November-December 2020 Wood Industry

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2020

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2020

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The business side of woodworking

SPORTING PRECISION Adhesive crosslinking: Finding the right balance Reflections on white pine

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Profile: Oakley Woods Croquet

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Kerry Knudsen

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Mike Edwards

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Omni Data Services circulation@wimediainc.ca www.omnidataservices.com Wood Industry is published six times annually, Jan./Feb., Mar./Apr., May/ June, July/Aug., Sept./Oct. and Nov./Dec., for the secondary wood products manufacturing and marketing industries in Canada.

The business side of woodworking NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 Vol. 16, No. 6

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Focus on technology

Adhesives

When more does not mean better. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Survey:

6

You have spoken

It’s clear what makes a real difference to your business.. . . . . . . . 20

Profile:

A profitable niche

Who knew the genteel game of croquet would a career make? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

WOOD Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Filings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Design . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Cartel . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

New products . . . 24 Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Events . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Advertisers . . . . . 29 Perspective . . . . . . 30

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WOOD INDUSTRY 3

From the editor

Pure gold U

nbelievable. That was 2020. Gone, it seems, in a flash, leaving behind wreckage and smoldering ruins across the political, economic, social and spiritual landscape, and the sordid and outrageous attitudes of our leaders that they can do something about it by punishing others.

I can’t get it. Take a topic — any topic. Let’s choose “climate change.” Think what you will about climate change, the idea that we humans can affect it is Kerry Knudsen nothing new. People have been throwing virgins into volcanoes since time began to affect climate change. I get it. We are

“different,” than the savages and pagans, but nonetheless, it’s nothing new.

We are coming up on my favourite anti-pagan holiday: Christmas. As I write this, it is Black Friday, the Advent of the Commercial Season. It has quite a ring to it, eh? Black Friday. It’s the official economic start of the season of Christians apologizing for appropriating pagan holidays.

Of course, you can pick about any day and it will coincide with a pagan holiday. Pagans do nothing better than find reasons to not work and feast off the labours of others.

Lee Ann and I love to garden. We are not particularly good at it, but it’s fun. We even found a Japanese, cold-hardy banana tree, Musa basjoo, that we managed to winter over for three seasons in southern Ontario.

One of our go-to places for garden plants, herbs and seeds is Richter’s Seed Company in Goodwood, Ont. They don’t have everything, but they have some interesting exotics, and they sell spices. Until recently (and maybe again, now) you could buy fresh Szechuan peppercorns in bulk from them. Szechuan peppercorns are not peppers, but the seeds of a mountain ash tree. They provide the numbing

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effect you may have experienced in some fiery dishes. It enhances the capsicum, but does not replace it.

I married Lee Ann on December 21 — the pagan winter solstice. I did not do it for irreligious reasons. I did it for mercenary reasons. It is helpful to people like me to have a wedding anniversary on an otherwise-also-notable date. As people always note, December 21 is the shortest day of the year. It’s not, actually. It has 24 hours, same as the rest, but it has the longest period of darkness. Anyway, I haven’t ever missed an anniversary. This is useful information for men.

One Christmas season, I was shopping Richter’s for ideas for our anniversary, and I discovered that Richter’s, at least then, sold frankincense and myrrh, two of the three gifts the three wise men brought from the East in the Christmas story. I bought some of each, but I have to admit, incense does nothing for me. In fact, I don’t like it.

That said, things may have been different for me, had I lived 2,000 years ago. Sanitation was not what it is, and I hear the smell of sewage was bothersome, plus the government had a penchant for nailing people to sticks along the roads to show what happens when you don’t comply with regulations, no matter how petty.

Unlike frankincense and myrrh, the other gift, gold, is not a scent. Years ago, I decided to buy Lee Ann a oneounce (not metric) gold Canadian Maple Leaf for her anniversary. Maple Leafs are unique, in that they are struck

from virgin Canadian gold — gold that is pure and newly mined, not melted down from a pagan horde or the proceeds of some succession-plot usurper king. It has never lost its innocence.

Not until me, that is. I went to the bank one year to get Lee Ann’s Maple Leaf and told the banker what I wanted.

He was chatty, for a banker, and asked what it was for. I told him it is for my wife’s anniversary, but it kind of takes the edge off Christmas giving, as well.

He was impressed. He said, that’s a pretty nice gift.

“Not really,” I said. “It looks like I spent $1,300 (at that time) on an anniversary present, but it hasn’t change my net worth one nickel.”

