HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



most artistic results are obtained from veneer of a good even 

 figure and texture rather tlian from the large splashy figured 

 stock, which looks as though the figure was put on with a white- 

 wash brush and then allowed to spread. 



Besides the quartered oak, there is a very considerable demand 

 for mahogany, red gum, curly birch, birdseye maple and Circassian 

 walnut. The latter wood, we believe, is advancing steadily in 

 favor for use in the higher grades of furniture, and each suc- 

 ceeding season finds more of it being made into veneer and sold 

 all over the L'nited States. Red gum is also becoming very 

 popular and in the quartered cut stock especially some beautiful 

 and artistic effects are obtained. Many concerns manufacturing 

 high-grade furniture only are making up designs, especially in 

 bedroom suites, which sell at fully as high prices as do the oak, 

 mahogany and other fancy woods. 



After the selection of veneers for color, texture, figure, etc., 

 comes the process of getting ready for the glue room. 



Knowing the tendency of veneers to absorb moisture while in 

 bulk, not only in the fancy woods, but also the cheap rotary cut 

 stock which is used for cross banding, backs, etc., great care 

 should be taken to see that such stock is kept in a uniformly dry 

 place, and we would advise in addition that all veneer stock be 

 carefully re-dried before it is glued up into the finished top or 

 panel. 



In the plant of the Kew Albany Veneering Company at Xew 

 .\lb'any, Ind., all veneers are kept in a brick and concrete building, 

 in which is located a Sturtevant heating and drying system, 

 which system eliminates from this department all dampness which 

 might otherwise accumulate. In addition to this, each separate 

 sheet of veneer for each order is carefully re-dried in a Proctor 

 girt conveyor dryer, so that there is no possibility of damp or green 

 stock being used. It is the use of such stock which is usually the 

 cause of blisters, loose veneers, open joints, etc. 



In the case of the face veneer stock, which is kept together in 

 flitches, the entire flitch is laid on an inspection table and each 

 sheet is carefully remeasured and re-inspected and then cut to 

 the required lengths for the different orders. They are then taken 

 to the clipping machine and all defects, including sap and plain 

 edges, are clipped^ off; after which the ^tock is ready for the 

 re-drying machine. From the dryer it is taken to the veneer 

 jointer and the edges of each sheet jointed; then to another 

 clipper where it is cut to the correct widths for the particular 

 order for which it is finally glued; then to the matching table, 

 where all sheets of veneer are perfectly matched for both figure 

 and color.* 



Now it is ready for the splicing or taping machine. This 

 machine splices two or more sheets together with gummed paper 

 tape, making an almost invisible joint, thus giving the finished 

 top the appearance of being built up from one solid piece of wood. 



After this operation is completed, the veneer is taken to the glue 

 room, where the edges of each taped joint are glued together on a 

 special gluing machine, thus preventing absolutely open joints or 

 hair lines, which are otherwise sometimes apparent in veneered 

 work. After the process of gluing the joints, the veneer is glued 

 on the different plies as previously explained. 



After remaining in the veneer presses for from twenty-four to 

 forty-eight hours, the pressure is released, the tops or panels taken 

 out and stacked up with inch strips between each top and panel, 

 so placed as to hold the stock entirely flat and straight, and the 

 stock is allowed to remain on sticks long enough to thoroughly 

 dry out the glue moisture, after which the stock is taken from 

 the sticks, placed on trucks and is then ready for the dimension 

 saws. From the dimension saws, it progresses to the triple drum 

 Sanders, then to the belt sanders, after which it is ready for the 

 packing room. 



In this department an expert veneer man makes the final 

 inspection, and if the stock shows up perfect as to matching, 

 gluing and the other details of manufacture, both the tops and 

 panels are carefully crated with the faces together, all edges 

 covered, and in this condition are shipped to the furniture manu- 



facturer who cuts and moulds the tops to the particular shape 

 desired, places them on a dresser, sideboard, table or whatever 

 piece of furniture they are made for, and after being resanded 

 and polished with very fine paper, this last operation usually 

 being done by hand, the entire piece of furniture is ready for 

 the finishing room. 



From the finishing room it goes to the stock room, then to the 

 packing room, and finally to the dealer, who in turn sells it to 

 his customer, for whose benefit and information this article is 

 written. "When he or she considers and ponders carefully the 

 multitudinous and various methods of manufacture through which 

 the different parts of a veneered top, panel, glass frame or drawer 

 front must pass, a fuller appreciation of the following fact will 

 be gained: That veneered furniture costs more, lasts longer and 

 is more beautiful in every particular than is furniture made from 

 solid stock, with this proviso, of course, that the veneering is done 

 in a plant fully and especially equipped for this kind of work, and 

 that the process of manufacture is carried on by competent and 

 experienced labor, and that all materials, such as glue, veneer, 

 lumber, etc., are carefully selected and properly prepared before 

 being built up into the finished article. 



The World's Forests 



According to an article by Dr. Clerget m the Journal of the 

 Paris Geological Society, there are about 3,751,000,000 acres of 

 forests on the face of the earth. In other words, about one-fourth 

 the total land surface of the globe is wooded. Of the various 

 nations, Canada stands foremost as to total forested area, con- 

 taining about 798,000,000 acres of forest. This represents a greater 

 acreage than is possessed in wooded land by all of Europe, and in 

 fact covers about one-third of the area of Canada. In Europe and 

 Asia three-fourths of the forested area lies in Eussia and Scandi- 

 navia. Finland contains the greatest acreage of wood lands, one- 

 half of its area being covered with trees. Of the great area of 

 the Russian Empire, 518,900,000 acres are wooded. After Eussia 

 follows Scandinavia with a wooded acreage of 49,400,000 and then 

 German}' with approximately 35,000,000 acres. Austria and Hun- 

 gary together have a total wood acreage of 39,500,000 acres, while 

 France has but 2,410,000 acres. Spain and Italy have practically 

 destroyed their forests, much to their permanent injur}-. India has 

 the vast area of 123,500,000 acres under forest cover, while in the 

 comparatively small area of the Japanese Empire, 56,830,000 acres 

 are wooded. 



Forests as Climate Regulators 



As the forests absorb the rainfall and gradually give out the 

 moisture thus absorbed, they prevent the humus or fertile part of 

 the soil from being washed away; and in a great measure also pre- 

 vent the occurrence of sudden rainfalls which might tear away whole 

 mountain sides. We forget, usually, one occurrence which assists 

 the regulative action of the forests — the fact that great quantities 

 of water are gradually given back by them into the atmosphere by 

 simple evaporation. The disappearance of brooks and other small 

 streams has often been accounted for by the disturbance of the 

 balance between evaporation and rainfall, caused by the clearing 

 of the forests for the purpose of cultivating ordinary crops and 

 erecting buildings. 



The Eevue Scientifique ha^ some interesting statistics in this respect. 

 It figures out that in ten hours one hectare of maize with thirty 

 plants to the square meter will give out by evaporation 36,000 kilo- 

 gr.ims of water. Reduced to British units, this means approxi- 

 mately that one acre with 12,000 stalks of Indian corn will evaporate 

 in ten hours about three and one-quarter net tons of water. One 

 hectare of beech forest, 115 years old, exhales, according to Hoevel, 

 about thirty gross tons of water daily; this would be about 26,500 

 pounds per day per acre. An oak tree with 700,000 leaves delivers to 

 the air, by evaporation, about 138 gross tons of water in six months. 



These few figures are sufficient to show what an influence the 

 forests have in regulating the climate. 



