August 25, 1917 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



25 



From the Tree to the Produd 



Business of Veneer Log Buyer Demands Special Ability and Insight Into Timber 



Possibilities 



HEN THE BUYER of veneers looks over the 

 finely figured product of an exceptionally 

 good log or flitch, he seldom stops to con- 

 sider the way in which the material was pro- 

 duced. And if he does give consideration to the 

 manufacture of the veneers, the chances are that the 

 work done by the log buyer never comes into his mind. 



The man who buys the raw material for veneer man- 

 ufacturing is not often in the spotlight, especially with 

 the consumer of such products, and yet the writer ven- 

 tures to assert that he is one of the most important 

 men in the whole organization. He is so important, in 

 fact, that, to recall the late Marc Antony's declaration 

 concerning Caesar, his fall means the failure of every- 

 body else. 



In making saw^ed and sliced veneers for the cabinet 

 trades and for interior trim, where appearance is the 

 main desideratum, the veneer house that succeeds in 

 pleasing its customers and holding their business is the 

 one Vifhich is able to produce material with character and 

 beauty. And inasmuch as the infinite variety of nature 

 means that not every log or flitch will contain special 

 characteristics desirable in veneers, the result is that the 

 manufacturer is often taking a gambler's chance, and 

 regards the opening up of a fresh log as equivalent to 

 putting his hand in the grab-bag and noting the result. 



This is especially true, of course, in handling costly 

 imported wroods such as mahogany, Circassian walnut, 

 etc., and true in only slightly diminished degree of 

 domestic w^oods such as quartered oak, walnut, figured 

 gum, etc. One of the reasons why custom milling has 

 always flourished at seaports where imported woods are 

 received is that the millmen are quite willing to elim- 

 inate speculation and merely take a manufacturer's 

 profit, while the buyer of the log runs all the risk of 

 its cutting out well. 



The mill which is manufacturing veneers from trees 

 of domestic growth may not have such a problem as 

 that of the purchaser of imported material, but he is 

 still dependent to a large extent on the skill and in- 

 genuity of his log buyer. The latter, especially in dis- 

 tricts which have been covered many times before, is 

 asked not merely to be a judge of timber, but of human 

 nature, and to make his proposition so attractive to the 

 owner of the trees that he will land them. And, withal, 

 the offer must not be so good as to make it next to 

 impossible for the veneer man to make his profits. 



An incident comes to mind which, while not bearing 

 directly on the veneer business, shows the importance 

 of the human angle. Shortly after the war broke out. 



when people began to realize that the demand for wal- 

 nut for gunstocks would mean a great increase in the 

 price of this material, a certain sawmill man in Kentucky 

 put over a deal which astonished most of those in the 

 trade. He got a number of the finest walnut trees that 

 ever grew, which had been on a certain estate near 

 Louisville, and were knovvfu of by practically every log 

 man in that territory. The owners of the trees had re- 

 fused every offer that had been made them, as the trees 

 stood near the ancestral mansion, which the same family 

 had occupied for generations, and sentimental consider- 

 ations were such as to make it apparently impossible to 

 touch the trees. 



The successful log buyer had made a quiet investiga- 

 tion, however, and had learned that it had been decided 

 to cut up part of the estate for residence building pur- 

 poses. This would mean a certain amount of clearing, 

 in any event, and anticipating this by removing the wal- 

 nut trees first would not be undesirable. With this in- 

 formation still fresh, he hunted up the owner, told him 

 that walnut timber was worth more than it had ever 

 been before or would be thereafter, and made him a 

 price on the trees v^rhich was pretty nearly enough to 



lift the mortgage for most of those old mansions in 



God's country are thus interestingly embellished. 



The result w^as that the sawmill man soon felled the 

 trees and bore away some of the finest logs ever seen 

 anywhere — plump, full of color, and with a remarkable 

 figure, as indicated by the appearance of the stumps. 

 These logs would have made wonderful veneers, but 

 most people are w^illing to admit that turning them into 

 gunstocks for the Allies probably served an even more 

 useful purpose. That incident merely illustrates how 

 wise the log buyer must be, and how he must study the 

 approach carefully before he attempts to get timber of 

 this kind. 



Physical conditions often make the job difficult, for 

 the log buyer is expected not only to pay out the cash 

 for the timber, but to see that the logs reach the mill. 

 During the early days of the Oklahoma walnut devel- 

 opment, a certain buyer who had been "prospecting," 

 much as a metal miner looks for favorable openings, 

 located a remarkable tree in the southwest part of the 

 state. Unfortunately, it was growing in a deep canyon. 

 w^hich was about twenty miles from the nearest railway 

 station. In size and appearance, however, the tree 

 seemed to be a wonder. The enterprising buyer went 

 back to the town, hired a lot of tackle, and, in person, 

 cut the tree, which was then drawn to the surface by 

 ropes. Then the logs were hauled overland to the sin- 



