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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



August 25, 1917 



Improvements at Munising Plant 



The Munising Wooden ware Company is making extensive 

 improvements in its veneer department at Munising, Mich., and 

 additional machinery will be installed enabling the company to 

 manufacture 230,000 butter dishes daily. The company has 

 recently opened a camp on the Hyren spur of the east branch of 

 the Munising, Marquette & Southeastern railway and will prob- 

 ably employ thirty to forty men at this camp. About thirty-five 

 hands are now employed in the veneer department. 



Progress Made in New Veneer Plant 



Word comes from Jonesville, Miss., that the Jonesville Lumber 

 & Veneer Company, the incorporation of which was recently 

 announced, is making rapid progress in the formation of its 

 organization and the building of the plant. The company has 

 secured a sixteen acre tract of land and ground is now cleared 

 for the erection of a modern plant which will cost some $25,000. 

 The plant will cut various kinds of hardw^ood lumber and will 

 work up about 20,000 feet of logs a day. 



The officers of the company are: A. W. Stewart, president; B. J. 

 Lewi?, vice-president; J. N. Warren, secretary, and J. W. Lewis, 

 treasurer and general manager. 



Experiments 



Why experiment? is a question which has held many a man 

 back from making progress in the veneer and panel business. 

 It is a great plea of those w^ho have any standard product to 

 offer, whether it be machines, an old line of veneer or of any- 

 thing else. They say you know what our product is, why try 

 experiments with things you know not of. 



There is some good logic in this, so far as being on the safe 

 side is concerned, but following of this logic does not put a man 

 on the progressive side. Experiments have brought practically 

 all the progress made in the w^orld. They were the making of 

 the whole veneer and panel business, and they are still important 

 in its progress. Experiments led to making three-ply built-up 

 lumber, and experiments are responsible for the rotary veneer 

 machine and all its improvements. They are responsible for many 

 new^ things in glue, in finishes, in dryers and clippers. They have 

 resulted in the beautiful effects In matched-up face veneer. In fact 

 the veneer business all around is built up from experiments. 



Therefore while a man may well urge the standard and know^n 

 qualities of an offering as an argument in favor of using it, it is a 

 mistake to either urge or follow the idea of not trying new^ things, 

 of not experimenting, because it is through experimenting that we 

 gain information and make progress. All experiments are not suc- 

 cessful. A man should use horse sense in connection w^ith them 

 and not waste time with every hair-brained idea that comes along. 

 If properly conceived and handled, experiments are the real force 

 in the progress of the veneer and panel industry. 



The Rudolph Veneer Products Company has recently begun 

 business at Denver, Col. 



The Winnebago Manufacturing Company, Fond du Lac, Wis., 

 IS reported to have sustained a $15,000 loss by fire in its veneer- 

 ing department recently. 



The heavy call for oak for vehicle and' implement work, ship 

 building and car shops, is adding some to the difficulties of get- 

 ting a regular supply of good oak flitches for veneer work. And 

 from present indications Hitches will be flitches for some time 

 to come. 



Veneer waste may be worth a little more as fuel now because 

 the price of coal has gone up, but there will never come a time 

 when the fuel value will justify cutting logs into veneer waste. 

 Waste is a thing to be prevented as much as possible by careful 

 work and by utilization in other lines. 



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