January 10, 1918 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



25 



Making Veneers With Lumber 



Is Sawmill Man in a Position to Make Good in Veneer Production? 



N EXCEEDINGLY' INTERESTING QUESTION 

 from the standpoint of the man who has a large 

 ^y •^ operation, with plenty of timber suitable for both 

 lumber and veneer manufacture, is whether it is desirable 

 to attempt to make both products, or to confine himself 

 to the main issue of producing lumber. The question is 

 not always decided in the same way, of course, and it is 

 pretty difficult to reach a generalization on the subject 

 on account of the necessary qualification introduced by 

 local conditions. 



The larger the business, the less inclined the manu- 

 facturer seems to be to get into the veneer trade. This 

 may be due to the fact that the important thing in oper- 

 ations on a large scale is to get quantity production, and 

 this is likely to be interfered with by the necessity of 

 giving special attention to veneer making. For instance, 

 if a log, when opened, is thought good enough for face 

 veneers, it would be necessary to remove it and replace it 

 with another without special characteristics. This might 

 enable a profit to be shown by the conversion of espe- 

 cially desirable stock into high-priced veneers, but it 

 would be at the expense of the sawmill, whose operations 

 had been slowed up by the necessity of making the change. 



"1 would rather cut the stuff into lumber and let it go 

 at that," said the head of a hardwood concern with six 

 large sawmills and not a single veneer manufacturing in- 

 terest, 'than bother with the proposition of selecting the 

 best logs or flitches for veneer manufacturing. That takes 

 too much time and distracts attention from the main jssue 

 of getting out the lumber. 



"True, I occasionally make a run on veneer flitches 

 and cut them out in considerable quantity; but here again 

 it is handled on a fairly big scale, and not as an individual 

 log proposition. We select logs on the yard that look 

 good for veneer purposes, and then we cut the flitches 

 a carload at a time. In that way it does not require a 

 great amount of interruption of regular operations, and 

 can be handled conveniently." 



T^ere are some big lumber concerns, especially in the 

 South, which have rotary veneer mills that are operated 

 in connection with their sawmills. In this case, however, 

 there is no real relationship, in the sense that material 

 destined for the saws is likely to be recalled for con- 

 version into rotary stock. Since figure is seldom the 

 principal element in making rotary veneers, and quantity 

 production is the cue. the two operations can be run side 

 by side without serious interference with each other. 



The matter of serving two masters, however, occa- 

 sionally comes up to emphasize the fact that while making 

 and selling lumber is very much like making and selling 

 veneers, it is still a different proposition, and the two do 

 not always go together well. There is a strong and suc- 



cessful concern in the South which for a number of years 

 operated both veneer and sawmills. The company was 

 a big factor in both trades, and apparently made money 

 out of both operations. Then it was decided to sell the 

 sawmill, and it was disposed of to a concern which was 

 engaged exclusively in making lumber. 



The explanation was that the man at the head of the 

 company was very much interested in the veneer business, 

 and was not especially taken with the lumber proposition. 

 He enjoyed the job of marketing the veneers, and knew 

 exactly how to go after the big orders, while the lumber 

 business seemed to be a harder proposition for him to 

 handle. Here the purely personal element was probably 

 the main consideration, for in spite of the fact that it 

 would have been possible to continue marketing the 

 lumber product without great difficulty, the company de- 

 cided to concentrate all of its attention and capital upon 

 the veneer trade. Incidentally, it has continued to do a 

 whale of a business in this direction. 



The argument in favor of making veneers along with 

 lumber is hard to get aw^ay from, however, especially in 

 localities further North, where the timber is higher priced, 

 and everything possible must be gotten from every log. 

 In connection with the manufacture of oak, for instance, 

 there are those who contend that it is a good idea to 

 make every variety of oak products under one roof so 

 that each log may be manipulated to best advantage and 

 nothing wasted by being used for a lower-priced product 

 than it was fitted for. 



From the standpoint of the log buyer, where the sur- 

 rounding territory must be scoured for desirable timber, 

 the proposition is greatly simplified when this is the case. 

 Buying for an exclusive lumber plant, he gets some logs 

 which might have been used to good advantage in mak- 

 ing veneers; if he is working for a veneer manufacturer, 

 he must take some stuff that is really too poor for the 

 purpose. If the plant contains both lumber and veneer 

 departments, he can take almost everything the timber 

 owner has to offer with a clear conscience, knowing that 

 it will be sent to the department which can use each log 

 with best results. 



Of course, if a lumberman gets hold of some logs which 

 are especially fine, he can dispose of them or the flitches 

 to a veneer manufacturer, if he so desires; or he can go 

 ahead and cut the material into lumber, knowing that this 

 will help to sweeten his stock and will make it easier to 

 please his customers. That is not nearly such a tough 

 problem as that of the veneer man who has a lot of scrubby- 

 logs on his hands which he can't possibly make veneers 

 out of, it must be confessed. 



Considerations of this kind are perhaps responsible for 

 the methods used in the operations of one of the most 



