HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



tical luicl probably cheaper in some instances 

 to make even ordinary widths of built-up 

 lumber, because of the scarcity and high price 

 of the face stock. The built-up panel has the 

 most pronounced advantage, however, where 

 stock is wanted wider than the average 

 ' sawmill man can furnish in anything like 

 large quantities. 



All this, while it may explain why veneer 

 users do not favor narrow widths, aoes not help 

 in solving this problem. What veneer manu- 

 facturers need to get the right kind of 

 I)rofit and to incorporate the proper ele- 

 ment of economy of timber in the work is 

 a market for narrow stuff, and the needs in 

 this line are so urgent that some satisfactory 

 solution of the question is most imperative. 



There is not a very great percentage of 

 narrow stock in rotary cut veneer, when com- 

 pared to the great proportion of narrow 

 widths in lumber from the average sawmill. 

 The percentage of veneer running under 12 

 inches in the average rotary plant cutting 

 nak, for instance, is thought by manufac- 

 turers to seldom exceed 10 per cent, and fre- 

 quently is not over 5 per cent, depending on 

 the quality of the timber and on how the 

 orders for stock fit in in working out so as 

 to make a close clean-up. However, even at 

 the lowest percentage given the narrow stock 

 is an item worth saving. The question is, 

 how is it to be done? The answer involves 

 the cooperation of the consumer with the 

 manufacturer. The con.sunier as well as the 

 manufacturer should look to the future and 

 he will see that unless this narrow stock is 

 taken care of now be will have to pay a 

 higher price for veneer very soon, than if he 

 lends his aid in the work of planning to use 

 stock down to the lowest practical width. It 

 may be difficult for panel manufacturers to 

 aid in this work, espeeiall}' where their trade 

 is in wide panels, not only because of the 

 expense in matching up but because it does 

 not give as even figured or good-looking a 

 face to make joints in a panel. There are, 

 however, certain other users of veneer that 

 can assist materially in taking care of nar- 

 row stock, prominent among whom are fur- 

 niture manufacturers. Although they require 

 some wide stock, very wide in some instances, 

 they also have numerous opportunities to 

 utilize narrow widths. An instance was cited 

 by a manufacturer recently of a purchaser of 

 his stock who maintained that he could not 

 use narrow widths, and yet a visit to his fac- 

 tory showed that he was not only psing 2, 3 

 and 4 inch widths, but actually cutting up 

 wide stock into %-inch strips for banding 

 table tops. This furniture manufacturer 

 might have used lots of what is termed scrap 

 stock that goes to waste, but he did not want 

 to buy it because he could always cut wide 

 stock down and make whatever smaller sizes 

 ho wanted, whereas, if he had bought some 

 smaller sizes he might not have been able 

 to use them up as rapidly as he would like. 



It would seem that it is time for the buy- 

 ing trade to wake up and shake itself free 

 from contrariness of this kind and show the 

 right spirit and cooperation with the manu- 



facturers. This does not mean that they 

 should knuckle down and let manufacturers 

 sell them anything, but that the user should 

 not insist on the wide stock regardless of the 

 welfare of the manufacturer, and each should 

 strive, insofar as practical, to assist the other 

 and aid in the economical use of wood prod- 

 ucts in the form of veneer. 



In the manufacture of quarter-sawed veneer 

 a perplexing problem is to get uniformity in 

 width, color and figure. The greatest imi- 

 fonnity in width is obtained by sawing logs 

 into square-edged flitches and then working 

 these flitches on the veneer saw. This gives 

 one face of an even width and general tone 

 of color on account of coming from tho same 

 piece of timber. The ideal figure in (|uarter 

 sawing, however, comes from the sawing of 

 what are known as bevel flitches, obtained by 

 keeping the saw as near as possible at right 

 angles with the rings of growth, which in- 

 volves more frequent turning or tilting of the 

 quartered flitch and makes not only more nar- 

 row stock, but a different :vidth for prac- 

 tically every cut. Therefore, to get any great 

 number of a given width, it would become 

 necessary to select them from different 

 flitches, and this would give an undesirable 

 variety of color and figure. Wlietlier perfec- 

 tion of figure is to be sacrificed a little for . 

 uniformity in width, or whether uniformity 

 in width is to give way to perfection of fig- 

 ure remains to be seen and depends some- 

 what on the demands and requirements of 

 the users. 