Then, he really WAS impressed. He had never met somebody so mercenary as to use a wedding anniversary, one of the most-feared annual events in history, as a chance to manage investments.

I figured if I could strike a chord with a banker at Christmas as a fellow skinflint and Scrooge, I had really done something.

Nonetheless, I see myself as neither skinflint nor Scrooge — just a lucky guy that has been most blessed, and I with the same for you and yours this holy day season.

Merry Christmas, and happy new year from the staff at W.I. Media Inc. Comment at www.woodindustry.ca

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INDUSTRY 5 WOODINDUSTRY WOOD

Focus on TECHNOLOGY 2020

When MORE is not BETTER

ADHESIVE

CROSSLINKING

INDUSTRY NOVEMBER/DECEMBER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 2020 6 WOOD INDUSTRY

Steve Miller

What high school essay would be complete without first citing a definition of the topic at hand? “Fishing: to understand the art of fishing, we first need to define, ‘what is a fish?’”

However, high school or no, sometimes a definition is warranted — particularly when the topic is not obviously clear.

Take technology, for example. To many, technology has come to mean that busy, buzzy cloud of electrons that conveys a lie from an anonymous server to a sucker. It is what makes elementary schoolkids wax eloquent for the world on the topics of diversity, the coming ice age and how to force other people’s compliance in diet. It is a way to entice people to believe that which is not.

Did you see the latest digital scam involving LinkedIn? The November 12 issue of AdAge reported that, “LinkedIn found a glitch in its ad platform that led to inflated numbers for more than 400,000 advertisers over the past two years, and the company said it was working to refund those affected while adopting greater transparency measures.”

Those currently following the American election snafu over digital ballot counting with Canadian software should take to heart the risks inherent in trusting that which is not trustworthy.

If you have been following Wood Industry’s editor, Kerry Knudsen, over the past 24 years, you will recall we have been unswerving in our analysis of “digital.” The Internet is good at two things: archiving and searching.

This makes it valuable for retail, rapid (if unreliable) communication and temporary storage. It is, as we can see, inherently vulnerable to abuse. As we have reported, the two products that seem consistent throughout the internet period from 1983 to present are pornography and theft.

Other technologies are more comprehensible. They deal with ways to make stuff make other stuff. Take glue, for example.

Glue has been around for at least 5,000 years, at which time it was used in what we now know as Egypt to make furniture. The ancients had figured out that chairs work better when they stick together.

Sticking together is the essence of adhesion, and adhesion is likely the most advanced and most important technology we use across the spectrum of secondary wood products in Canada.

One would think that if you had an adhesive that could stick wood together for five millennia, you could just call it “good” and move on to marketing or something. However, it didn’t work like that. In addition to sticking wood to wood, people wanted different functionality and decoration, so it became desirable to adhere leather, metals, glass, jewels and other materials. Some products, such as spears and shields, served different functions than did chairs, and needed different properties in an adhesive.

For the most part, adhesives throughout the ages were basically just organic compounds of one sort or another.

For example, letters were of critical importance in areas of religion, diplomacy, administration, the law and just plain-old love. It would be millennia before envelopes came with a lickable sticky part, so there was soon a need for an adhesive that would adhere to the parts of an envelope or document that would not destroy the document or envelope when it was opened, and sealing wax was born.

No such product has yet been invented for the internet.

Fast-forward a few thousand years, and scientists and industrialists discovered that petroleum products could be modified through a heat process called “cracking,” which produced all the “thanes,” (ethane, butane, propane, hexane, octane, etc.) and left a sludge. The sludge could then be further modified into “stuff,” some of which was sticky.

One of the first industries to become interested in organic compounds as adhesives was the shoe industry.

Throughout the ages, it was always handy that boot soles could be laminated and added to shoe uppers with animal or plant glue, but they had a problem keeping them laminated. Polymers could be used to make a more durable bond, but they started out not being flexible, so the search was on.

The secondary wood sector, of course, had been in need of a suitable adhesive for as long as chairs and tabletops existed. Whether using huge slabs of “live-edge” or hundreds of wooden laths, raw wood is a difficult substrate. Boards nailed to boards work free under years of humidity and temperature fluctuations, and veneers and inlays on wood products tended to cost a lot and had to stay in place.

So that’s the history. For over 5,000 years, basically one technology had to be sufficient. Then polymers came along, and technology, in its most accurate sense, came

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INDUSTRY 7 WOODINDUSTRY WOOD

into play. Most importantly for wood adhesives, that technology deals with “crosslinking,” or a crosswise connecting part (such as an atom or group) that connects parallel chains in a complex chemical molecule (such as a polymer).

