90 FOREST PRODUCTS 



as built-up stock, berry and fruit baskets, cheese boxes, crates and pack- 

 ing boxes, drawer bottoms, trunk stock, mirror backing, panels, etc. 



The veneer industry has consequently come into a position as parent 

 organization to a large number of subsidiary wood-working and using 

 industries which are dependent upon it for the source of their working 

 material. 



Methods of Making Veneers. 



The modern use of fine-faced veneers in cabinet work is said to have 

 been started by Sir Ishambard Brunei at the Chatham Dock Yards, 

 England, in 1799. Here was also the first steam sawmill used in England. 

 A shop was equipped in 1805 in Battersea, England, and veneers were 

 made from mahogany and rosewood. It is said that the first circular 

 veneer saw was invented in 1S05 which cut veneers as thin as ys oi an inch. 

 Soon after veneers were also made by sHcing, which is the forerunner of 

 the present methods of cutting and slicing veneers. It was not until 

 1896 that the rotary method of cutting veneers came into commercial 

 importance. 



At the present time the following methods are used in making veneers : 



1 . The rotary cut process, which consists of turning a log on a heavy 

 lathe against a stationary knife, is the method by which about 90 per cent 

 of all of our veneers are made. Continuous sheets of veneer are cut off 

 down to a 6- to lo-in. core. Generally speaking, our lowest priced 

 veneers are made by this process as it is a very cheap method of manu- 

 facture. Since it is a rotary process, cutting with the rings of annual 

 growth, it does not bring out the quarter grain or figure of the wood as 

 well as the other processes by which cuts can be made along the medullary 

 rays. Most of the native black walnut and Circassian walnut veneers 

 are made by the rotary method. Walnut stumps and burls are also cut 

 by this method in connection with a stay log. More waste is occasioned 

 by this process than the others, due to the core left after cutting and the 

 large amount of waste in clipping and trimming. 



2. The slicing process, which consists of rapidly moving a flitch of 

 wood vertically downward against a cutting knife, is the method by which 

 much of our quarter-cut oak veneers are made. Mahogany, Spanish 

 cedar, rosewood and other foreign woods showing a pleasing figure on the 

 quarter grain are commonly shced by this method. This method is 

 least wasteful of the raw material of the three processes. 



3. Sawed veneers are considered most valuable because this process 

 tears the wood fiber less than the other processes and they can be worked 



