Overlooking Opportunities for Making Money in Plywood

By Chas. W. Buckner, Manager, Door, Panel & Industrial Lumber Departmenb:l;,HJ:'3r5rfl.u""on Lumber co.,

In last month's article, I pointed to ways of making money out of Plywood by having same manufactured into smaller articles of novelty furniture that were to be painted by the .purchaser. In that article, I promised that the next article would show additional illustrations. and at that time I had in view another article on nov- elty furniture. However, I am going to deviate from that and this month glve you another way of making money out of Plywood other than cutting it up into small furniture.

should come to us and tell us that he can furnish us a car for the.same money that would be as economical to operate, would last as long, or longer, than the cars we are no.w selling, and would have all of the appearance and beauty of a car that would sell for two or thiee times the price that we were getting for the cars we are handling, and at the same time we could offer it to our trade at -the price that we were asking for tlre old cars, immediately we would become interested. If we found the facts as represented, we would look forward to increasing our profifs and at the s-ame tim-e, giving our customers a car -equivalent to one that would cost them much more money.

In our own business,-that is. the lumber business. should some one come to the manager of a retail yard and show him where he could give the prospective home builder material for interior decorating, something that would have all the beauty of wood carving used in the decoration of tlr-e castles, manors, and historical buildings of the Old World, and furnish it at no advance in cosiover ordinary decorative material he would use for the interior of his b-uilding; a material that would impart all of the beauty, the .romance, and the charm of the craftsmanship shown in the old homes of England, Belgium, France, and Italy; a material that would be as durable, in'fact. even more so. than most of the interior decorative materials that we are using at the present time, and all this without an extravagant expenditure of money,-in reality, at a cheaper price than many of the decorative materials that we are using at present. Do you not think that this retail yard manager would at once become interested, and if the fact were found as represented, that he would at once investigate and offer to his trade this new method of decorating homes.

a better profit, and at the value for the money they

It makes no difference what class of business we are engaged in, we are always looking for new ways of increasing our profits, always looking for new schemes wherebv we can make our merchandise more attractive to prospective purchasers, or if we have a- staple line that we are handling continually, we are looking for processes that will enable us to either improve the article or to present it to our customers in such a way as to make it mori ai- tractive, and in that way give us same time, show our customers expend.

We are. living in a very progressive age. Customs, styles, and requirements arl chan'ging from- a"u- lo- a""1 .Wllt is.new today is old tomorrow, and it keepi us busv rookrng tor something new, something more attrictive than that which we have at present.

For this reason it is. necessary for us to spend large sums of .money in experiments; spend large sumi of monEy rn traveltng about to see what our competitors in our own line. are offering th-eir trade. If we ire in ttre ctottr;ng business, we are looking for new styles, new materials tha-t will attract the attention of the buying public. If a cloih_ ing salesm-an repr-esenting a manufactirring concern comes into our pla-ce of business and tells us thal he can give us an article of clothing that in appearance and utilityiill be equivalent to a suit of clothes that would ordinarily cost $75 or $100, and he will give us this article so that #" ""n s-ell.it for $40 or $50, we are immediately interested; ancl if his product is as he represents it, we would naturaliy secure the line he is representing in order to give our-customers better value and at the same time, -increase our own profit.

If we are in the automobile business and have a line of cars that we consider good, and we are giving our customers value for the money they pay for the iars that we are handling, and then, if another automobile manufacturer

By combining an economical building material with an art that is ages old, you are now in position to offer your customers this interior decorative material. The material is rotary cut Douglas Fir Plywood. The art is the age old art of sandblasting, or in other words. carving by means of applying sharp, fine sand against the surface by power. The method of applica- tion is by taking the rotary cut Plywood panel and pasting or sticking by means of small tacks, a stencil cut out to represent the design, scroll, or picture desired. Then by applying the sharp sand, power driven against the surface, it will cut 9-gt ,thg exposed surface of the Plywood, leaving the stencilled design, picture, or scroll in bold relief, nol unlike the hand carvings of the Old World.

A few years ago, when this art was first being used in connection with wood, it was thought that it could only be used on vertical grain or rift sawn material. However, by considerable experimenting we have found the rotary cut, or flat grained material has the same beauty, or in many cases, more beauty, than the vertical grained material. The action of the sand against the flat grained material has a tendency to cut out the soft or Spring growth much faster than it does the Summer or hard growth, and in this way leaves a surface not unlike a piece of wood that has been washed over with the sands of our ocean beaches for a long period of time until it has cut away the soft grain, leaving the hard grain exposed.

There is no method of manufacture known that will bring out the beautiful grain of our Douglas Fir to as much advantage as the rotary cut Plywood, and by sandblasting on this surface, we not only secure the effects of hand carving, but we also retain the beauty of the flat grained material.

No doubt you ll'ill say this is hard to secure, or that the cost is great, but if you will investigate you will find that such is not the case. Any city that has a small sand blasting equipment in connection with a plant for etching glass can do the work on wood. There are a number of plants in Chicago that are sand blasting Plywood for 12 cents per surface foot, and it is understood that it is only a matter of a short time until this cost will be cut to 6 cents per foot. This low cost, combined with the low price at which Douglas Fir Plywood can be secured today, will insure a low cost on your interior decorating. Prospective home builders can bring out their own ideas of decoration, such as pictures, forest views, attractive border designs, or even the forms of animals, and birds. By the use of st'aining or painting, the natural colors of the scenes or pictures may be brought out if so desired.

The two illustrations accompanying this article, one shows a conventional border design. The other illustration shows a forest scene in the foreground, a body of water in the baekground and a steamship on the surface of this body of water. These illustrations were taken from two panels, each measuring forty-eight inches wide by ninetysix inches long that were sandblasted in Portland by the W. P. Fuller Company, and which were sent to Chicago to be placed on exhibition. The cost of the material, the sandblasting, and the finishing in colors of these two panels was comparatively small, and only goes to illustrate what can be done in combining the economical material, Rotary Cut Douglas Fir Plywood, with the art of sandblasting.

LOS

Angeles Lumbermen To Play Golf O March 23

day, March 23. All lumbermen are invited to participate in these tournaments. A big list of entries have already sent in their names.

Mr. Thomas has appointed the following to act on the Golf Committee for 1928: Paul Hill, A. L. Hoover, Roy Stanton. Ed Betts and A. L. Sailor.

J. B. FITZGERALD VISITS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

J. ts. Fitzgerald, Seattle, Washington, publicity manager of the West Coast Lumber Trade Extension Bureau, spent a few days in Southern California around the early pait of the monlh attending to association matters. H; teft for Chicago on March 9 to attend the mgetings of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association.