The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-12-13
a CHANCE IN vENeEkINe.


A CHANGE IN vENEERlNc.
A Machine That Malsss Straight Grain
Appear vsrisgated.
A recent product of inventive talent
is working big change in the manu-
facture of veneering. The ranufact-
ure of veneering is a pretty big bust
ness in this part of the world, too, for
there are twenty-thFee factories in
New York and Brooklyn, and stack
of logs big enough to blockade Broad
way three deep or more is shaved up
every day into ribbons that are some
times seven feet wide and thousand
long, and most beautifully figured
from end to end. The object in max
ing veneering, Of course, IS to give
piece OF furniture or hallway or a
panel the beauty Of expensive woods
with variegated grain without the cost
OF using the expensive wood for the
entire article The more wavy and
variegated the grain of log is, the
more it twists and curls and run hither
and yoll, the more valuable it Is for
veneering. For this reaSon no end Of
stumps have been cut up into ribbons,
not to mention knots and burls.
However, the supply OF logs with
an intricate grain and even of good
stumpsfor not everV stump can be
used tor veneering is hnited. The
agents OF the vexlBcr unAl6ng firms
have penetrated even the least acces-
sible forests of the country in search
of suitable timber, and the competi-
ton for trees a twist grain has
brought the price up SO High as to
make profits unreasonably low Trees
have been known to bring as high as
$500 each, though it makes the veneer
man groan to pay hsaf that sum.
Meantime, while che buying agents
have been camping out in all sorts of
uncomfortable wildemesses locking
for fancy timber, few men have
been trying to devise plans by which
fancy grained veneering can be made
from plain grained woou. They do
not think they have obtained pepfec-
ton yet in the matter. What they
have done is to make the product of a
log of plain grain sell for Just four
and half times as much as it did, say
a year ago.
To understand the new process one
lAC5O llIoU hllOW WuctJ L1lC OlQ Odl0 WAS.
That was simple enough. A log seven
feet long or less and of almost any
diameter above seven inches exclu-
siye Of sap, had its bark Clipped off
with an adze, and was then steamed
over night in tank made for the pur-
pose. In the morning it was ready to
be fastened into a big lathe and knife
blade as long as the longest log used
seven feet-was kept pressed against
the log SO as to cut off shaving OF
ribbon about one-thirtieth of an inch
thick as the log revolved toward it.
Two men rolled up the ribbon and car
ried it away as it was turned out. OF
course the knife had to be set parallel
with the axis of the log or the wood
would not all be cut up, and so if the
grain of the wood were straight, the
ribbon could not have variegated ap-
pearance; even had the long, straight
knife cut the grain at an angle the
product would have had no value ov er
the plain grain, but it was in consid-
ering the possibilities of cutting at an
angle that the new process was hit
upon.
The inventor noticed that the growth
of no two different years in a tree had
exactly the same color and grain, even
when the log was perfectly straight
grained.
Suppose a knife were made that
would strip off ribbon that dipped in
and out through the growth of say two
years on log. Certainly the ribbon
would have two kinds Of grain and
two kinds of color. To get the ribbon
the inventor made knife with a
wavy edge. The waves were a quarter
of an inch high. However, this did
not produce sufficient variety in the
grain of the ribbon to suit the in
ventor, and he added to it by giving
the knife an oscillating movement in
the direction of the length of the log
by cam of half inch stroke. Now,
as the log revolved against the knife a
ribbon was cut which contained con-
tinuous waves that zigzagged up and
down in the direction of the length of
the log, and exposed a grain not only
variegated in color by tho varying
depths to which the knife cut, but
| which was at the same time very
wavy, if not curly in appearance. The
black walnut log were remarkable and
beautiful.
There was one objection to the We
neering, and that was it did not lie
down flat on the surface to which it
was to be glued. This was remedied,
however, by stacking up the ribbon in
a hydraulic press that squeezed it with
a pressure of forty tons to the square
inch. 1t came out Of that press flat.
At present three kinds of knives are
used in these machines. There is no
telling what new forms of knives
will be invented The machine itself
is but little more expensive thsp the
old style, but knife costs several
times as much. Besides, when o knife
gets dull, man has to labor over il
with emery wheels for just a month tc
get it in order again. New York Sun.