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HARDWOOD RECORD 



just when, somebody grasped the idea of 

 placing the gauge bar right close to the edge 

 of the knife, and a little closer, at that, than 

 the thickness of the veneer that was to pass 

 through. At the instant this was done the 

 gauge became a pressure bar and the modern 

 machine began its career. But there were 

 troubles ahead. It took more power to pass 

 the veneer through a slit that was a little 

 bit too narrow for the comfort of the wood, 

 and the shafts and the gears and the frame 

 work of the machine were all too light and 

 frai! to stand it. The machines had to be 

 heavier, but who was going to pay any more 

 for them on that account? Didn't they cost 

 too much already? And so it was a long 

 time before the pioneers in the veneer ma- 

 chine business, and there are three or foul 

 of them, could find a market for anything 

 different from what their customers had been 

 in the habit of buying. That was before the 

 day of big things, and the doing of big 

 things, in the veneer business. 



And then there was another difficulty in 

 the use of the new idea which compelled 

 gauge bar to carry a sharp edge am! 

 almost level with the knife edge. In trying 

 to force the wood through an opening thai 

 was too small for it to enter easily, a gi 

 many slivers were broken off, and they 

 lodged about the knife and choked down the 

 machine. This never happened with our old 

 friend, the roller gauge, which bj this time 

 had taken its place just as close to the knife 

 as it could get and tried its best to be a 

 pressure bar. There was no choking down oi 

 the machine, because the slivers would roll 

 through with the veneer. It is interesting 

 to note that the poor old roller was being 

 shoved up against the log for all it was 

 worth, with the comforting idea that there 

 was virtue in pressure no matter where it 

 landed. 



lay everybody awoke to the fact that 



veneer as sound as a board and smooth as 

 glass was being cut %, 7/16, even V> inch 

 thick, and it was seen that the machines that 

 doing it were heavy, massive affairs. 

 and it was realized at last that the old 



machine was altogether too expensive at half 

 the price of the new machines. 



The extent to which the modern machine 

 owes its form to the development of the 

 pressure bar idea is an interesting fact. II 

 marks a sharp distinction between it and the 

 machines for cutting staves, barrel hoops 

 and other thin lumber cut without pressure, 

 and it is exactly this distinction that we 

 were seeking at the beginning of this article. 



From now on the development of the veneer 

 machine will likely be in the direction of 

 greater precision, in conveniences for operat- 

 ing, more perfect adjustments, and devices 

 to increase the output; in fact, little refine- 

 ments that will not carry the machine far 

 trom its present form and from the main line 

 of progress. The sum total of these is al- 

 ready great, and the last few years have 

 done much for the machine in this direction. 

 The automatic regulation of the pitch of the 

 kniiV, although a feature of long standing, 

 has lately been simplified and reduced to a 

 more rigid construction. The machine frame, 

 cast all in one piece and made a means of 

 giving a solid foundation without joints, is 

 in line with the tendency in all machinery. 

 The old complaint of a congested pressure 

 bar has been overcome by quick-releasing and 

 tilting movements that do not alter the ad- 

 justments. The pressure on the log, in other 

 words, the opening between the knife and 

 bar can now be adjusted instantly 

 to the whole length of the cut at once. Qigh 

 speed chucking of the logs by indepen 

 belt, quick feeds forward and back for the 

 knife and two or three speeds for the log, 

 all help to bring the output up to the high- 

 est notch. Eoughing cuts for rounding up 

 tin- log is a recent idea for increasing tin' 

 capacity. 



The demands of the trade require a wide- 

 range of designs and lengths and weights 

 in the machine, and builders soon find that 

 iiave good-sized fortunes locked up in 

 patterns which are apt to go out of Btyle 



Imiim ami I- me of little or no value. 



But this is a sure sign of progress and the 

 lit a sure of it. 



HardWood Record Mail 'Bag, 



[In this department It Is proposed to reply 

 to such Inquiries as reach this office from the 

 Hardwood Record clientage as will be of enough 

 general Interest to warrant publication. Every 

 patron of the paper Is invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fullest extent, and an attempt 

 will be made to answer queries pertaining to all 

 matters of interest to the hardwood trade, in 

 a succinct and intelligent manner.l 



and character named, it will afford me pleas- 

 ure to put him in communication with the 

 (niter of the above letter, a reputable and 

 high-class eastern wholesale house. — Editor. 



Large Dimension Oak. 

 Philadelphia, April 15. — Editor Hardwood 

 ID: We have an Inquiry tor about 40,000 

 feet 1 - ' , \ 1 s 1 , :io feet good sound white oak. 

 We would like to Inquire if you know any manu- 

 facturer who can «el out such an order as this. 

 It Is our Impression that it could be obtained in 

 hi Mississippi or Alabama, but do not 

 recall. Any information you can give us on 

 this subject will be appreciated. — D. & Co. 