Crosslinked adhesives have given us epoxies and other multi-part options in bonding. According to Practical Adhesion — Beyond JKR: Crosslinking by Prof. Steven Abbott, “Classic ‘strong’ adhesives such as epoxies make it obvious that crosslinking is a good thing for adhesion.” However, Abbott cautions, “Unfortunately the opposite is very often the case. Many formulators are familiar with the addition of an extra 0.5 percent of some crosslinker to provide even stronger adhesion, only to find that adhesion fails catastrophically.”

Over the years, readers of Wood Industry have been informed repeatedly that failed adhesion remains either the top, or one of the top, reasons for job liability and loss across all value-added wood sectors — residential, commercial and institutional. When we hear Abbott says that the addition of ½ of one percent of a crosslinker can result in catastrophic failure, it is time to take notice.

Abbott goes on to say, “Our intuitions about how crosslinking can increase adhesion across an interface are often wrong. For example, we would think that ‘more” is ‘better.’ In reality, a low level of crosslinks is ideal to give much-needed dissipation and a high level gives a brittle bond.”

In glue, more may be better, up to a point

In essence, Abbott says, There are at least two reasons why more crosslinking can make things worse. The first is the fact that chemical bonds across an interface can provide, at most, 1J/m2 if the failure is exactly along the line of the interface. In other words,

INDUSTRY NOVEMBER/DECEMBER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 2020 8 WOOD INDUSTRY

without dissipation, crosslinking is of little use and, indeed, can make a system so rigid that no dissipation is possible. The second is when a polymer, say, becomes so strongly attached to a surface through chemical bonds that it no longer is able to entangle with the rest of the polymer….

Because entanglement is such a powerful way to gain adhesion - any attempt to pull the entangled system apart requires many polymer bonds to be stretched to breaking point — it is worth asking what is the difference between an entangled adhesion system and a crosslinked adhesion system if the number of entangled crossings is the same as the number of crosslinks? The answer is: no difference! Magomedov’s book Structure and Properties of Crosslinked Polymers makes no distinction between the physics of polymer entanglement and “real” crosslinks such as those in epoxies. Of course, in terms of long-term creep and (perhaps) long-term chemical stability, crosslinked systems are stronger, but in terms of adhesion there is no difference. The Lake and Thomas formula of ΣNU emphasizes the importance of N — the number of chemical bonds between entanglements/crosslinks.

The larger N (so the lower the % crosslinks) the stronger the adhesion for a given cross-boundary density of links Σ. Of course you can’t go too far.

By reducing the total number of crosslinks one also reduces Σ. But the dissipation effect of large N is also important. So lightly crosslinked systems often show much more practical adhesion than strongly crosslinked ones. (emphasis added — editor) In glue, more may be better, up to a point. In crosslinked polymers, not so much. Following the advice of Abbott and responsible publications, proper use of adhesives is not simply a best practice, it is a way to stay in business.

Do not mess with mixing ratios. Do not mess with application rates or times. Do not mess with standards. As Abbott points, out, you may have a mix that will provide apparently good or better adhesion, but lose chemical stability. And if your application loses its chemical stability, the first you will know of it will be from your client’s lawyer, and the notice will come in a sealed envelope.

Comment at www.woodindustry.ca

Filings WOOD Biesse share price down 59 percent over three years

Simply Wall St reports that the Biesse S.p.A. share price has slid 59 percent over the last three years. One reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed, the report says, is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price. During the three years that the share price fell, Biesse’s EPS dropped by 51 percent each year.

Biesse is a Pesaro, Italy-based manufacturer of machinery and technologies for processing wood and other materials.

Precision Drive Systems appoints new vice president

Bessemer City, N.C.-based Precision Drive Systems (PDS) has appointed Greg Needham as vice president of sales and marketing.

Prior to joining PDS, Needham served in various management Greg Needham positions at Dayton Superior, Brunswick Corporation, Kennametal Inc. and startup companies. Needham worked his way through college as a CAD designer for Eaton and then Kennametal. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from North Carolina Wesleyan College, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master’s in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dual executive team at Fagus GreCon unveiled

A new dual leadership team at Fagus GreCon Greten in Alfeld, Germany, has been introduced. Uwe Kahmann (photo, left), managing

director since 2007, and Michael Gawronski (right) is the new managing director of the company as of September 15th, 2020. Gawronski succeeds Ernst Greten who performed the functions as managing director on an interim basis since the beginning of this year. Kahmann will continue to focus on the commercial and sales activities, while Gawronski will primarily work with the technical portfolio. GreCon is a developer and manufacturer of preventive fire protection systems, measuring equipment and inspection systems for many industries, including the wood-based panels industry. The Fagus business unit is a supplier to the footwear industry.

