32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



VENEERS 



Veneer and Compound Doors 



That compound or flush veneered doors 

 have come to stay is beyond question. This 

 new style of construction presents so many 

 points of distinct advantage over the old- 

 fashioned panel door as to give it a favorite 

 place for inside and outside use. There are 

 so many reasons why a flush door of built- 

 up stock is better adapted for all uses than 

 the other type that it is hard to pick out 

 an.y one reason which carries more weight 

 than the others. 



Probably one of the most striking 

 features of the flush door is the unusual 

 beauty of design and figure which can be 

 secured. As there are no broken surfaces, 

 ' matching becomes comparatively easy and 

 the natural beauty of the grain of the wood 

 can be preserved. In addition, designs of 

 all sorts and stj-les can be worked out 

 merely by inlaying with wood of a difi'erent 

 color. One favorite combination is finely 

 figured quartered oak tor the body of the 

 door, and mahogan}' worked out in such 

 designs as trees and ferns. There is no 

 limit to the ideas which can be applied in 

 this way, and it certainly makes a novel 

 method of decoration. 



Aside from its beauty when freshly in- 

 stalled, the flush veneered door takes on 

 additional beauty with age, rather thau 

 deteriorating. This is probably because in 

 this style of construction the flat surface 

 exposed is not subject to warping and twist- 

 ing and cracks which so often occur in panel 

 construction. 



Of the mechanical advantages due to this 

 new style probably most important is its 

 soundproof character. It is a well-known fact 

 that two or more layers of any material 

 placed together have more power of resist- 

 ance for sound, heat or any other influence 

 than one solid piece of the same substance. 

 In addition the door makes practically a 

 fireproof partition and is far more burglar 

 proof than the common panel door. 



One of the principal advantages of this 

 method of construction is that the possibil- 

 ity of warping or shrinking is practically 

 eliminated. The peculiar method of con- 

 struction holds every part in absolute 

 rigidity. The fact that there are no open 

 joints exposed to the weather makes the 

 door particularly serviceable for exterior 

 use. 



The doors usually are built-up of five-ply 

 veneer. The core is made up of a number 

 of strips dove-tailed together and glued up, 

 insuring a body in which there is no pos- 

 sibility of shrinkage. For the core the 

 common woods are used, such as ash, while 

 for the cross-banding and surface veneer 

 more expensive wood, both domestic and 

 foreign, are best suited. White pine or 

 cypress are not well adapted to this pur- 

 pose, as in cutting veneer from cypress it 

 is very apt to shatter, while the "grain of 

 white pine is too soft to make a good 

 veneer. Birch, mahogany, oak, elm, walnut, 

 poplar, basswood, maple, gum and ash are 

 some of the hardwoods commonly used, and 

 all are about equally well adapted as far 

 as physical qualities are concerned. Some, 

 of course, are more expensive and possess 

 a richer color and better figure than others. 



The usual sizes for doors are 1% inches 

 thick for doors 2 feet 8 inches or less wide; 

 for doors 2 feet 8 inches and over they 

 should be 1% inches thick. The saving on 

 an ordinary door by using 1% inch instead 

 of 1% inch is about twenty cents. 



In building up the ordinary flush veneered 

 door the entire process is done as far as 

 possible simultaneously, thus insuring the 



greatest stability. After gluing up the 

 entire mass is dried out at one operation, if 

 possible. The automatic dovetailer, manu- 

 factured by the Linderman Machine Com- 

 pany, of Muskegon, Mich., has been suc- 

 cessfully operated in cutting the dovetail- 

 ing for the cores. This is an operation 

 which requires considerable accuracy, and 

 which, unless accomplished expeditiously, 

 will entail large expense. A machine of 

 this sort which makes possible work of this 

 kind is welcome by the manufacturing 

 trade. The American Compound Door Com- 

 pany, of Chicago, which supplied the in- 

 formation for this article, reports very 

 satisfactory service from one of the Linder- 

 man machines. 



An Example of Bad Piling 



It is sometimes just little things that 

 make the difference between right and 

 wrong, and likewise it is little things that 

 make the difference between profit and loss. 

