April 10, 1921 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



31 



Merit of Plywood Should Be Capitalized 



To one who has been associated with most branches of the wood 

 fabricating industries, the least understandable observation is that 

 in spite of a long, honorable business record, most manufacturers 

 of forest products are still groping for stable merchandising prin- 

 ciples and find themselves constantly in the position of apologizing 

 for their existence. Looking back over my many years' association 

 w^ith mills and plants cutting our hardwood trees into usable raw^ 

 material, I see a path marked bj' many a chasm of trade des- 

 pondency and many a rugged peak of difficult manufacturing and 

 marketing problems, in fact, as I review this vista it seems that a 

 miracle has been performed in bringing the industry as far ahead 

 as it has now^ come in spite of its characteristic lack of organiza- 

 tion and its notorious laxity in merchandising efficiency. 



If you ask the average layman "w^hat is lumber?'* his answer 

 w^ill invariably be *'it is boards." That is about as far as his con- 

 ception of it goes. He sees merely an uninteresting piece of wood 

 and probably knows less about its origin than he does of the prod- 

 ucts of almost any one of a hundred far less important industries. 

 Why is this? It is merely because the lumberman as a pioneer has 



been too deeply engrossed with developing his ravk' material 



timber w^hich progressive effort has taken him away from the 



centers of civilization and placed him in an isolated position where 

 he has been entirely on his own responsibility and that thus he has 

 developed those characteristics which have been more than any 

 one thing, responsible for the great difficulty in bringing about co- 

 ordinated effort. Further, because he has taken his chances with 

 the w^ilderness and w^ith other difficulties incident to a pioneering 

 endeavor, he has built a v/all of conservative, almost jealous, con- 

 fidence in his own individual ability and a belief that no one can 

 possibly understand his business even in a remote way. 



What has this isolation brought to lumber? Merely because it 

 has been so far divorced from immediate contact with the people 

 at large, those people have not even begun to understand it and 

 hence have no sympathy v^^ith lumbermen. They are prone to 

 believe all the wild tales told of lumbermen who are painted in 

 black colors as pirates and barons of the old order. 

 Must Confide in Public 

 If in lumbering (by far the largest commercial unit in the forest 

 products industries), this condition has been brought about and 

 has prevailed because of lack of co-ordinated endeavor to teach 

 the public, is it not assured that in a lesser, but rapidly growing 

 division of the forest products industry, namely, the manufacture 

 and utilization of veneers, an even greater misunderstanding and 

 lack of appreciation may result from this same laxity in publicity? 

 Thus, is it not fortunate that the real development of veneering 

 has begun coincidently \vith the daw^n of a new^ conception of forest 

 products merchandising? 



What factors brought this new idea about? Possibly it is a 

 combination of a number of things, among others being the rise 

 of a new generation which has not been compelled to oppose the 

 grim might of nature in forging an industry out of the forests. 

 This new generation has come into an established business and 

 because in the main it has grown up in contact with metropolitan 

 circles, it has absorbed a measure of the inspiration of modern 

 merchandising. In short, its attention is not, as was that of the 

 original lumbermen, focused almost exclusively on the manufac- 

 turing end. 



Then, too, the development of the association idea has brought 

 about a natural realization that in co-operation lies stability. Fur- 

 ther, the great national movement for the conservation of our 

 forests has led many in the wood fabricating circles to realize that 

 an unstable market, brought about by lack of understanding of 

 the product, is a great detriment to conservation and has caused 

 the conviction that more efficient study of the forest products 

 industries and the application of more scientific merchandising 

 thought would be a powerful measure in behalf of conservation. 



One of the Oldest Arts 



Veneering is one of the oldest phases of vv'ood manufacturing. 

 It comes down literally from the ages and yet during my brief span 

 of life, I personally have seen most of the major developments in 

 the art of manufacturing high grade veneers economically. In 

 short, the industry began to expand but a comparatively few^ years 

 ago. It is destined to become one of the biggest factors in the 

 conversion of our trees into valuable raw material. Yet, its 

 future is tenaciously linked with the popular mood. It is refresh- 

 ing, therefore, to note that the modern progressive spirit has at 

 this early date so imbued the industry that it is about to launch a 

 broad campaign of education among the laymen. The sad experi- 

 ence that can be read in the history of the mother industry — 

 lumbering — reveals tragic results that may come of aloofness from 

 the public. Many a market that legitimately belongs to lumber has 

 been taken away merely because lumbermen have evidently been 

 unable to understand that the good word here and there in behalf 

 of some competing material and to the detriment of wood, has 

 not been accidental but has been part of a w^ell conceived idea. 

 The very insidiousness of this propaganda has been its most 

 effective characteristic. Results are every day apparent. 



Now Webster says of veneer that it is "a thin leaf or layer of more 

 valuable or beautiful material for overlaying an inferior one, esp., 

 such a thin leaf of wood to be glued to a cheaper wood." In our 

 social contacts we refer to a man whose culture and refinement 

 is skin deep as having acquired an artificial aspect, or "veneer," 

 of personal charm. In short, the term is used every day in a 

 derogatory sense. So the layman's mind has conceived of the 

 veneered article the idea that is something inferior. Well do I re- 

 member that in my boyhood days, long before I knew anything 

 about veneering or veneers, I was one day admiring an old side- 

 board that had been in the family for 1 50 years. It was a beautiful, 

 deep mahogany and it had always been our boast that it was "solid 

 mahogany." Imagine my consteration on absent-mindedly picking 

 at the front piece to have a sliver of the surface sheet of veneer 

 come off in my handl The result was disconcerting, not so much 

 because of the punishment I anticipated, as of the disappointment 

 in discovering that what I had always treasured as something sub- 

 stantial w^as in reality veneered. It is true the underw^ood was 

 mahogany, but that did not ameliorate my disillusionment. 



So the average person today conceives a veneered article as 

 something w^hich does not represent value and the only way this 

 erroneous and unfair conception can be eradicated is through a 

 systematic course of education which will show to the housewife 

 and the man who pays her bills, that only through veneering can 

 the beautiful wood effects be accomplished, and further that well- 

 made plywood presents better and more lasting physical qualities 

 than does the solid material, that is, under certain conditions. 

 Plyw^ood Is an Apt Term 

 The use of the term "plywood" as against "panels" or "veneered 

 goods" is a clever conception of psychological value. Half of the 

 misconception v^^ill disappear w^ith the adoption of that term, but 

 the other half must be overcome through the sustained educational 

 campaign that is now developing. The manufacturer of fine fur- 

 niture or cabinet goods, who uses plywood in his factory, w^ill be 

 doing a good turn for himself if the analyzes this educational effect 

 and turns this effort in his direction. ' He has for many years 

 used plywood for different purposes and fie knows there are tw^o 

 kinds, the good and the bad. That the proposed campaign may 

 be most fruitful the cabinet maker must come to feel an un- 

 shaken confidence in the dependability of the product. Probably 

 nine out of every ten cabinet makers who use plywood have not 

 especially considered why they use it, nor stopped to analyze its 

 advantages and its possibilities in their own business. Because he 

 can not produce a beautiful and a highly finished article in many 

 cases w^ithout high grade plywood the cabinet maker must come to 