Daoust Lestage architecture expands leadership

Montréal, Que.-based architectural firm Daoust Lestage has announced the elevation of two new partners, Rachel Stecker, OAQ OAA, and Eric Lizotte, OAQ. Now Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker, the firm is a continuation of a practice and experience developed over more than 30 years.

Since joining Daoust Lestage in 2009, Stecker has collaborated on complex,

multidisciplinary projects of varied scopes and scales and has played a key role in expanding the practice throughout Canada. Lizotte has been instrumental in guiding projects from concept through completion since joining Daoust Lestage in 2014, the firm says. The firm has also appointed of Caroline Beaulieu, OAQ OAA, Nathalie Trudel, OAQ, and Lucie Bibeau, AAPQ, OALA, CSLA, as principals in recognition of their significant contribution and collaboration since the office’s founding in 1988.

Canada Woodworking East rescheduled to spring 2021

The producers of Canada Woodworking East in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., have announced revised dates.

Originally set for October 2020, show management in partnership with the major exhibitors have made the decision to hold for the upcoming event April 8-9, 2021 at Espace Saint-Hyacinthe.

Rapid Housing Initiative to create up to 3,000 homes

The Government of Canada has announced the launch of the new Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) that will invest $1 billion to create up to 3,000 new permanent, affordable housing units across the country. The RHI plans to quickly develop new modular multi-unit rentals, convert nonresidential buildings into affordable multi-residential homes, and rehabilitate buildings that are abandoned or in disrepair into affordable multi-residential homes. Costs to purchase land and buildings will also be eligible under the new initiative. Applications for project funding will be accepted until December 31, 2020. The RHI will be delivered by the Ottawa, Ont.-based Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, under the National Housing Strategy (NHS). The NHS is a 10year plan that will invest more than $55 billion to create 125,000 new housing units, reduce housing need for 530,000 households, and repair and renew more than 300,000 housing units. www.woodindustry.ca

WOOD INDUSTRY 9

Filings WOOD FPInnovations develops of biodegradable disposable masks

Montreal, Que.-based research centre FPInnovations has successfully completed phase 1 in the development of biodegradable disposable face masks and is ready to begin the second phase which is expected to lead to an entirely made-in-Canada biodegradable solution for face coverings. During an 8-week applied research sprint and

with financial support from Natural Resources Canada, researchers completed the first phase and successfully developed a biodegradable cellulosic filter media. The cellulosic filter media is the middle layer of a three-layer mask, is made from sustainable wood fibres, and is suitable for single-use face masks for public use. Current single-use personal masks are made from petroleum-based plastics. The average filtration efficiency of this new cellulosic filter media is currently at 60 percent, surpassing the average filtration efficiency of a typical cloth mask which is approximately 30 percent.

Prompt payment Bill for Alberta construction industry

Bill 37 from Service Alberta, the Builders’ Lien (Prompt Payment) Amendment Act, 2020 introduces timelines and rules for payments and

liens in all Alberta construction industry sectors, ensuring contractors and subcontractors are paid on time.

Previously, Alberta had no rules for payment timelines in the construction industry, which meant these timelines were vague if not addressed in a contract. If passed, these changes will set a clear timeline of 28 days for payments to be received.

Kaneff launches two towers in Mississauga City Centre

The Kaneff Group of Companies of Brampton, Ont., hosted a private event in October to mark the groundbreaking of its Keystone Condos project in Mississauga City Centre. The develop-

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ment consists of two towers, 20 and 23 storeys, with a podium connecting them. Keystone has a total of 406 suites and is over 80 per cent sold out. The project will be built on the Cooksville Creek Ravine in Mississauga, Ont..

Canada and Québec sign housing agreement

The governments of Canada and Quebec have announced an agreement that will result in a combined

KCMA seeks response to alleged customs fraud

Democratic and Republican U.S. Senators have sent a bipartisan letter signed by 35 Members of Congress to the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Customs and Border Protection on behalf of the Ralston, Va.-based Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association to express concerns about alleged fraud on kitchen cabinet imports from China.

