Music Trade Review

SEPTEMBER
THE
8, 1923
MU SIC TRAD E
REVIEW
49
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SUPPLY ORDERS FORECAST A HEAVY PIANO PRODUCTION
Manufacturers of Certain Lines of Materials Alre ady Con fro nted W ith Sli gh t Scarci t y-P r ice
Situatio n Not Alarmin g-As Matters Are N ow Mar k et May B e Consider ed P rac ticall y S table
If orders fi led with the supp ly hOllses o f t he
ind us tr y, or t hose definite ly in sight from piano
manufacturers, are · any criterion, t hen t he re is
no question regarding th e op t imism with w h ich
the bus iness prospects of the Fall are being
viewed by t h e trade in general.
As a matter of fact, manufacturers of certain
lines of supplies are a lready beginning to feel
the r ush of demand and are wondering just ho~v
they w ill be able to take care of the orders of
a ll their cus tomers, or at least a llocate t heir
shipments in s uch a way that will keep t he
manufacture rs sat isfied.
There have, of course, been some sl ight in­
creases in the prices of certain ma teri als en ter­
ing in to piano co nstruction, bu t t h ese in creases
have not been sufficient to affect the costs of
piano man ufacturing to any alarm ing extent.
'\Then piano prices go up, as some of t hem have
be en go ing up, the ca use is found in the de­
mands of labor for high er y;ages, rather tha n
in the demands of supply men.
There are certain su pply concerns which have
for some months past been ur g in g that manu­
fac tur ers ord er well in advance eve n of those
materia ls that are g'. 'neral in character and not
made to specifi ca tion. The m anu fa ctur ers w ho
have taken the advice are gett in g th ei r goods
and getting t hem promptly, but the others are
alreildy be g innin g to bring pr ess ur e to bear to
get at short notice much-needed supplies that
shou ld have been ordered months ago.
As it stands now the supply mark et may be
cons idered more or less s table. There may be
some price adjustme n ts during coming months,
but they will not be radical and the leading
problem will continue to be in most q uarters
th at of taki ng care of customers' requir ements.
NECESSITY OF SEASONING VENEERS BEFORE THEIR USE
Many T r oubles in T h is De partm en t Caused b y U sin g T h em Too Soon A fter B eing Cu t From
the Log-" Bon e-D ry" Veneers Only P ossi ble A ft er at Least a Year's Sea soni n g
I t is o nl y a few months si n ce t he dai lies
hera lded in large headlines the discovery of the
tomb of King Tut-Ankh-Amen, of Egypt, and
with it the finding of num erous objects of differ­
ent natures. In this collection, according to
newspaper reports, th~re were ~everal contain­
ers or so-call ed ornamental chests th a t were
ven ee red with ebony and other precio us woods
of that age that have withstood the ravages of
th ree thousand years successfuity without ill
effects. I have often wondered since the n in
what condition three thousand years hence
some of the veneering bei n g done at the present
day would be, if it were accorded the same
treatment that the above articles have been sub­
jec t to. Do you believe t hat veneer cut as it
is the pres ent day and manufact u red in to prod­
ucts, often within a few days after it has been
cut f rOIll the log, h as the lasting qualities of
old King T ilt 's veneered objects' Indeed not.
H certain records were at hand we wo uld u n­
douDtedly find that the veneers used o·n those
objects, w hich have withstood th e ravages of
ages, were cut and aged, probably years before
they were use d, having undergone several stages
I.
.1
Are you still wasting you~ time and go­
ing to the expense of scraping off old
varnish and shellac to eliminate the
checks and cracks in order to secure a
smooth surface for refinishing ~
Use Behlen's Varnish Crack Eradica­
tor.
It saves time, trouble and incidentally
expense, at the same time giving you as
fine a body surface for the new finish
as you could possibly wish for.
A sample can for trial awaits your
request.
of seasoning and aging before they were con­
sidered fit for the purpose of veneering, says a
writer in Veneers.
In comparison with those times and the pres­
e n t methods of veneering, what do we find in
contrast? I s n't it a fact that despite the great
progress made since th en we hav e with us the
same o ld troubl es and tribu lations that we had
years ago, despite the pro gress made in the
gluing- and drying of veneers. And 'why do
troubles that have bese t the process of gluing
years ago s till persist with us? Simply because
with every new improvement the speed I")as been
increased with the r es ult that in eliminating one
troub lesome feature of the work, through im­
proved methods, an oth er feature ·jus t as Lad
as th e one elimi nated has been created. The
result is that we are st ill tr y ing to avo id blis­
tering, checking sh ri nkin g, swelling, twisting,
warping and se ver al other just as pleasant
fea tures of doin g veneered work, with no great
pro g ress in either direction.
