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Experience Talks on Woodworking ' K ;s^ 



1 liL> rij;lit iiiiu in real quality caliiiict »ork i? not only to liu\<' 

 a bark bulnnoo the face, but aUo to linvc tlint back, or inside, pro- 

 tected with Tarnish or shellac in the floishing. 



The main thing a veneer press is built for is to exert pressure, but 

 one of the main problems in building it is to create facilities for get- 

 ting stock into and out of it and for putting on apd releasing tbo 

 pressure in the shortest time and with the least labor. 



Some journal boxes mnv give n little more trouble in hot weather 

 than in cold, but a journal too heuvilv loitdej or without siiflicient 

 lubrication will run hot regardless of the weather. 



Sofetv makes fewer accidents, 

 time lost. 



Fewer accidents result in less 



The factory or planing mill using a lot of small saws, which docs 

 not have n well equipped filing room and an expert in charge of it 

 is passing by one of the good chances to get better work and higher 

 efficiencT. 



Cutters are cheajier than labor. When a man has to grind cut- 

 ters, first to one outline, then to alter another, and all the time the 

 mouldings required are stock sizes, it is at once a penny wise and 

 pound foolish idea, for not only is there a waste of cutter, loss of 

 time, reduction in the size of the emery wheel, but a machine lying 

 idle which should be earning money for the owner. 



Time, patience, and free cutting sandpaper on machines and belts 

 will reduce the amount of hand work in tho finishing room, which 

 is an item of do mean size. 



The direct motor drive on planers now means more tlian it did 

 when they first started to use motors for this work. Today it means 

 coupling motors direct to the cutterhead, whereas formerly the motor 

 was connected to the countershafts of the machine and the cutters 

 were driven with belts. 



When using grease cups, study is necessary to determine just how 

 much the cup should be revolved each time the machine is oiled up. 

 No grease finds its way into the bearing except when the cup is turned 

 ahead a bit, so as to force out some of it. The man who has charge 

 of the oiling should find out by actual trial just how far it is neces- 

 sary to turn the cup in order to force out the required amount of 

 grease. 



Did you ever, after putting your circular saw in good order and 

 starting to resaw, find your saw inclined to run or snake, and wonder 

 what the trouble was? Perhaps the feed rolls are a little too 

 close together and pinch the board too tightly. Try easing up on 

 them a little. 



The imitation of wood on metal furniture is some comjiliment, 

 but the use of more wood in the form of veneer, and less imitation 

 would be more satisfactory, particularly to the lumberman. 



If the good machine man groomed his machine every day with 

 the same care that the good teamster grooms his horse, the depre- 

 ciation in machinery would be much less. 



A dirty glue pot not only looks bad, but is bad. The only way 

 to get the best results from glue is to keep the pots and brushes 

 clean and use fresh glue all the time. 



On the subject of accidents much has been and will be written, 

 for they will occur. Some of the worst accidents happen in con- 

 nection with machines not usually considered dangerous. Some- 



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nine ago ii iiiiiii »iui umiig a Miinll ihop rip Saw, nii'i iiitiiou^h the 

 tnurhiuu was iMjuipped with n guard, it was pushed up to one Kiilci 

 and not in use. In ripping n miiull wedge, off the edge of a Ixiard, 

 the saw caught tlie wedge iinil threw it straight bnrk niid up, iu|unrely 

 into the iiiMTatur'H eye. lie fell back unconscious, with his eye put 

 out. Ilnd the guard been in pliu-e it would have caught tho wedge 

 iind saved the man's ove. Haw guards, jointer giiardn, and all guardn 

 should bo in shops and in conntant use. Unfortunately some opera- 

 tors dinlike lo use them and the result is sometimes serious. 



One of the most dangerous pitfalls in every manufacturing business 

 lies in either inability or unwillingness to know the exact cost of 

 production, (.'ompetition is becoming keener every day, and a few 

 rents, more or less, either way may mean ultimate success or fail- 

 ure. There is no information placed before tbo manufacturer that 

 is more important than an accurate computation of tho cost of each 

 article which ho makes. 



When you juit in a new blower system, or overhaul the old one, 

 bear in mind tho convenience of floor spouts here and there, and add 

 I hem wherever needed. 



Fireproof dry kilns are desirable things that every factory should 

 strive to get, but one should not lose sight of the fact that a kiln 

 is wanted to dry lumber, and tho first consideration is to get it so it 

 Mill do that properly. 



There is a tendency on tho ]i:irt of some millmcn to deplore the 

 number of special and detail moldings they are required to put out. 

 One of the easiest ways to remedy this is to control instead of hinder 

 this tendency of the times. One way is to furnish all architects 

 whose work comes regularly to tho factory with a number of special 

 trim designs. Many people desire something different from the eter- 

 nal sameness of the standard molding Ixiok, and take readily to new 

 designs furnished in this way, if of pleasing symmetry. One firm 

 worked up a special line of "craftsman" molding and trim in just 

 this way. The designs took so well with the architects, who were 

 often saved work, ami their patrons, that the outside special detail 

 molding work was almost eliminated. 



Whc-n we see a man ripping good wide stock into thin strips for 

 moldings, or for small dimensions, we must persist in thinking about 

 the scrap piles and edgings that accumulate around so many jilaces, 

 that are good for just these things and nothing else. 



Speaking of the use of muriatic acid in brazing saws, do some of 

 those who use it regard it as having flusiing properties "r i« it 

 merely an agent for cleaning the surface of the lapt 



There is not nearly so much business in scroll brackets to use up 

 scrap stock around the planing mill, as there once was; but still there 

 .are plenty of other uses that do not involve quite so much work. 



A man who operates a machine without learning where and how 

 to oil all the moving parts, may learn something about mechanics, 

 but he misses the very first lesson, without which he is not likely 

 to make a success. 



If one has a planer designed for dressing wide stock, and runs 

 narrow stock on the machine, some pains should be taken to see 

 that the work is varied and distributed evenly on the bed; other- 

 wise when it comes time to dress wide stock, the machine may be in 

 bad shape. 



A filer once had a 22-gage resaw that his swage wouldn 't swage. 

 He tried a spring set, and got it about three times too wide. It 

 made a little fuss, because it left most of the teeth in the board. 



