TENTH IN A SERIES ON HARDWOOD A brief history of hardwood plywood

HE first use of hardwood plywood r was discovered in King Tut's Tomb.

Since then it has come a long way.

Hardwood plywood was first used in volume in this country for furniture and special architectural jobs such as high class store fixtures, wall paneling in offices, hotel lobbies and restaurants. The plywood was manu. factured to specified sizes, and faces were carefully selected for grain and color and then book and sequence

By Williom Fohs

matched to obtain the desired effect. This has pretty well gone by the boards because of prohibitive costs. There have been many specialized uses for hardwood plywood through the years. The fuselages of most aircraft manufactured for World War I were made of hardwood plywood and in many respects were superior to the metals that finally replaced wood. Hardwood plywood was used to a great degree in boat construction, but nowadays to a lesser extent.

Ifith the improvement of glues and bonding agents, hardwood plywood found many new applications and particularly in exterior use.

Everyone knows the volume usage of hardwood plywood for flush doors and the lining of the interiors of mobile homes.

The past several years, for economical reasons and to achieve desired volume, outside of special production for furniture, gizes are pretty well standardized to 4'x 8'and 4' x 10'; thicknesses range from yB" loI-3/L6' Cores may be of veneer or lumber construction in the heavier thicknesses. While it does not make the

Sfory qt a Glqnce

A brief overview trocing the mony uses of hordwood plywood through the cenluries . . improved glues ond bonding ogenls hove resulted in mony new opplicotions . . increosingly, logs ond veneers ore being imported os domeslic supplies become scorce.

best panel, in many cases softwood (or particleboard) is used for cores with hardwood faces.

Faces of hardwood plywood produced in this country are usually L/28" thick although sometimes I/32'. Many imported panels have l/90" faces which are easily sanded through, so let the buyer beware.

Many hardwoods used for faces have lost popularity, such as quartered figured gum and quartered sliced oak.

Faces of most species can be had quarter striped, sliced, half round or rotary cut, depending on the type of grain and figure desired.

Unfortunately, some native species are becoming scarce and only the best logs can be used for veneers. Because of this, and it will be increasingly so, logs and veneers must be imported.

For the most part we will be dependent on Africa and South America, so tlere will be new species introduced that we know little of at present.

In any event, the best and most economical usage of available wood is in veneers and plywood, so undoubtedly hardwood plywood in some form will be available for a long time.