t.i iitili«< nil llic wiiiilo iKiiwililo 

 iimkiii;; an. I Mn.ir UMii(» in right in tlio \oiuvr iinluHtrv il.vlf, l>v 



ii«iii>; til.' I Iii.t ii|i iiioro roiinili'toly. Mori«ov««r, IIhtp i» liiinlly 



niiiPtli.T I'lii.c wliiTi' llint oIJ proverb of tJit> ouurt> of |iri'voiitioii 

 Iwing Ix'tUT thiiii a |Kiunil of euro will np|>ly ttioro l{ttiii|;ly Omii 

 in tho voiHvr iiiiliintrr. In other worjii, tlio U»Bt wiiy t<i kiivo or 

 uliliu- vcnwr wnstf an<l rcnlixo from it i» tc ninko lotm of it. Kodui'i" 

 it at th<> !Uiitrr<>, ^I'l niun* nut of thp tinilxT in the way of veni-<<r 

 originally an<l then lianille it nu lui to get more of the vene<<r product 

 into real MTvire ami have K-h« of it going tu trininiing. Thix is eanier 

 said than done, but it Ls not ini|iOKi<ible to ilo to quite an extent nt 

 Ien8t, It i» n-ally eaxier and inueh more practical to t«ke the tit*'p» 

 and prea-autions nec*<s!«ary for reducing the quantity of waHte than 

 it i» to <leviM> other ways* and means for utilizing waste after it in 

 made, and converting it to some good purpose. 



i)oth figureii and iileas vary considerably a.s to the nniuunt of vene<>r 

 wn.«te, or rather the entire quantity of waste Iwtween the log and the 

 available veneer pro<luct, and between the available veneer product 

 anil the finisheil veneered article. Perhaps the general average will 

 lie something like .'t.l'ti |>er cent of waste in converting Idocks into 

 vene»'r, and then altout .'l.H'^i per cent of waste in this available veneer 

 product when it comes to working it up and utilizing it for face 

 vem>er or in the making of built-up lumber. 



This is merely suggested as a pos.sible tentative average to get at 

 some Imsis for a line of argument and deduction on the subject of 

 saving waste by preventing it. 



One set of tabulated figures in the hands of the writer at present, 

 taken from a rotary veneer cutting plant in operation, shows logs 

 use<l during a day's run to the total of 45,000 feet, and an available 

 veneer product of 30,000 feet. This would b« a waste of % as com- 

 pared to the original log scale, but if figured in comparison with the 

 final veaeer product, the waste pile is equal to half the amount of 

 available veneer. 



The wa.ste in this instance is figured on the basis of board measure 

 feet in logs as a starting point. Then the thickness of veneer is niul 

 tiplied to get the inch thickness of boards. For example, '/4 of an 

 inch thick requires four times the quantity surface measure to make 

 1,000 feet l>oard measure. 



This vtaste becomes even more startling when it is considered that 

 the l>oard measure scale is calculated to allow something like 25 per 

 cent of waste — that is, it allows for the sawdust and slabs, which 

 originally amounted to approximately 25 per cent. Compared to the 

 solid contents of a log, there would be in this case a waste of the 

 original 25 per cent allowance in the log scale and of S'.i',-, per cent 

 that shows between the board measure log scale and the available 

 veneer product. Adding to this a final waste in the using of veneer 

 of .3.1% per cent, the waste item begins to assume almost staggering 

 proportions. 



The thing to do is to face this wa.ste in it« full measure and then 

 Ijefore seeking ways and means to market it a<lvantageously, see how 

 much of it can be prevented by proper manipulation. 



The first question in a proposition of this kind is, what makes the 

 waste, how does it come inf The veneer machine presumably makes 

 no kerf, that is, no sawdust; consequently it should turn out a measure 

 practically equal to the full solid contents of the block. It is easy, 

 however, to see that it doesn't. Figures of different mills at different 

 times may vary materially in the totals and the percentage of waste, 

 but all of them, all the time, show that there is a waste, that not- 

 withstanding the allowance for sawdust in log scale measurements, 

 the veneer product will never measure up to the board measure scale 

 of the logs. 



