch brown streaks 



Cedro Spanish Reddish Like Similar to Span- 



cedar brown Spanish ish cedar 



cedar 



Embuya Birch Greenish Like With dark stain 



black walnut would resemble 



w^alnut 



Ipe Green- Greenish Uniform No stain needed 



heart brown 



Jacaranda Walnut Greenish Like With dark stain 



walnut would resemble 



black walnut 



Jatahy American Reddish Like Could be substi- 



elm brown mahogany tuted for mahog- 



any unstained 



Jequetiba Rock elm White to Like Could be stained 



Yellow mahogany to imitate ma- 



hogany 



Marflm Green- White Plain Requires color 



heart 



Peroba Walnut Red 



Wavy, not Might be used un- 

 striking stained in place 



of rosewood 



The Jasper Manufacturing Company, at Jasper, Ind., announced 

 a few days ago that after January I of the coming year the name 

 of the concern would be the Hoosier Desk Company. The trade 

 name will be "Hoosier Desks" and the slogan of the company will 

 be "Built True Clear Through." The change in names was made 

 in order to avoid confusion in the mails, etc., with other large 

 manufacturing concerns at Jasper. 