The problem of having standard widths of 

 veneer so that manufacturei's can cut rotary 

 stock and carry it against the future needs 

 of the trade is one that veneer manufacturers 

 and users have not as yet faced squarely. 

 Many seem to think that veneer can not lie 

 cut and kept in stock, because they do not 

 know- Just what the user is going to rail for, 

 consequently if is necessary to wait nnfil tli.- 



order 19 in and then fill it. Delving back 

 into lumber history will reveal the fact that 

 something of th<! same idea obtained in re- 

 gard to cutting lumber in earlier days. There 

 were no standard specifications as a basis to 

 figure from, and when a man wanted lumber 

 he had it cut to suit his own ideas. But by 

 and b}' common usage gave certain ideas of 

 standard thicknesses and finally certain widths 

 and lengths, until the average user of Inniher, 

 instead of figuring out his wants according 

 to his own notion, got into the habit of look- 

 ing to the sawmill and fitting his wants to 

 the sizes that were generally cut and kept 

 in stock and he could get what he needed 

 without having to wait to get it etit to order 

 and .seasoned. There i.s, of course, a great 

 deal of special order stock, even in the lum- 

 ber business, and always will be, but there 

 is har<lly a mill that does nt)t also make large 

 quantities of standard stock that finds a 

 ready sale. 



When the veneer men come to face this 

 idea just right they will find too that the 

 veneer business has jiossibilities along this 

 line. It will never be entirely fi'ee, and need 

 not aim to be, from cutting more or less 

 stock to order, but the idea of ileveloping 

 standard specifications so that the stock can 

 be cut in advance of sale with a fair degree 

 of assurance flint it will Hurl ;i market should 

 not only be kept in luiud but should be 

 pushed, bei.'ause if niejins more satisfactory 

 business in many ways. The buyer who is 

 iu a rush for a certain line of stock can 

 find it on hand scimcwlicri'. and the niainifac- 

 turer of veneer dniinj; slai-k times wIk n or- 

 ders are scarce, can. like the sawmill nir;n, 

 cut stock against the possible require:nents of 

 the future and not have to shut down his mill 

 jiart of the time and niti it o\ertinic when 

 the rush does conic. whiU' Tlic user nf veneer 

 liowls for stock. 



'Beer and Jile StaVes. 



Beer and ale staves are made exclusively of 

 white oak, and made in the rough by hand, 

 so that the oak must not onlj' be of the choice 

 white variety, but it must be smooth and 

 straight-grained, so that it will split well. 

 Kentucky produces more beer staves than any 

 other state in the Union, and might be termed 

 the center of operations in this industry, with 

 probably Tennessee coming next, and all the 

 other states having good oak timber con- 

 tributing more or less. No one has ever pre- 

 pared statistics of the exact amount of oak 

 timber used annually in beer staves. The 

 Forest Service estimates that there are be- 

 tween 12,000,000 and 13,000,000 staves made 

 a year, which probably represents tho staves 

 made to be ' sold on the open market. The 

 trade generally estimates the total product at 

 about 10,000,000 made by stave men and 

 about 10,000,000 made by beer barrel coopers, 

 who have tljeir own stave plants. It would 

 be a little difficult, however, even if exact 

 figures were available, to determine how much 



timber is required fo produce this stock. Smuc 

 timber works up more economically than 

 others, and some crews of men can get more 

 out of the same amount of timber than 

 others, hence it would be almost impossible to 

 estimate with any accuracy the total amount 

 used, although it is undoubtedly much larger 

 than even the trade believes. Staves are 

 made in four sizes for beer and two for ale, 

 the lengths running from 16% inches for the 

 pony beer kegs to 40 inches for ale hogs- 

 heads. The sizes and specifications for beer 

 and ale stock, as adopted by the beer stock 

 association, are as follows: 



Rules kor Inspection oi-- Hollowed, Eqcalizeb 

 AND Listed Beek St.ives .vnd Sawed Headi.vg. 



Beer staves must be made from sound white 

 o.qk timber, free from short crooks and seed 

 holes : two sound worm holes in a stave ma.v be 

 allowed, but ninet.v per cent of each lot must 

 be free from such defects. 



Grain — They must I>c straight grain, or as 

 nearly so as possible, .and will be classed as culls 

 if the grain has an angli' uf over 4.5 degrees. 



