The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-09-28
VENEER MAKING
AND WOOD WASTE
Conservation Commission Max
ing Inquiries Respecting
New Industry.

/ WASHINGTON, Sept. 15.-Five hun
dred manufacturers of explosives, pulp
wood and similar products, have been
asked by the National Conservation
Commission for information as to all
pe' sible uses Of sawdust. From this
It win be seen the Commission IS GO
ing INTO fine details in It's inventory
of the natural resources Of the eoun
try. Seven thousand lumbermen have
been asked for their opinion as to the
waste to lumber III sawmills. and
more than two thousand lumber dealers
and cooperage, veneer, furniture, box,
vehicle and implement manufacturers
have been asked to point out striking
features of waste in their respective
lines. Yet all this is only one part of
the general scheme of hunting down
waste which the Commission is follow
ing in making it's inventory. 1t is
going after the little wastes here and
there, which, added together, and put
into dollars and cents, make an aston
ishing total
For instance, take the making Of
veneer. At first blush it may not seem
worthy of consideration with the manu-
facture of other products mentioned
Yet, the scarcity Of the more attrac-
tive finishing woods in the last few
years has led to the annual production
of over 1,100,000,000 square feet of
veneer. This, of course, has been made
possible only by the Introduction Of
new veneer making machinery.
The use of veneer is generally re-
garded as exemplifying the scarcity of
the finer woods and typifying the CONS
plete utilization of various kinds of
woods, Net. FROM one Of the schedules
Of the National Conservation Commits
sion it is evident that the Commission |
expects to discover great waste even IN /
veneer manufacture.
Though the word veneer carries many |
from a glaze applied to pot
terry to the Epolish'' of a man of the |
world, it is most commonly employed |
as the name for the thin slices of wood |
now extensively used in the manufac- |
ture of all sorts of articles of use, |
such as wood plates, baskets, and the |
exterior finish 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
IF the desired wood are steamed until |
they are soft and then fixed in lathe
ike machine. in which they are turned I
against wood knife. As the log
rotates against the knife, veneer of the
lesired thickness is peeled off in a con-
-inuous slice, as if You should pare an
apple, going deeper and deeper at each
complete turn, until nothing is left but
he core. The center of the log left I
after the veneer is cut is also called
"core
The woods principally used for max
ng veneer are red gum, maple, and yell
ow poplar, which together yield more
han half of the total product. Red
rum is largely used for baskets and
maple for furniture. More valuable
han these, however, are white oak and
walnut veneer. Beech, which can be
ut very thin, is used very largely for
wooden plates. A number of other
inds of woods are used. +
A good deal of waste occurs in the
of veneer. It is always a
roblem, for instance, what use to make
f the cores left by the rotary process.
n many cases these are used for pulp
rood, pillars, or panel headings, and
hey are largely used also for fuel, ex-
elsior, crates. boxes and baskets.
In the schedule Of inquiries which
he National Conservation Commission,
Trough the Forest Service, is sending
ut, several questions are aimed to
ecure information as to the amount Of !
-aste inf veneer manufacture and the
disabilities Of finding ways to util-
se it.