HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



VENEERS 



VENEERED AUTOMOBILE DASH 

 BOARDS 



The fact that automobile body manufac- 

 turers have come to require dashboard pro- 

 ducers not only to furnish veneered panels, 

 but to finish them off with brass trimmings 

 and to cut all necessary openings, has led 

 certain veneer houses, not desiring to go be- 

 yond the purely veneer line, to turn that class 

 of business over to people who have the 

 proper facilities and knowledge to make a 

 specialty of automobile dashes. Indeed, the 

 industry requires specializing, and it is only 

 by that means that it is made a good paying 

 proposition. 



Five-ply veneer is not commonly used in this 

 connection, though three-ply is used to a more 

 limited extent, one of its most objectionable 

 features being the fact that it requires un- 

 usually thick facing, thus calling for an un- 

 necessary consumption of the expensive wood 

 used for that purpose. As in all veneering, 

 a core of common wood, commensurate in 

 thickness with the ultimate thickness of the 

 •dash, is used, chestnut, poplar and ash being 

 favorably thought of in the order given. 

 While ordinary glue joints are generally 

 deemed sufficient in piecing the core, some 

 manufacturers insert a splice at each joint 

 for further reinforcement. The core is al- 

 ways cross-banded by the second layer, which 

 is usually poplar. The operation of gluing 

 on this layer, while best done separately, is 

 often performed in connection with the ap- 

 plication of the last or facing coat, the two 

 being glued up and put into the press at the 

 same time. The most delicate and interesting 

 step is the preparation and gluing up of the 

 outside veneer, mahogany or Circassian wal- 

 nut usually being used for this purpose, the 

 first named to the greatest extent. 



After gluing up the core, the first operation 

 consists of cutting it to the required shape. 

 In the case of rectangular dashes, or any 

 dashes having square corners, this process is 

 comparatively easy, but where a curve is re- 

 quired the operation is not so simple. The 

 first thing done in this ease is to saw the core, 

 not on a circumference, but octagonaUy, or 

 with smaller divisions, according to the ulti- 

 mate size of the dash. On these faces are 

 now glued strips of the finishing wood, the 

 grain running around the circumference, and 

 the outer edge, when aU the strips are on, 

 forming the required curve. These strips are 

 the same thickness as the core, and after glu- 

 ing up, the joints are planed down so as to 

 be perfectly flat. The second and third pUes 

 are now put on as described, being first cut 

 to the required shape, and the edge is dressed 

 down accurately. 



Tliis formerly was all the dash builders 

 were required to perform, and to a certain 

 extent that is still the case, but as a usual 

 thing the automobile people now require a 



more extensive finishing, operations which re- 

 quire appliances not usually found in con- 

 nection with the usual veneer plant. So from 

 here on the process is not, strictly speaking, 

 within the realm of the veneer business. 



The edge, previously referred to, merely 

 rounded off and dressed down, often suffices. 

 When brass binding is required, however, this 

 finishing is not necessary, the brass being 

 clamped firmly over the edge, and covering 

 up any rough places. Another method in 

 vogue is to run a round, brass rod around the 

 edge, carrying it to the bottom on both sides 

 and there securing it. This method necessi- 

 tates the cutting of a groove on the circum- 

 ference, previous to ultimate finishing. 



This operation being performed, the dash 

 is given the required finish and polish, accord- 

 ing to specifications. The cutting of open- 

 ing is left as the last operation, and requires 

 more or less special apparatus, or at least 

 machines which the ordinary veneer man 

 would not have much use for otherwise. 



