dwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



July 25. 1918 



Progress in Glue Using 



keep it to look at again some time. 1 talked this grease 

 and foam business over with a glue drummer one day 

 and he told me that the lack of grease often makes glue 

 foam. 1 told him that 1 thought it was more apt to foam 

 when there was grease in it than when it had none. He 

 agreed that too much grease was bad for glue and pre- 

 vented it from sticking good, but just enough to stop 

 foaming was good. He told me that in his factory all 

 the animal fat was taken out by skimming the vats while 

 the boiling was going on, but that later a certain amount 

 of cocoanut oil was added to prevent foaming. He said 

 the reason this was done was because the cocoanut oil 

 left no grease smell, but that its effect on the glue was 

 the same. 



I have heard of glue men that put a little tallow in glue 

 to prevent foaming, but I never did it and I don't want 

 that kind of glue. Just the same, Jim, if you are sure 

 you are using this new lot of glue the same as you have 

 used the other lots, you can bet it is not so good and you 

 better go careful. The price of glue is way up in the air 

 and the old man might bought something just as good. 

 And, Jim, when you have been buying one thing for 

 years the price may go up and there ain't anything that 

 is just as good that can be bought for less money. 



Hope you all are well. Best regards to the gang. 

 Your Friend, 



HEN. 



The veneer industry and its growth during the past twenty 

 years has been directly responsible for more development of scien- 

 tific knowledge in connection with glue using than any other in- 

 dustry, or all other industries combined. Glue is used for many 

 different things and glue substances perhaps enter more into 

 paper and fiber box making and use than into woodworking, yet 

 those woodworkers using veneer have done most of the research 

 work and have developed knowledge of glues and inspired the 

 introduction of new glue substances. 



The development of the airplane industry will bring to the 

 veneer business some decidedly progressive ideas about glue and 

 glue using. This is because of the exacting requirements in the 

 making of airplane propeller blades and fusillages. The blades 

 are made of lumber built up and afterward shaped, and it is the 

 propeller and body parts of the machines that call for the exact- 

 ing service of glue. It is imperative to have a glue which will 

 hold firmly, and will resist changes in temperature and moisture. 

 Glue in its use is almost as old as civilization. Even among 

 the savages in all countries there was found the use of glue sub- 

 stances of one kind and another. Our American Indians made 

 a sort of glue out of blood, while over in the oriental countries 

 there have been, back as far as the historical records go. uses of 

 glue for coating baskets and woven work, which not only helps 

 hold the work together, but served the purpose of waterproofing 

 to quite an extent. Still, notwithstanding the long association 

 with and the use of glue by mankind, the main progress in scien- 

 tific development in glue using has been made in the past quarter 

 of a century, and the biggest part in this development has been 

 played by members of the veneer and panel industry and of the 

 jlue making fraternity catering to this trade. 



An example is furnished by the knowledge which has been 

 developed about temperature limitations in the preparation and 

 use of what we know as standard glue. Only during the last ten 

 or fifteen years has the trade come to understand thoroughly the 

 injury which may be done to glue by too much heat in cooking. 

 In the early days the practice was to cook glue in a container, 

 simply protecting it from burning or scorching by putting the 

 glue container inside of another and surrounding it with water. 

 With this prevention against scorching it was thought the cook- 

 ing was safe and there was no danger of overheating. 



By and by, however, those doing research work in the matter 

 discovered that it was easy to overheat glue, and the result of a 

 long series of experiments and analytical study by veneer users 

 and the glue makers, was the setting of temperature limitations 

 for the preparation of glue. It was found that when glue was 

 heated above 1 60 degrees it was injured. Since water normally 

 boils at 2 I 2 degrees it is easy to understand how glue was being 

 overheated even when protected with a jacket of water. Through 

 research work and experiments the trade established tempera- 

 ture limitations ranging in the main from about 135 to 155 

 degrees Fahr. 



This perhaps is the most importa 

 resent generation in connection 



No man should spend valuable time hunting for trouble, simply 

 because he worka with glue and veneer. 



All Threo of U* Will Be Benefited if 



single work done during the 

 ith standard glue, and it is 

 the veneer industry which has been responsible both directly and 

 indirectly for the progress, though the entire woodworking indus- 

 try as well as other lines of glue using has profited. 



Meantime the quantity of glue used in veneering, as the indus- 

 try assumed greater magnitude, has made this a fruitful field for 

 research in the developing of other glue substances and there has 

 come to the trade during the past twenty years quite a string of 

 candidates for favor in this connection. Some of these have 

 fallen by the way, some have proven successful in a greater or less 

 degree, and some have attained prominence. At the present 

 time it is a question if the original standard glue is not in the way 

 of being somewhat overshadowed by the many offerings and the 

 quantities used of other glues, most notably the vegetable product, 

 You Mention HARDWOOD RECORD 