The industry received relief in the form of antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CVD) duties in April 2020 ranging from 13.33 to 269.91 percent, with an average of 58.89 percent for most importers. Since that time, the kitchen cabinet industry has uncovered information to suggest that Chinese producers may be engaged in transshipment, circumvention, and evasion of the AD/CVD duties.

investment of close to $3.7 billion over 10 years to improve the housing conditions of many Quebec households in need. The Canada — Quebec Housing Agreement, which covers the period from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2028, provides for total federal funding of $1.84 billion and involves a financial commitment from Quebec equivalent to the federal commitment.

Ashley invests $70 million in new Ohio facility

Ashley Furniture Industries plans to build a new facility in Etna, Ohio,

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investing $70 million US. The facility will serve as a regional distribution hub, expanding the company’s established network of eight major distribution centres. The new 1 million squarefoot warehouse will serve a variety of needs, including global e-commerce fulfillment and store shipments. Ashley’s $70 million investment will be put toward building the facility along with machinery and equipment costs.

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Filings WOOD that warned of a decline in Canadian house prices between nine and 18 percent. In August, Re/Max revised its forecast for national average house price in 2020, increasing it to 4.6 percent from an original expectation of 3.6 percent increase at the end of last year.

International and the Power Tool Institute, have joined the Washington, D.C.-based Buy Safe America Coalition. The coalition consists of a diverse group of retailers, consumer groups, wholesaler-distributors, and manufacturers who support efforts to combat organized retail crime and protect consumers and communities from the sale of counterfeit and stolen goods. Stories of massive theft rings targeting home improvement retailers continue to emerge regularly, the coalition says.

A man in Knoxville, Tenn., was arrested and charged earlier this year after $50,000 US worth of power tools and other equipment were located at a residence. Meanwhile in Florida, a theft ring stole at least $83,000 US in merchandise from several Home Depot and Lowe’s stores between 2017 and 2019, according to police reports.

Realtor debunks CMHC real estate decline claim

The strength of the Canadian real estate market, according to Mississauga, Ont.-based realtor Re/Max Canada, has continued to prove itself time and time again during the pandemic. The realtor expects an active market for the foreseeable future and balanced conditions at the national level into 2021, in contrast to the Ottawa, Ont.-based Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation statement in September standing by its previous forecast in May

12 WOOD INDUSTRY

Construction starts on awardwinning tower in Victoria

The Wedge, a sustainable new residential tower by Cox Developments in Victoria, B.C., has commenced construction. The announcement comes after the development’s recent Gold Nugget Grand Award win as the Best On-The-Boards Multifamily Community. The $50 million, 15-story tower is located in downtown Victoria and features 93 residences in one-, twoand three-bedroom designs, with every home designed to feel like a corner unit with maximized views of water, mountains and the city. The development was designed to achieve LEED Platinum Certification, with numerous eco-friendly elements like water conservation, active on-site power generation, sustainable materials, natural ventilation, daylighting and strategic sun control. The tower will also offer ground-floor commercial space. The development was designed by San Diego, Calif., and Vancouver, B.C-based AVRP Skyport and is being built by Blackrete Builders of Victoria. Construction commenced August 1, 2020 and is anticipated to be complete early 2023.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

Manitoba bill said to ease decertifing a union

The Manitoba government is planning changes to a labour law that would make it easier for employers to fire striking workers for misbehaviour, according to a report by the Canadian Press. The Labour Relations Act currently says employers can refuse to reinstate workers due to strike-related misconduct if the action constitutes just cause for termination and resulted in a criminal conviction. A bill now before the legislature would remove the requirement for a criminal conviction. The bill would also lower the threshold that triggers a vote on whether to decertify a union in a workplace. It would also do away with binding arbitration for contract disputes other than for an initial collective agreement, the report says. The bill would also require public-sector unions to disclose audited financial statements and salaries of any staff who make more than $75,000 a year.

Letters WOOD Re: Wood Industry November e-letter, Our good neighbour Well said especially re: CBC which has shown itself to be more anti-Trump than the US networks except Fox. Richard Goodfellow Goodfellow Inc. Once again an outstanding piece!!

Frank Siekmann Merit Kitchens Excellent editorial! I really enjoyed it, especially your last sentence punch line. Made me chuckle. Have a nice day.

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Design WOOD Reflections on standing strong

White pine O

ne of the highlights of the past few months was an outdoor concert of classical music that I was fortunate enough to attend. By then, it was early fall and the spring and summer had passed mostly in isolation, for me and most others. So being out in public was special, Paul Epp even with the standard precautions. The music was familiar, mostly operatic overtures, and the performers were hard to distinguish behind their masks. A friend and I had a blanket on the grass and I lay back, lost in reverie as the music floated around me.