THE VENEER SITUATION 



Veneer manufacturers generally are today 

 loaded down with contracts which will cover 

 their output for some time ahead at very low 

 prices. The veneer and panel men have ap- 

 parently not been able to see very far into 

 the future, and it is surprising that they 

 should have taken on contracts for a long 

 time ahead at prices which were not profit- 

 able even with much lower log cost than that 

 of a year ago. With hardly an exception, at 

 prices the veneer makers are now getting, 

 they could sell their logs at values which 

 would show a better profit than the timber 

 brings in the form of veneers. The average 

 veneer man is really making his customer a 

 present of the profit on his timber, and is 

 securing little margin on the making of ve- 

 neers and glued-up stock. It would seem that 

 the veneer maker ought to be able to educate 

 himself up to decent values. He is producing 

 a product that not only takes the place, but 

 is a better material than solid wood, at a 

 good deal less than lumber values. 



A few leaders in veneer production, who 

 have closely analyzed the business for years, 

 have attempted to educate veneer producers 

 on a cost system, but thus far apparently the 

 efforts have been futile. 



Reports received by the Record from more 

 than a score of veneer manufacturers recently 

 are all to the effect that they are loaded down 

 with business for from six months to a year, 

 and are unable to take on any more orders. 

 They are aU very cautious about stating what 

 they are getting for their stock, but it is a 

 matter of common knowledge that the prices 

 they actually are receiving are mighty little 

 in excess of those they accepted during the 

 dull trade period of a year and more ago. 



On April 6 there was a meeting at the La- 

 Salle Hotel, Chicago, of the Rotary Cluh and 

 the Panel Club of the National Veneer & 

 Panel Manufacturers' Association, 

 o • • 



C. L. Willey, the prominent Chicago veneer 

 manufacturer, returned from a three months' 

 European trip on March 26. Mr. Willey at- 

 tended the mahogany auction sales in Liver- 

 pool and secured about 1,300 African and 

 Cuban mahogany logs of unusual quality, and 

 some of which are remarkably fine figured 

 stock. He also purchased some fine Circas- 

 sian walnut and English oak logs. These were 

 shipped via New Orleans and are now arriv- 

 ing at the Chicago plant. Very shortly Mr. 

 Willey will have a line of veneers in mahog- 

 any, Circassian walnut and English oak that 

 will please the most exacting user of high- 

 grade veneers. 



• • • 



A local paper announces the incorporation 

 of the American Mahogany Company, at De- 

 troit, Mich., with a capital of $1,000,000. The 

 company is backed by a number of Michigan 

 capitalists, who, it is said, plan the construc- 

 tion of saw and veneer mUls at Tampa, Fla. 

 « • • 



The large 2,500-pound fly wheel in the Cen- 

 tral City Veneering Company 's plant at Hunt- 

 ington, W. Va., burst into fragments recently 

 and damaged the factory to a considerable 

 extent. The loss is estimated at about $1,.500. 

 Xone of the employes of the plant were hurt. 



• • • 



The large veneer plant at Reed City, Mich., 

 which was destroyed by fire some time ago, 

 ^^ill undoubtedly be rebuilt at an early date. 

 Grand Rapids and Chicago capitalists have 

 become interested, and a new company is be- 

 ing organized with $75,000 capital stock, $45,- 

 UOO of which win be paid in. Already $13,500 

 worth of stock has been taken in Reed City. 

 The wrecked plant at Reed City, which has 

 never been cleared away since the fire, con- 

 tains considerable valuable machinery which, 

 with slight repairs, can be used in the new 



factory. 



• • • 



The National Veneer Products Company, of 

 Mishawaka, Ind., is crowded with orders for 

 its celebrated " Indestructo " trunks, and it 

 is expected the factory wUl turn out 100,000 

 of these trunks this year. The demand for 

 these trunks is largely traceable to the lib- 

 eral advertising policy which the company has 



pursued. 



• • * 



The Jamestown Panel & Veneer Company 

 of Jamestown, N. Y., has been reorganized 

 with $150,000 capital stock. The increase in 

 capita] was made to cover the expense of en- 

 larging and improving the plant, and to 

 afford the concern more workiiTg capital. 



• • •' 



Indianapolis, Ind., is keeping well to the 

 fore as a veneer producing center. The latest 

 addition to that city's veneer fraternity is 

 the firm of Drinkard, Dungan & Co., which 

 will engage in the manufacture of quarter- 



