Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-05-19
CUTTING VENEERS.
MANY KIN-sO OF WOOD USED IN THEIR
MANUFACTURE.


Variety of Uses to Which They Are Put
Some Are Sawed and Others -
erful and Costly Machinery Required.
The Marvellous SIicer.
Veneers are cut from almost all the
finer woods, both native and foreign,
including mahogany, birch, rosewood,
ebony, satinwood, cedar, tulipwood,
Hungarian ash, sycamore, and others,
veneers being Used on pianos and 9TH
er musical instruments, on furniture,
doors, and so on.
Some veneers are sawed and some
are cut from the log by means of a
knife. The sawed veneers are the bet
ter and more desirable, and they cost
twice as much as cut veneers. More cut
veneers are used, however. Twenty
years ago 70 per cent. of veneers were
sawed and 20 per cent. cut; but now
these percentages have been reversed.
Some woods can be worked for VEN
GERS under the saw only; some can be
either sawed or cut, and of such both
kinds of veneers are made; but there
are woods that practically are made in
knife veneers only.
Veneers may be made of almost any
degree of thinness, as, say, one one
hundredth of an inch. They are most
commonly made for the many uses to
which they are put, in sawed veneers
of a thickness of twenty-six to thirty
to the inch, and in cut veneers of a
thickness averaging thirty to the inch.
Of sawed veneers of such thickness but
twelve to thirteen can be produced
from an inch of solid wood; the rest is
lost in sawdust. There is no waste OF
material in making cut veneers.
Sawed veneers are cut, a single sheet
from the log at a time, by a circular
saw of between five and six feet in
diameter, of a kind specially made for
the purpose. The inner side of this
saw, that is, the side toward the body
of the log, is fiat; the outer side of the
fiange, which is the disk of the saw, to
which the teeth are attached. is made
Slightly concaVe, so as to throw the
veneer a little clear of the saw as it
comes along; if it were permitted to
hug the saw, the thin sheet of wood
would be burned or scOrched by the
friction. The saw is, of com Sc. ad-
justed to run with the greatest nicely,
ard the square log that is t. b. slw-
ed into veneers is rigidly secured to the
frame that carries it to the saw.
The cut veneers are shaved off on a
simple but powerful and costly ma
chine called a %slicer, in which the log,
securely held on a moving frame is
brought against a knife held rigidly.
The knife of a slicer is perhaps seven
teen feet in length, made in two parts
each eight and a half feet in length,
but perfectly Joined, making one ON
tinuous knife sever teen feet long. The
knife is set horizontally, edge upward,
in the face of what is called the knife
bed, which is a %ponderous casting i'm
mOvably set. Extending along over
the top of the knife bed, and above the
level of the knife edge is a massive
casting called the cap. Attached to
the front of the can, horizontally, just
above the knife edge, parallel with it
and adjusted at a line back from it the
thickness of the vaneer that is to be
cut, is what is called the pressure bar.
The knife and the pressure bar, so held,
constitute in effect a gigantic plane,
which is not moved to cut the thick
shaving that it is made to produce. but
which is held securely while the leg
from which the shaving is taken is
brought against it.