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hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



January 10, 1918 



famous plants in the country, located in the Ohio Valley, 

 and used for the manufacture of lumber, veneers and 

 flooring. This concern has made its greatest success in 

 the ability it has shown to get the bast of the available 

 timber, and this in turn has been due in many instances 

 to the fact that it could dispose of the timber without waste 

 in any instance. Veneer logs went into veneers, and logs 

 that wouldn't make veneers into lumber. 



In the smaller plant, such as is typical of the Middle 

 West, the combination idea seems to be the best because 

 it puts a premium on the personal skill of the manager of 

 the plant. The man who has made a close study of forest 

 products and who knows how to manipulate the output 

 of each tree so as to get the most in material and in dollars 

 and cents, is a real artist, and he finds his best opportu- 

 nities when he has the facilities with which to manufacture 

 various kinds of products, depending on the character of 

 the logs. 



In one such plant the owner does most of the log buying 

 in person. He studies his timber carefully from the time 

 he buys the tree until the logs are ready for the saw. He 

 has a sawmill, a veneer mill and a dimension mill, and 

 he looks over the possibilities of each lot of material not 

 arbitrarily, but with an eye to the needs of his customers, 

 for he has studied these just as carefully as he has studied 

 the raw material. 



He is distinctly not a quantity production man. He 

 is not seeking to make just as many million feet of lum- 

 ber as he can, but to make stuff that is good, to squeeze 

 out of each log all of the footage of usable material he 

 can, and to pile up gradually for the "particular trade" 

 that he has won during the many years of service ren- 

 dered the stock which he knows fits their needs most 

 definitely. 



Maybe this is not the ideal plant. Certainly it is not 

 one in which the biggest profits are being made, but the 

 chances are that the head of such an establishment gets 

 a lot of enjoyment out of his work, and experiences in the 

 intelligent direction of his manufacturing operations the 

 satisfaction of knowing that the timber is being properly 

 exploited. 



The objection may readily be made to the idea of com- 

 bining lumber and veneer manufacturing that to carry the 

 plan to its logical conclusion would mean having veneer 

 making facilities of great scope. That is, if the lumber- 

 man is going to make veneers in earnest, along with his 

 thick stuff, he ought to put in rotary machines, slicers and 

 saws, and do the thing up brown. In fact, the lumberman 

 who is making veneers usually is contented ■with one kind. 

 The southern mill usually goes in for rotary production, 

 while saws are found in most of the veneer plants in the 

 Ohio Valley and Middle West connected with lumber 

 manufacturing. This suggests in a measure that the veneer 

 business is regarded merely as a side line of the lumber 

 proposition, even though it is true that many exclusive 

 veneer concerns make but one kind of thin stuff. 



In selling the product, there are advantages to the 

 manufacturer who offers a complete line, since many con- 



sumers are prospects for both lumber and veneers. Tliis 

 apparently simplifies the selling end, but on the other 

 hand the application of veneers is so technical that a 

 great many lumber salesmen do not attempt to handle a 

 proposition of this kind. For the same reason the user 

 frequently prefers to deal with a man who is known as a 

 veneer expert rather than a combination lumber and 

 veneer salesman, it is the familiar story of the specialist 

 having more authority in his own field. 



As suggested at the beginning of this article, local con- 

 ditions must decide the question in a great many instances. 

 For the lumberman w^ho is supplied with a large acreage 

 of low-priced timber, it would hardly seem worth while to 

 bother with veneer production when he can get just about 

 as good results, with less worry, by sticking to lumber. 

 On the other hand, a man with limited possibilities as to 

 timber, who must get his profit from the careful manage- 

 ment of this resource, and its manufacture into the highest 

 priced products possible, would doubtless find it to his 

 advantage to have veneer making facilities at his disposal. 



Having especially fine logs manufactured into veneers 

 by custom mills is a plan which some concerns have used 

 as a means of feeling out the trade. This is often disap- 

 pointing, on account of lack of familiarity with the busi- 

 ness. One concern which had some figured gum cut into 

 veneers spent many months in finding a purchaser. The 

 rales manager of the company knew the lumber trade 

 thoroughly but he did not know the veneer trade at all. 

 He was not familiar with the requirements of buyers, he 

 did not know prices, he was out of touch with competi- 

 t'-ve conditions; and when he finally got rid of the last of 

 the special lot of veneers he told himself and the other 

 officers of the company "Never again." 



Thus, while the tendency seems to be to specialize 

 where practicable, it would be too much to say that the 

 two propositions cannot be handled to advantage to- 

 gether. It is being done, of course; but the disposition 

 at present seems to be to concentrate on one thing or 

 the other. 



The Germans Face Difficulties 



Some idea of what the blockade is doing for Germany is ob- 

 tained in an item from Antwerp, Belgium. In that city the Huns 

 have seized all the mahogany pi.mos and furniture and have sent 

 the stuff to the airplane factories-, where the wood is used in mak- 

 ing airplanes. A great deal of gluing and splicing are necessary 

 before the material can be used: but the Germans are so hard put 

 to it for material that they work up every possible scrap. The 

 mahogany is wanted for propeller blades and for veneer panels 

 for planes. It takes 500 square feet of panels for one airplane, 

 and several pianos must be broken up to secure enough for one 

 machine. It is no wonder that the blockade has aroused the fury 

 of the Germans. It is pinching. 



Sawed veneer does not amount to one-tenth of that produced by 

 slicing and by the rotary process. Oak is the leading wood re- 

 duced to veneer by sawing. 



The word "veneer" was formerly a synonym for something 

 flimsy or sham, but that bad meaning of the word has now wholly 

 passed out of use. 



