October 25, 1917 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



25 



Veneered Goods Here to Stay 



Published Opinion Notwithstanding, the Future of the Furniture Industry Will 



Depend Upon Weil-Made Veneering 



REPARE THE WREATHS. Veneer and panel 



men, bosses and bossed, who depend on the 



furniture trade for your daily bread, make 



ready for your demise. You sellers of, or 



workers in, glue, who have aught to do with laminated 



work for furniture men, take heed lest the future finds 



you idle. Particularly you vegetable glue manufacturers, 



who have practically no field outside the wood-working 



trades, listen to the approach of the slow and mournful 



music. All mentioned directly or indirectly tremble, for 



a prophet has called the turn, and the end of your world 



approaches. 



You wonder why the raving. Give your attention to 



the following extract from an editorial which recently 



appeared in a furniture trade paper of no mean repute. 



Wrote the editor, in a sort of a resume of furniture styles: 



It is the writer's opinion that a new style is showing up. This 

 style, when it has gained popularity, which 1 predict will be 

 within a couple of years at most, will be called "Renaissance." It 

 will not be Anglicised, but purely our own. It will have honesty 

 written all over it — there will be no "veneers" to peel off. 

 Veneering was all right when properly done, but glue was all the 

 old artisans thought of using. Nowadays most factories are using 

 a mixture of sago and common flour. What few pieces we 

 have seen presaging the coming of this new style have embodied 

 many structural features borrowed from Italian peasant furniture. 

 They were keyed together, fashioned with tenons which hold the 

 principal members intact — -solid lumber wras used, in fact the 

 pieces were built — not stuck together. 



There you are, veneer, panel and glue men. An 

 editor of broad experience tells you that "within a couple 

 of years at most" honest furniture of solid lumber will 

 have the right of way and dishonest furniture containing 

 "veneers" will be ditched. Oh, hum! No doubt there will 

 always be those who, looking back on the days of long 

 ago through the mists of years, will insist that the present 

 cannot compare in any respect with those times; that 

 ideals have been lost, standards lowered and quality dis- 

 regarded, so that the products of modern workmen are 

 far behind those which were produced in the good old 

 days. 



But don't get down hearted, even though that writer 

 may prove correct in his prediction as to a new style of 

 furniture, because when it comes it vk^ill have to be made 

 largely of laminated work. Of course some of it will 

 be made of solid lumber, just as some furniture today is 

 made of solid material, but veneers and glue will still 

 cont'nue in use in the furniture field, and because of 

 practicality and necessity their use must increase instead 

 of diminish. 



It may be well to consider somewhat the extract 

 quoted. Pass quickly over the fact that there is a slight 

 inconsistency between the remarks: "It will be purely 

 our own," and, "What few pieces have been seen have 

 embodied many structural features borrowed from 



All Three of Us Will Be Benefited if 



Italian peasant furniture." What's a little inconsistency 

 between friends? Then hesitate at the innuendoes: "it 

 will have honesty written all over it — there will be no 

 veneers to peel off. Veneering was all right when prop- 

 erly done, but glue was all the old artisans thought of 

 using. Nowadays most factories are using a mixture of 

 sago and common flour." 



No brief regarding the respectability of veneered 

 products is needed here. Good work is good, and bad 

 is bad, whether done in 1 8 I 7 or 1917. But the editor 

 implies that glue is altogether to be blamed for veneers 

 peeling" and he casts a surreptitious slur at vegetable 

 glue in his words "a mixture of sago and common flour." 

 The writer of this will not admit it to be true that 

 glue was all the old artisans thought of using. The old 

 artisans were cabinet makers, not manufacturers, and in 

 their time it took longer to build one piece than it does 

 to manufacture 300, or even 5000, today. Tlie differ- 

 ence is between individualism and team work. But the 

 old artisans never thought of using I 1 6-inch veneer, 

 to say nothing of 1 32-inch. Much of their work was 



WISCONSIN VENEEER CO. 



M.'VNUtWCTURERS 



RHINEL.ANDER, WIS. 



You Mention HARDWOOD RECORD 



