NOTES ON THE MANUFACTURE OP VENEER. 



R. A. Phillips. 



The manufacture of veneer consists in cutting up pieces 

 of wood into very thin sheets. This practise originated in 

 the use of the more valuable woods such as Mahogany, in 

 which the cost of the solid pieces was so great as to place it 

 beyond the reach of many people. When, however, the Ma- 

 hogany is cut into sheets 1/16 inch or less in thickness and 

 these sheets glued on cheaper woods as a base, the effect is 

 solid Mahogany at a much reduced cost. At present, however, 

 veneer manufacture is not confined to the expensive woods 

 only but many cheaper woods such as Red Gum, Cotton- 

 wood and Pine are cut for the manufacture of packing cases, 

 boxes, baskets, and barrels. Cabinet woods such as Oak, 

 Maple, Walnut, Mahogany and Birch are used where beauty 

 of finish is desired. 



There are three methods of making veneer, sawing, 

 slicing and rotary cutting. The sawing method has been 

 longest used and is the best method for Oak, Mahogany and 

 valuable cabinet woods. The slicing method ranks next in 

 the order of quality and is also used for cabinet woods. The 

 rotary cut method is, however, most widely used. In 1909 

 about 85 per cent of all veneer was cut by the rotary method. 

 It is used principally for Red Gum, Cottonwood, Birch, Tupelo, 

 Elm and Basswood. The veneer industry is rapidly growing 

 and in 1909 there were 435,891,000 board feet cut for veneer 

 which was nearly 10 per cent of the material cut for lumber 

 in that year. 



The plant of a company in northern AVisconsin is described 

 here as being typical for the veneer industry. This company 

 owns a two-story frame factory about 80 feet square, on one 

 side of which a two-story brick wing 40 feet square has been 

 annexed to serve as a warehouse. This gives a total floor space 

 of about 15,000 square feet. In the basement are the boiler 

 and engine which furnish power for the machinery and run 