The investigation as to what causes this loss shows at least four 

 different channels. The first and most noticeable one is the cores 

 left in the veneer machine. The second on the list is end waste, the 

 extra length of block allowed in cutting to length for trimming the 

 veneer sheets to uniform dimensions. Third, we have waste incident 

 to rounding up blocks and getting them to a shape where they will 



—30— 



fuurlli . Iiiiiincl II 

 that iif dcfi'i'tn devchiiH-d in tindM'r in the procomi of cutting and of 

 Htork iliiiiuig<'<l from one cnUM> or another while cutting. 



Taking IIicm- in the or<ler mentiiMie<l, we have flrHt the matter 

 of cores. The cores or centi-r piecw left in the rotary veneer machine 

 ordinarily vary in Hir.e from wix to ten incheii. I'erhnps <-iglit inches 

 would l>e an average, though much de|H>iiilN ii|Min the nature of the 

 timlMT and the length of the blocks U-ing cut nnil the siu- of the 

 mnchineti and chucks in use. 



Down in Florida where lots of pine is worked into orange box 

 stock and light package material, small ninchines are uxcd working 

 on short blocks, and the core j>ie<'es wM-in to vary in size from four 

 to six inches. Large cores are very rarely seen in places of this kind. 

 Turn from that, however, to a vene«'r plant cutting door htock and 

 other large dimensions in veneer and one may find lots of cores nino 

 and ten inclu-s in diameter, sometimes as large as twelve inches. This 

 is becouso it takes heavy machines and large chucks to hold the blocks 

 and cut this class of veneer. 



There is a way to save some of this core waste, ami the veneer 

 manufacturing trade is beginning to turn more attention to it. The 

 simplest, an<l so far the most practical ^inipostion for saving in the 

 core waste, is to use some smaller machincx for rehandling the cores 

 and getting as much good veneer out of them as practical. 



The way this matter is handled at one progressive |ilnnt in the- 

 South is to take the cores immediately from the big machines to a 

 smaller machine and work them down while they are still warm. 

 If the big machine is cutting short blocks, the core may go imine<liBtely 

 from one machine to the other. If the blocks of the big machine are 

 too long to go into the small one, or if the ends have been battered up 

 with the chucks, the ends are trimmed off to solid wood, making the 

 block somewhat shorter. If the blocks from the big machines are of 

 extra long length they are cut into two short blocks, then swung 

 into the small machine and worked down to a very small core. A big 

 swing cross-cut saw serves to do the end trimming and the cutting 

 of the blocks in two when necessary, and with this arrangement quite 

 a lot more of the available veneer jjroduct is obtained than would be 

 practical without it. Occasionally in the working of a sound log that is 

 small originally, the little machine may get practically as much good 

 veneer from the core as was secured primarily from the block by cut- 

 ting on the big machine. Inileed there are many instances where the 

 small machines get some excellent product from the cores. In other 

 cases the product from the cores will not make a good face veneer — 

 it makes fillers and backs and can be utilized to In-tter aiivantnge than 

 it is possible to utilize the core in any other way. There has been 

 enough experimenting along this line to ilemonstrate that it is quit* 

 practical to materially reduce the core waste in veneer making by the 

 use of small machines for handling the light blocks and for handling 

 the heavy cores from the larger machines. 



End waste comes from the allowance made in the length of veneer 

 blocks for trimming. It is pretty much the same allowance that is 

 made in cutting saw-logs, with the difference that it is maile oftener 

 because the average veneer block is only aliout '4 the length of th& 

 average sawlog. The end allowance is practically the same so that 

 in working up timber into veneer blocks there is four times the waste 

 in end trimming that there is in the sawmill for trimming purposes. 



Two general plans suggest themselves for closer utilization there. 

 One is to take more pains in the work of cutting logs into blocks and 

 reduce this allowance for end waste by closer mani|iulation. The 

 other idea which suggests itself is to dispense with the core knives 

 used for trimming, the ends of veneer sheets which will permit using 

 shorter blocks, and do the end trimming with saws after the veueer 

 stock is dried. It ought to be practical, by a little exertion along the 

 line of closer utilization, to materially reduce the amount of this end 

 waste. 



Some waste incident to rounding up a log or block in the veneer 

 machine, or slab waste as we might term it, can be eliminated in many* 

 plants by the exercise of more care in centering blocks. Where blocks 