 A common fault in piling ijox veneers is 

 shown in the illustration on this page. Not 

 all veneer men are so careless as the owner 



BLACKEA'ED EDGES AND SOMETIMES ROT 

 RESfl.T KliOM SfCII TILING. 



of this stock, but certaiu it is that those that 

 are get about the same results. Like the 

 quills on the fretful porcupine, these piling 

 sticks stand out with the elevation of the 

 pile on the wrong end, consequently they 

 drain the wrong direction. Instead of these 

 sticks sheltering the stock, they catch the 

 ' rain and direct it against the pile, which 

 holds the moisture longer by reason of the 

 shade they afford. Blackened edges and 

 sometimes rot are almost sure to result from 

 just a little oversight in having the front of 

 a pile too low or even on a level with the 

 rest of the pile. Six inches fall in six feet 

 would not be too much where stock is as 

 light as this, and the fall is all the more 

 necessary when the stock is placed with the 

 width of the veneer to the length of the pile. 

 * * * # 



The Kentucky Veneer Company of Louis- 

 ville is devoting considerable time of late to 

 cutting a new Hawaiian hardwood. Several 

 thousand logs of this wood which resembles 

 mahogany and walnut, a sort of cross be- 

 tween the two, have been received the past 

 few months. The wood is beautifully figured 

 and a number of leading piano nuuiufactur- 

 ers are interested in it. If it turns out well 

 it will be imported in large quantities. 

 » * * 



An addition is being built to the ofliee of 

 the National Veneer Products Company at 

 Mishawaka, Ind., and a new planing mill is 

 in course of construction. President Romun- 



der of this concern states that the company 

 is receiving some large orders and that pros- 

 pects for business are encouraging. 



» « * 



It is reported that a compromise of the 

 litigation affecting the veneer business for- 

 merly owned by the Standard Oak Veneer 

 Company, the Allen Panel Company and the 

 Interior Hardwood Company has been 

 effected between Joseph A. Wilson and Fer- 

 dinand Powell on the one hand and C. B. 

 Allen on the other. It is understood that by 

 the terms of this compromise Mr. Allen re- 

 nounces all claims as to the stock held by 

 Messrs. Wilson and Powell, and that those 

 gentlemen will at once proceed to put the 

 plant into operation. The name of the con- 

 cern has been changed to the Tennessee 

 Veneer Corporation and headquarters will 

 be_at Johnson City, Tenn. 



* # * 



The Warren Veneer & Panel Company of 

 Warren, Pa., has recently added a new 

 feature to its business. It will hereafter cut 

 birdseye maple veneers in addition to its 

 former line of veneer goods, panels, table 

 tops, etc. 



*■ * * 



Eighty-six Indiana white oak logs, said to 

 be the best lot, number and quality consid- 

 ered, brought into Cincinnati in recent years, 

 has just been purchased by the Ohio Veneer 

 Company. The logs run from 24 to 40 inches 

 in diameter and are of exceptional quality 

 and will produce some high-class veneers. 

 « # * 



The St. Louis Basket & Box Company, St. 

 Louis, Mo., has recently completed a four- 

 story addition to its plant, 90x60 feet in 

 dimensions. Some new gluing machinery has 

 been installed, also two new sanders and a 

 veneer lathe. The company also acquired 

 some additional timber holdings, which, with 

 what it already had, gives ample timber sup- 

 ply for the next twenty years. The company 

 now operates two plants in St. Louis and is 

 well fitted to liandle its rapidly growing 

 business. 



« if « 



Trade is good and all the orders that can 

 be handled easily is the report that comes 

 from the Indiana Veneer & Lumber Com- 

 pany, of Indianapolis. O. M. Pruitt, presi- 

 dent of the concern, says that the fact that 

 a number of orders for stock for late deliv- 

 ery have been hurried along seems to indi- 

 cate that the late summer and early fall 

 trade is going to make a pretty good show- 

 ing. Just now this company has a large 

 supply of choice wide quartered oak veneers 

 on hand ready for prompt shipment. 



# * * 



The Linderman Box & Veneer Company, of 

 Eau Claire, Wis., has awarded the contract 

 for the erection of its new box factory to 

 the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Com- 

 pany. The new structure will be 88' by 240 

 feet in dimensions, of reinforced concrete, 

 being strictly fireproof. The building, with- 

 out equipment, will cost $20,000. It is ex- 

 pected to be completed by September 1. 



Proposed New Flooring Plant 



'J'lii' Mcti-opolis. III.. Hei-akl annouooes that 

 F. .1. Nichols, W. E. Cox and I'. H. Strauss of 

 Grand Rapids, Mich., officers of the Nichols & 

 Cox Lumber Compan.v. made a recent visit to 

 Metropolis, and are negotiating with the Com- 

 mercial Club and the city council for lands on 

 which to erect a hardwood flooring factory. The 

 citizens of Metropolis are anxious to secure new 

 industrial enterprises, and would regard the ac- 

 (luisition of a plant of the Nichols & Cox Lumber 

 Company as very desirable. 



