HARDWOOD RECORD 



13 



Encampment. He takes great pleasure in 

 the several fine farming properties which he 

 has acquired in recent years, and he manages 

 them in the same methodical manner which 

 he employs in the conduct of his business. 



Personally he is a tall, well-built man, 

 just entering the prime of life, and although 

 of somewhat retiring disposition, he would 

 attract attention in any gathering. He is 

 always courteous and affable, and has the 

 confidence of the business communities both 

 in the East and in the West, where his inter- 

 ests are located. He has made it his study 

 t" acquaint himself with the people and con- 

 ditions of both sections and so intimately is 

 he known and so well liked, that both Indiana 

 and Massachusetts lav claim to him as one of 



their honorable representative business men. 



Mr. Litchfield does not know the meaning of 

 the word vacation as commonly applied to the 

 business year, but he has latterly devoted 

 some of his time to fancy farming and the 

 raising of fine Jersey cattle. 



When asked to what he attributes his suc- 

 cess, he said: "Two important factors must 

 enter into the life of a successful business 

 man. First, he must attend strictly to busi- 

 ness, giving all personal attention possible to 

 very detail. Second, he must be careful in 

 making up his business associates, ;is tin- 

 stock he sells can be no better than that fur- 

 nished by the person from whom he buys, and 

 his credit will eventually be no better than 

 that of the men to whom he sells. ' ' 



Mission of the Veneer Machine. 



As a class there are no other people on 

 earth who are, or at least ought to be, 

 more deeply interested in the subject, of the 

 mission of the veneer machine than the 

 manufacturers of hardwood lumber. It is 

 the material that is classed as hardwood 

 that is almost universally used in the manu- 

 facture of veneer, consequently holders of 

 this class of stumpage should be especially 

 interested in any and all machinery that 

 tends to the better and more economical 

 methods of converting this timber into mer- 

 chantable products. 



For years various manufacturers of veneer 

 machinery have offered machines to the 

 public, and advertised them in lumber jour- 

 nals, where they pointed out that these 

 machines have various advantages, among 

 them being economy in timber, inasmuch as 

 there is no kerf and the material for these 

 machines is comparatively smooth and not 

 rough like lumber requiring work and waste 

 at the planer to put it in a smooth condi- 

 tion and work it to exact thickness. And 

 yet, notwithstanding all that has been said 

 in trade paper advertisements and circu- 

 lars issued nv machinery men, and in the 

 numerous articles that have been written 

 for trade journals on the subject, there still 

 remains considerable doubt in the public 

 mind as to the exact mission of the veneer 

 machine. In other words, there are a num- 

 bei of questions that sawmill men, and for 

 that matter others interested in the subject, 

 would like to have answered without the 

 confusing verbiage that tends more to ob- 

 scure the meaning thax to give enlighten- 

 ment. A few of these questions follow: 



(1) What is the mission of the rotary 

 veneer machine — is it intended to replace 

 the hardwood sawmill.' 



(2) Can the veneer machine ordinarily 

 be run as a side issue to the sawmill, work- 

 ing to advantage material that cannot well 

 be utilized in the mill? 



(3) What varieties of hardwood timber 

 can be worked successfully on a rotary ma- 

 chine ' 



(4) What thickness and what dimension 



in lumber will a rotary machine make suc- 

 cessfully? 



(5) What is the cost per thousand feet 

 of logs in manufacturing common veneer on 

 a rotary machine, say the product is 14 inch 

 thick? 



(6) What does it take in the way of 

 machinery to equip a veneer plant that can 

 be operated to the best advantage as far as 

 cost of manufacturing stock is concerned? 



(7) Are there any standard sizes of 

 veneer used that one could cut and keep in 

 stock with any assurance of being able to 

 sell it if it were not cut to specific orders? 



(8) What and where is the best market 

 for veneer .' 



(9) What are the chances for sue. ess in 

 making oak veneer on a rotary machine in 



the WOeds. 1 



There are a number of other questions 

 which might be asked that may suggest 

 themselves before we are through with the 

 subject, but there are enough here to keep 

 the trade thinking for a while. If the manu- 

 facturers of veneer machines and others in- 

 terested will enter the discussion and help 

 us explain them we will have some very in- 

 teresting matter en the veneer question in 

 a short time. But. for the present, let us 

 take the questions one at a time, and con- 

 sider first, "What is the mission of the 

 rotary veneer machine — is it intended to 

 replace the hardwood sawmill.'" 



The veneer machine cannot now, or ever, 

 replace the sawmill in the broad set 

 that is, take the place of it entirely, because 

 there is an almost endless variety il 

 nets made by the sawmill that will Qi 

 come within the realm of the veneer ma- 

 chine. The hardwood sawmill has a mis- 

 sion in the manufacture of lumber of all 

 kinds, from one inch up, and dimension 

 Stock of all sizes, from table legs 1 

 timbers, that belongs to it absolutely, and 

 there is no chance in the light of present 

 day mechanics of any other machine! 

 placing tie' sawmill in this class of work. 

 In fact, the veneer machine does not 

 try to invade the field of hardwood flooring. 



wlli ' " only about a s inch 



thick. )• that th( mis- 



nine is not to re- 

 place the sawmill but, inasmuch 

 as it works timber that otherwise would 

 be worked with the sawmill and makes thin 

 lumber that. neer 



en a re- 

 saw er seme sawing machine, -erve 

 to rediee tie . [' work that might 



be done by the hardw I saw 



mill, and therein replaces the sawmill in 

 seme measure. The mission of the veneer 

 machine is to make thin lumber. Th 

 short and sounds simple, but it really eo 

 a wide field and is becoming a very promi- 

 nent branch of the king industry. 



In the earlii .- veneer ma- 



chine its mission was almost exclusively to 

 make very thin lumber from rare and valu- 

 able woods to use as a face or covering 

 of woodwork of various kinds, generally 

 cabinet work, but incl 1 interior 



trim on houses, ships, railway carriages, 

 etc. Later when the need for baskets and 

 other light packages became so large in 

 volume that it could not be supplied by the 



hand-made products of the time, the vei r 



machine made its entree into the light 

 package world witli such marked success 

 that for a time it looked as if its greatest 

 mission was in the field of baskets and 

 light packages. Its work in this Held has 

 continued to increase and is now more ex- 

 tensive than ever before; but of late years 

 other Hues of work, that are growing in 

 prominence, probably today overshadow 

 1 lie basket industry. The greatest mist 

 of the veneer machine at present and in 

 view of the prospects in the future, is in 

 the manufacture of thin lumber, ranging in 

 thickness from 1-16 inch to o-s inch. The 

 call for this In 1 es from furniture 



manufacturers', cabinet workers of all 

 kinds, planing mills which manufacture in- 

 terior house finish, and a number of other 

 industries entirely apart from box and 

 crate mat which are to some ex- 



tn the sa Jass as basket and other 



package industries. Package manufactur- 

 ing is, or ought to lie in point id' volume, 



reatesl field foi this 



■ 1 rv lias not only grown to enormous 

 proportions, but 1- one in which the great- 

 est quantity of the lumber n led can be 



advax ma 



era! 

 different points. In the tirst place, the 

 ven. waste in - 



dusi _- thin lumber 



1 ill. which is a big item in itself; the 



a D be cut 



nig. and tie stock is smooth and 

 require the work of the planer, as 



in time and timber. Tie 



which is 



warp, and 

 make 