I noticed that the tree that we were under was a white pine, distinguishable by its clusters of long and thin needles. I grew up in Northern Alberta and we had poplars and spruce up there. Since then, I have now spent a lot of my life in Ontario and one of the pleasures of this province has been the variety and sizes of the trees. I was first struck by the rangey majesty of the elms, which are now long gone. And, of course, the equal but more formal majesty of the maples. Then the oaks, basswood, ash, walnuts, cherry and many others, are now old friends. It’s been a cornucopia of new arboreal experiences, made especially meaningful by my choice of a career in both design and woodwork. I know what’s under their skin and I enjoy that.

The house I’m renovating was built sometime in the latter part of the 19 th century, and the original studs and flooring are pine. White pine. Held in place with square nails.

Some of these boards came from old trees, so I feel in touch with quite a range of history. The white pine has a special place in the Canadian story, being one of the resources that made this country valuable to Britain. I’ve certainly enjoyed getting to know it, not only as a material, but as a symbol of the wonderful Canadian Shield, that I have loved in canoe within. I’ve spend a lot of nights under these trees, listening to the wind make its magic and haunting sounds, while feeling sheltered.

As I was looking at the newly cool

blue of the evening sky, through the scrim of pine needles, the experience seemed to make me extra reflective. One of these topics was my tenure as a columnist for Wood Industry magazine. I’ve been writing

about design for quite a few years, now, and it’s been a real pleasure to feel of use to its readers. I stayed on because I was lucky enough to have an editor who mostly let me say whatever I wanted to say and who was steadfastly encouraging. It’s been an honour and a privilege to serve both him and you. But things change. Summer turns to fall and then fall to winter. I certainly feel that I am in the fall of my career, if not already the winter. I have the sense that I’m repeating myself and that my observations are neither as fresh or as keen as they once were.

Maybe it’s time to hang up my pencil, before it slips from my fingers (or gets taken away).

Writing is usually kind of a lonely experience. One puts words on paper and sends them out there, hoping that they will not only be read but also enjoyed. There usually isn’t much feedback. But I’ve been very gratified to hear, directly or otherwise, that I’ve been read and even, at least on occasion, enjoyed. So, thanks for that support. It makes me proud.

I’m not giving everything up.

The house isn’t finished and it will keep me busy for a while, yet. I get tired of swinging a hammer every day and I’ve still got some writing to do, but free of deadlines and feelings of responsibility. How about a book about the white pine? Now, that strikes me as an interesting project.

And who knows? Maybe travel will again become an option. I’ve been very fortunate to have seen as much of the world as I have, and since, I’m being reflective, I recognize that I’ve been very fortunate to have a career centred on making things. And fortunate to have had an audience for my various written reflections.

Thanks for listening.

Paul Epp is an emeritus professor at OCAD University, and former chair of its Industrial Design department.

Comment at www.woodindustry.ca. www.woodindustry.ca

WOOD INDUSTRY 13

WOOD Law

The estate plan

Your proactive tool T

he current global pandemic has brought estate planning considerations to the forefront. Many individuals are worried about their health, family and finances during this time of u nc e r t a i nt y.

The urgency to have appropriate esKiran Gill tate-planning documents completed is more prevalent now than ever. It is important to be proactive.

A well-informed estate plan involves a review of all of your assets, consideration of tax minimization strategies, a review of legal obligations to dependants and others and an assessment of whether there should be an outright or delayed distribution of assets. An estate plan is also dependent on personal and family circumstances as well as the nature and extent of assets. It sets out your wishes, aims to preserve your wealth and ensures a smooth transition of your wealth to your beneficiaries.

Despite the importance of estate planning, many Canadians do not have a Will or Powers of Attorney.

Wills

A properly drafted Will is paramount to an estate plan.

A Will is a legal document in which you appoint someone, known as the executor or estate trustee to manage and administer your estate when you die. It sets out who will benefit from your estate, the timing of any distri-

14 WOOD INDUSTRY

butions to those beneficiaries, and addresses contingencies, such as one of your beneficiaries predeceasing you.

By failing to have an adequate Will in place you are at risk of suffering undesired consequences, such as having an unknown person assuming authority to distribute and manage your estate, having unintended distributions of property from your estate, or failing to honour your obligations to your dependents.

Powers of Attorney

Where a Will applies to the administration of your assets following your death, Powers of Attorney apply while you are alive.

