The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1891-01-01
= -
MAKING .VENEERS.

An In1yention which wfEsAdd TO the
Beauty of Plain Woods fgf Fancy Work.
For a long tine manufacturers Of
veneers have been trying to secure
fancy grain from straight grained
wood. Of course, the moro wavy and
intricate the line of the grain Is, the
more valuable is the veneer. A meth
cd has at last been secured of produc-
ing fancy veneers from plain wood.
To understand the new process one
must first know what the old one was.
It was simple enough. A log seven feet
long or less and Of almost any diane.
ter above seven inches had It's bark
Clipped off and was then steamed
over night in tank made for the pur
pose In the morning it was ready to
be fastened into the big lathe, and a
knife blade as long as the longest log
used-seven feet-was kept pressed
against the wood so as to cut off
shaving or ribbon about one
thirtieth of an inch thick as the
log revolved toward it. Two men
rolled up the ribbon and carried
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 out up, and SO, If the
grain of the wood were straight, the
the ribbon could not have variegated
appearance, even had the long, straight
knife out the grain at an angle.
The inventor of the new process no
ticed that the growth Of no two differ
ent years in 8 tree had exactly the
same color and grain, even when the
log was perfectly straight grained. So
If 3 knife were made that would strip
of ribbon that dipped in and out
through the growth OF say two
years, the ribbon would have two
kinds Of grain. To get the ribbon
the inventor made a knife with
wavy edge. The waves were quar-
ter of an inch high. However,
this did not produce sufficient
variety in the grain of the ribbon to
suit the inventor, and he added to it
by giving the knife an oscillating
movement in the direction Of the
length of the log by a cam of a half
inch stroke. Now, if the log revolved
against the knife ribbon was cut
which contained waves that zigzagged
up and down and exposed a grain not
only variegated in color by the vary
ing. depths to which the knife had cut,
but which was at the same time very
wavy, if not cnrly, in appearance.
The variegations in the color even of
a plain black walnut log were remark
able and beautiful.
There was one objection to this re-
naming, and that was that it did not
lie down fiat on the surface to which
it was glued. This was remedied,
however, by stacking up the ribbon IN
a hydraulic press that squeezed it with
q pressure of forty tons to the square
inch. It 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
I be invented. The machine itself is but
little more expensive than the old
style, but knife costs several times
as much. Besides, when knife gets
dull man has to labor over it for
month with emery wheels to get it in
order again.
When a reporter was looking at one
of the machines in East Eighth street
the other day it was cutting plain
log. The superintendent of the works
said that the product would bring
$22.50 per i, 600 square feet, against $b
per ], 600 were a straight knife used.
The corrugated knife, as 1t is called,
will improve the appearance Of grain
that is naturally variegated to some
extent, but when the grain is found
that is just right nothing Is SO good as
the old fashioned straight edged blade.
-NeW York Times.