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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



June 25, 1918 



tions. All that 1 could do was try to keep the committee advised 

 as to what boxes were being bought and who were getting the con- 

 tracts and every time 1 could to slip in a good word for the ply- 

 wood. Just before 1 left Washington they were trying out some 

 boxes, very much like the old Bethlehem box which was made in 

 large numbers in Canada during the first years of the war. This 

 box calls for three plywood partitions and seems to me the most 

 practical container of its kind. 



The naval aircraft construction people buy plywood (that is, 

 waterproof plywood) but they have to have it in such tremendous 

 sizes, that the source of supply is narrowed down to such an extent 

 that our committee could render little practical help. We were 

 able to give them information on several occasions, but we could 

 not tell them many people equipped to turn out panels eighteen 

 to twenty-four feet long by six to eight feet wide. Some of the 

 lengths I understand are even greater and as this material is 

 said to be used on pontoons and hulls of the great navy flying 

 boats and hydroplanes they are the actual sizes required. 



In the Signal Corps some plywood and very little single ply 

 was bought direct, the single ply mostly for repair depots and the 

 plywood for overseas shipment. But the great bulk of our ma- 

 terial was being brought by the airplane manufacturers, 

 and the Signal Corps was only interested in seeing it 

 was up to grade. It was the belief of the committee that by cen- 

 tralizing all this various buying and by laying out a plywooa pro- 

 gram and letting the plywood manufacturers know just what the 

 government expected of them, the best results could be obtained. 

 The president of this association and the chairman of the com- 

 mittee went to Washington and at joint conferences between the 

 Signal Corps and the naval aircraft people the matter was thor- 

 oughly discussed. The aircraft people laid out their program. 

 They knew how much plywood they required. 



AFTERNOON SESSION 



The first subject taken up at the afternoon session was 

 an address by Clyde H. Tessdale of the Forest Products 

 Laboratory, Madison, Wis., who spoke in part as follows: 



The forest products laboratory is a branch of the Forest Ser- 

 vice, which in turn is one of the bureaus of the Department of 

 Agriculture, by which it is financed. About two-thirds of the 

 work on war problems is financed by the War Department or 

 the Navy. The laboratory at Madison was originally organized 

 to study problems in connection with the utilization of wood, etc. 

 The work on war problems has been gradually expanded along the 

 line of timber testing, strength tests of wood, testing of boxes for 

 the ordnance department, airplane propellers, gas defense in the 

 chemical laboratories, and the work on the strength of veneers 

 and the manufacture of laying-up of veneer, which includes 



My own particular work is on the laying-up and gluing. We 



and ingredients which go to make up glues, and special methods 

 of laying-up veneer. It is entirely possible to obtain waterproof 

 glues. The ones which have received the most consideration are 

 made from soluble albumen from the blood of animals, and the 

 other from casein. Our work on blood albumen has been on 

 formulas for making the glues and preparing specifications for 

 blood albumen. We find it best to be bought under certain speci- 

 fications. 



With respect to casein, we have spent most of our time on 

 I hit product because it seemed to have advantages from a produc- 

 I n standpoint over the blood albumen. It is entirely possible to 



tun waterproof glue from most of the caseins on the market, 

 I lit we find it is difficult to obtain a uniform product. Every in- 

 Inidual shipment of casein received is different. That requires a 

 hinge in the formula for the glue, otherwise the glue would not 

 be waterproof, as it lacks in strength, so that a successful glue 

 cannot be made from it at all. That makes it necessary to test 

 each lot of casein received. For that reason we have felt that in 

 general the panel plants would not be very successful if they at- 

 tempted to use their own formulas. A plant in order to be entirely 

 successful would have to organize itself to purchase the materials, 

 analyze them and make certain the casein is of a suitable char- 

 acter, and have some one in the plant who would know all about 

 the formulas. For that reason we have not published our formula 

 and we have hesitated in giving it out, and blame it on the 

 methods rather than where the blame belongs. 



It is a fact though, that it is entirely possible to produce a suc- 

 cessful casein glue from most of the casein which is obtainable. 

 It is our opinion that the most successful plan is to purchase the 

 casein glue from some company organized to select the product, 

 analyze it, and if necessary test the casein so as to get a uniform 

 product and arrive at a formula for each particular lot received. 

 In that way a uniform product can be furnished to the manufac- 

 turer and thus relieve the panel man from that trouble. 



The formula we arrived at has been given out to a few com- 

 panies and we are interested in determining how successful they 

 have been, and later it may be possible to give the formula out 

 generally, but 1 am somewhat skeptical as to how the formula will 

 work out. We are trying to arrange to have the casein purchased 

 on specification. 



In answer to a question, Mr. Teesdale said that the lab- 

 oratory furnishes the formula to the people whom the 

 War Department suggests. 



With reference to the pressure of panels, he said that 

 in the opinion of the laboratory the material should be 

 left under pressure for not less than five or six hours in 

 the case of panels. 



Continuing, Mr. Teesdale said that the U. S. labor- 