You may appoint one or more substitute decision makers to manage your property (Power of Attorney for Property) and a decision maker for your personal care (Power of Attorney for Personal Care).

If you were to become legally incapacitated and as such, unable to manage your own assets or make your own personal care or healthcare decisions, the court would need to appoint a person who is called a Guardian of Property or Guardian of Personal Care. This could be a family member or a provincial guardian known as the Public Guardian and Trustee.

There may also be instances where you are legally capable of managing your own affairs, however, you may simply not be available to do so, for example, if you are quarantined. We have heard of the COVID-19 virus causing sudden and rapid deterioration of health and capacity, as such there may not be sufficient time to put these arrangements in place then, so it should be done now.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

Trusts

An estate plan may also include trusts. Trusts can be established during your lifetime (living trust) or in your Will (testamentary trusts).

The goal of a living trust may be to minimize taxes or preserve assets.

Trusts are commonly established in Wills for the benefit of minor children. The trustee is given discretion on the distribution of the capital and income to the minor to ensure that assets are available for education and living expenses and that the capital is paid to the child over a period of years or at a specified age.

Other instances in which trusts may be implemented are for business succession planning or for the preservation of government benefits (for example, Ontario Disability Support Program) received by an individual with special needs.

Business succession

The smooth transfer of business interests on death is essential to ensuring little disruption to the surviving business partners or shareholders.

An estate freeze may be implemented for estate planning purposes. This would involve capping the value of the business for the existing shareholders so that any future growth in value is passed to the next generation either by a distribution of shares to family members or a family trust where the family members are beneficiaries.

Additional estate planning considerations

A Will is only one channel through which assets can pass when you die.

Other channels include, beneficiary designations (for example, RRSPs or TFSAs), insurance designations, the right of survivorship on joint assets, inter vivos gifts (gifting assets during your lifetime), or corporation reorganizations.

Kiran Gill is an estate and trust planner and litigator at Brampton, Ont.,-based Lawrences law firm.

Comment at www.woodindustry.ca.

Cartel WOOD Love paying taxes to support competitors?

The Bluewater way B

luewater. The name fairly rolls off the tongue. If you can disregard blue water’s television-ad connotations, it evokes serenity. In another time, long before kids were born knowing everything, sailors knew two things: you need to hire a pilot to get you past the reef, and when the water beneath went to blue, you were safe.

Back when poetry was a discipline of modulated, disciplined morphemes in rhyme and meter, Alfred Lord Tennyson waxed eloquent on the matter in “Crossing the Bar.” In an analogy of life to eternity, he ended his foray: For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crost the bar.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Canada’s Bluewater Wood Alliance, the meaning is harder to catch. At one point, it was a buying group. Now, it’s an educator, or something. Maybe a tiny, exclusive club. Maybe a wanna-be inclusive association. It’s just hard to tell.

A decade ago, industry consultant Sepp Gmeiner was a columnist for Wood Industry, and had been a columnist for Wood Industry’s editor for a decade before that. In the last quarter of 2010, then-Wood Manufacturing Council (WMC) Chairman, former Chairman of the Canadian Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers’ Association, former Canadian Woodworking Machinery Distributors’ Association Chairman and former shareholder in W.I. Media Inc., Blair Tullis, along with furniture manufacturer Adam Hofmann (who managed Walkerton, Ont.,-based Bogdon and Gross Furniture into bankruptcy) and engineering consultant Gmeiner organized the Bluewater Wood Alliance with Ontario government funding.

Gmeiner and Hofmann had recently returned from Austria, where they studied a “new” efficiency plan based on “clusters.”

On his return, Gmeiner wrote his Wood Industry column based on this trip. It appeared to the editor to be a conflict of interests, so he asked Gmeiner, but was assured there was no conflict. Wood Industry ran the column, but then saw a presentation by Gmeiner and Hofmann at a Program Advisory Council meeting at Kitchener, Ont.’s Conestoga College that clearly cited Gmeiner as a principal in the Bluewater Wood Alliance. Known industry standards in magazines preclude self-promotion by col-

umnists, and Gmeiner was fired. In the following May/ June and July/August issues of competing magazine, Woodworking, Gmeiner is identified on the front page as a principal, along with Tullis and Hofmann. In September, Gmeiner appeared a columnist in Woodworking. As noted, Tullis is the former chair of WMC (above), former chair of CWMDA and former board member of CKCA. At the time, Bluewater was being advanced as an exclusive “buyers’ group” to make the group members “more competive.” The “group” at that time was limited to manufacturers in Bogdon and Gross’s small geographical area within Ontario’s Grey/Bruce region. This concerned us at Wood Industry, because the magazine had been used to promote the group, to begin with, but also that the only “competitors” we could see in the apparent business plan were other, non-member manufacturers and readers of Wood Industry.