I often wonder what it would be worth to the
veneering indu s try to be fre e for ever of all these
troub les that at present beset it. The rem edy
for thtir eliminatio n actuall y lies within the
~copc of the ve neer in dustry itself. It has al­
ways b ee n my contention to ascribe thest'
troub les to the short-sighted policy of using the
veneers too soon after bein g cut. I do not care
what dryin g equipment or · facilit ies YOll may
have in your plant to condition YOllr veneers.
I do not care what good glue or modern gl uin g
equipment you may have, or how experienced a
glue-room crew. All this will not remov e one
iota of these troubles if you persist in using
yo ur ven ee r s ·witho ut hav ing them · going
throu g h a natura l pro cess of conditioning and
aging, which time a lone can accomplish.
It is a well-known fact that the older veneers
get after bcing cut the less moisture they will
absorb, if stored properly in th e ordinary stor­
age shed, where the y are subject to ordinary
atmospheric conditions. Every time th at cli­
matic conditions add moisture to the venee rs or
some of the existing moisture is removed the
tendency to s h rink or swell is dim1l1i shed in
these veneers, from year to year. The phrase
of "bone-dry ve ne ers" is often employed in a
commercial way.
1; however, contend that
bone-dry veneers are an impossibility unless
they have at least go ne thro u gh an aging proc­
ess of a year or more after they are cut. That
a chan ge does tak e place in veneers that re­
main in storage is a fact we ll known by a ll
obse rvant students of veneer problems. This
change is more or less chemical, due to the
fact that the mo·isture in the veneers escapes
duri n g the curing or dryin g -out process, re­
movin g some of the sap s ubs ta nces. This is
~asily discernib le ·by the odor of, say, oak
veneers, in a dry or hot spell of weather.
The longer the cut venee rs a re kept in stor­
age the more often this natural proce,s s of dry­
ing out and tak ing on moisture wi ll be repeated,
through cl imati c conditions, and the more often
thi s occurs before the veneers have their final
drying out, before being g lued, the more wi ll
the tendency of shrinking, swelling·, twistin g and
lheck ing be removed until, after some t im e, the
veneer becomes almost immune from ·any te n­
clency to check, twi st or warp. Why? Becausl'
throu gh the aging process without in any way
more or le ss of thi s force has been kil led
affecting the usef ulness of the veneers.
No doubt you have often wondered why a
certain portion of panels on a particu la r orde r
h ave persis ted in giving yo u tro uble, while the
others, turned out at the same time, with the
same g lue, could not be improved upon. You
may have ascribed this to severa l other causes,
but have you ever taken into consideration th e
season ing th ese pa rticular veneers have had be­
fore bein g g lued up' '''!ell, next time when you
hilve troub le with some of your panels mis­
behaving, trace this fac tor down, if possible, and
yo u will find that the pane ls invariab ly have
been made up of veneers t hat have been cut but
recently.
I do not wish to be misunde r stood in regards
to the question of drying of veneers b'y means
of our moden'l mechanica l dryers. I w ish to
state ri ght here that they are an abso lute neces­
sity: What I do wish to make clear is thi s:
that a large ·percentage of the present troub le
encountered in the veneering process is trace­
able directly to th e causes ascribed, which age
a lone can remedy and which no modern dry ing
device is capab le of entirely overcoming.
LARuER SHIPMENTS OF IVORY
Con siderable Qua nti t ies of I vo ry From
Congo B eing Received in Antw er·'P
-'\.ccording to reports from Antwerp in creas­
ing quantities of ivory from the Congo are be­
ing received in that market, 25,023 kilograms
having been .brought in rec en tly from a s ingl e
s hi p. Th e stock at. Antwerp on Ju ly 20 was
100 tons and e ig ht y more tons were offered for
sa le on August 1. Good prices have been ob­
ta ined for the ivory.
Specially;
T anned for Pl ayer~
P ianos and Organs.
Also Ch amois
Sh eepskins, Indias
and Sk iver s
A Specia lty of
THE
H. BEHLEN & BRO.
Anilines
Shellacs
rll
Stains
Fillen
.
10-12 Christopher St., New York
Near 6th Ave" and 6th St.
AR.TNOVELTYCO.
exclusive manufacturerstf'
PiaI\'o Beneh,es
and M\1sie eabinets
Ulritef'o7"catalOfl rznd details
J
GOSHE N
INDIANA
t he
Pneumatic and
Pouch Skin L eathers