The Coconino sun., 1908-09-18
10 WORK UP SAWDUST
Conservation Committee Investigating Waste Materials Around Big Saw
 mill Industry has Big Output.

hundred manufacturers of explo- sives. pulp wood and similar pro- ducts, have been asked by the Ma tional Conservation Commission for information as to all possible uses of sawdust. From this it will be seen the Commission is going into fine details in its inventory of the natural resources of the country. Seven-thousand lumber men have been asked for their opinion as to the waste of lumber in saw mills, and more than two-thousand lum- Der dealers and cooperage, veneer. furniture. box. vehicle and imple- ment manufacturers have been asked to point out striking features of waste in their respective lines Yet all this is only one part of the gen eral scheme of hunting down waste which the Commission is following in making its inventory. It is go- ing after the little wastes and they, when. added together. and put into dollars and cents. make an astonishing total.
 For instance. take the making of veneer. At first blush it may not seem worthy of consideration with the manufacture of other products mentioned. Yet, the scarcity of the more attractive finishing woods in the last few years has led to the annual pro d ct ion of over HOO. .000. 900 square feet of veneer. This, of course has been made pos sible only by the introduction of new veneer making machinery.
 The use of veneer is generally re. garded as excmpIifying the scarcity of the finer woods and typifying the complete utilization of various kinds of woods. yet, from one of the schedules of the National Con servation Commission it is evident that the Commission expects to dis cover great waste even in veneer manufacture.
 Though the word veneer carries many meanings. from glaze ap- piled to pottery to the polish of man of the world. it is most com monly employed as the name for the thin slices of wood now extensively used in the manufacture of all sorts of articles of use such as wood plates baskets and the exterior fin ish of furniture and wood work. The manufacture of veneer in the last few years has advanced by leaps and bounds.
 The best veneer is sawed but great deal is sliced and still more is rotary cut" By the last named process logs of the desired wood are steamed until they are soft and then fixed in lathe-like machine in which they are turned against wood knife. As the log rotates against the knife veneer of the desired thickness is pealed off in continuous slice as if you should pare an apple going deeper and deeper at each complete turn until nothing is left but the core. The center of the log left after the veneer is cut is also called a "core. '"
 The woods principally used for making veneer are red gum. maple, and yellow poplar. which together yield more than half of the total product. Red gum is largely used for baskets and maple for furniture. More luable than these. however, are white oak and walnut veneer. Beech. which can be cut very thin, is used very largely for wooden plates. A number of other kinds of woods are used.
 A good deal of waste occurs in the manufacture of veneer. It is always a problem. for instance. what use to make of the cores left by the rotary process. In many cas- es these are used for pulp wood, pillars. or panel headings. and they are largely used also for fuel. ex- celsior, crates, boxes and baskets.
 In the schedule O. f inquiries which the National Conservation Commission. through the Forest Service, is sending out, several questions are aimed to secure in- formation as to the amount of waste in veneer manufacture and the pos abilities of finding ways to utalize it.