If an}' of the Hardwood Record's oak 

 manufacturing clientage is prepared to exe- 

 cute an order for dimension oak of the size 



Wants a Gas Engine and a Planing Mill 

 Oui.it. 



Sand Fork, W. Va., April 14. — Editor Hard- 



W00D Record: I am In need of a 25 H. P. 



1 njine and a planing mill outfit. Will you 



please give me information as to where I can 



gel these goods to the best advantage? — A. E. M. 



The writer is respectfully referred to the 

 advertisement in the Hardwoo. Record of 

 the S. A. Woods Machine Company of Bos- 

 ton, Mass., which makes practically a full 

 line of planing mill machinery of the highest 

 class. If he wants a second-hand equipment, 



he can proba.bly obtain it through consulting 

 the ' ' Machinery for Sale ' ' department of 

 this paper. The editor will be very glad to 

 give the address of the writer of the above 

 letter to any manufacturer or owner of gas 

 engines for sale who will communicate with 

 him. — Editor. 



Mor9 About Maple. 

 Botxe City, Micu., April 16. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Record : While tiere may be two sides 

 to the question of the correct method of manu- 

 facturing and inspecting clear maple, there Is 

 only one correct ,way of inspecting and manu- 

 facturing such wood — inspect it according to 

 the rules and manufacture it so as to get every 

 foot of good lumber out of a Log. It seems to 

 me that the rules, even in No. 1 common, in 

 the present form are not plain, not simple 

 enough. Why use such words as are found : 

 "No. 1 common must be 3 inches or over wide, 



to 10 feet long," and then again, "Pieces 6 

 feet long must be 6 inches and over wide and 

 clear." You may be a perfect inspector, know 

 every defect in lumber, still, unless you have 

 been through the mill and camp, you will find 

 the defects in logs a different problem. In all 

 hardwoods there are at least three different de- 

 fects — heart, stump and side defects. Each 

 one of them originates from a different cause, 

 and each one affects the lumber in a log in a 

 different way. It requires years of study to 

 master them and then no man can always judge 

 them perfect. As I stated in my first letter, 



1 am not a buyer or seller of lumber ; I am only 

 Interested as a laborer in the correct way of 

 sawing thick maple. 



The present rules of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association seem unfair to me, because 

 there is no way to manufacture 3-incli or 4-inch 

 plank without losing a great deal of clear lum- 

 ber. I would be pleased to meet the man who says 

 this can be done, not in a discussion nor through 

 the columns of your paper, but in the mill, the 

 only fair and practical way to test this problem, 

 I do not enter in this discussion for the sake 

 of pleasing or benefiting my employer, as to me 

 It is only a matter of right. 



You did not make yourself very plain in sug- 

 gesting a correct way for making thick maple. 

 If I understand you right, you would not take 

 3 or 4-inch stock from the outside of a log, for 

 if y/ni did, you will admit there is a good deal 

 of clear lumber in the two edgings, even from 

 a straight log. You must figure those edgings 

 a total loss to the sawmill, for it requires 

 I"-, id machinery such as is found in the dif- 

 ferent factories to resaw them. There is too 

 much spring in the timber to resaw them in 

 tin- sawmill. Vim say Square the log or cant 

 first ." There are two ways to do this. A 

 perfect is inch log will square 12 inches. In 

 nearly all logs you must figure 011 a 6xG-inch 

 heart. An 18-lnch log is larger than the average 

 log. This will leave only 3 inches clear lumber 

 on each side of heart. This will leave a piece 

 6x12 Inches with heart in center. The right 

 way tn saw this is to turn it down again. This 

 will also leave 3 inches of clear lumber on 

 each side of heart. Chances are that every one 

 of those four planks will show a No. 2 common 

 on heart side. Perhaps you meant to cut 1 

 inch mi both sides of log until you get a 6-inch 

 cant. Only on a certain class of logs is there 

 no waste of lumber in this method, but this 

 would not supply the market for 3 and 4-inch 

 stock, besides that, every plank would be only 

 6 Jin Ins- wide. No man can make a certain 

 rule for sawing logs : every log must be sawed 

 for what there is in it. For some purposes 

 such planks as those In question would be even 

 better than clear planks. There is nothing equal 

 in strength to sound maple and beech hearts. 

 It will not pay to make one face clear plank 

 purposely. The fact of there being a difference 

 in quality In the maple of different localities 

 would affect the price no more than it does now. 

 If the rule says firsts and seconds shall be from 

 6 to 20 Inches wide, both widths must go. 

 This matter could be taken care of in some other 

 way. In such a tally sheet as suggested by you 

 some time ago. Make the rules as plain and 

 simple as possible, then let the buyer and seller 

 take care of the rest. HERMAN Kunhrt. 