More directly, the Cartel of the WMC, CWMDA, CKCA and its toady supplier handlers had seized Woodworking magazine and was developing a fist with which to coerce manufacturers to “join” their cluster truck or be stuck with inflated costs on source materials and services.

Wood Industry sounded the alarm on this shenanigan, and Bluewater quickly morphed into what appears to be a very well-staffed group of technocrats.

We were told at one point that the tiger has changed its stripes — it is no longer a predatory, anti-competitive, taxpayer-funded cartel associated with our Cartel reports over the past several issues. Could be. However, we all need to know our history, they say, or we are condemned to repeat it.

Others are condemned to report it. The point of this brief series is simple. There are hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars being claimed in the name of the wood industry. The question is how many other pockets are receiving a share, and what is their relationship to you?

Another maritime image from Tennyson: Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me.

Comment at www.woodindustry.ca

INDUSTRY 15 WOODINDUSTRY WOOD

www.woodindustry.ca www.woodindustry.ca

PROFILE: Oakley Woods Croquet, Brighton, Ont.

LISTEN

Nigel Retford monitors quality assurance and expedites shipping. Oakley Woods supplies a range of products and sets from beginner to advanced exotic.

16 WOOD INDUSTRY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

TO THE

market

W

hat do you suppose your life will look like when at 20 all you know is motorcycle mechanics?

If you’re asking Don Oakley of Oakley Woods Croquet in Brighton, Ont., not good.

Oakley recalls getting his ass chewed by a boss back then, and he says he went into a sort-of detached state, much like you see in Homer Simpson, where whatever is going on in reality, Homer is off in his mind, talking to himself. In this case, the boss was yelling away, and Oakley was asking himself if this is what he wanted to be doing for the next 40 years. He said the answer turned out to be no, and he resolved to be his own boss by age 24.

Continued www.woodindustry.ca

WOOD INDUSTRY 17

As I bent over to take this photo, Nigel Retford’s Covid-masked voice came over my shoulder: “People are always taking pictures of our balls,” he said.

Not to be outflanked, I said, “I was wondering why most of them are either red, or black and blue.”

Retford shot back, “You have to get the right grip on the shaft so the stroke will put the balls in the right position.”

I was beat, but I suspect he’d had practice. Croquet guys have to be tough to survive.

However, that was easier said than done. Following his resolve, Oakley looked up renowned local woodturner Bert Thompson and ended up apprenticing with him for three years in the early ‘70s.

From there, it was on to working as a single-man shop doing chair spindles, porch posts, table legs, cabinets, stairs or whatever he could find to keep going, and gaining skill, business sense and experience in the process.

Along about 1990, a neighbour came over with the remains of a Canadian Tire croquet set. The mallets were all chewed up, and he wanted to know whether Oakley could fix them up. In a bit, Oakley had half-a-dozen newly done mallets, but he figured he had $50 in each one, and couldn’t see it fair to charge that much, so he charged $25 each, but he wondered.

There was an internet in those days, but not a worldwide web, so internet searches were not as comprehensive as now. Nonetheless, he

18 WOOD INDUSTRY

finally found a really nice croquet set at Abercrombie and Fitch for — gasp — $1,500 for a set.

Oakley figured he could do better than that, but he had to identify and approach the market, so after a year of searching bookstores and libraries, he identified two contacts: the U.S. Croquet Association and Croquet Canada. These were the upper level of the croquet world.

Then it was time to lobby, so Oakley went on the road. The then-president of the U.S. Croquet Association could see Oakley was serious, so he said, “If you’re serious about making mallets, I’d be happy to help.” So they got together and started getting into the details of swing, balance, specs and style. Then, Oakley said, the feedback loop began. He would make a mallet, take it to a match, ask people to critique it, go back to the drawing board and then back to another tournament.

In a year, he finally felt he had a saleable product, but he saw it as just a side-hustle — something to fill in

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

Once you get to a certain level in croquet, precision is everything.

Weight and balance have to match size and angle. And don’t tell Retford I said that.

when he didn’t have other work, and he decided to join the newly burgeoning worldwide web of the internet and launched a website.

Then, Oakley started to get really busy, and hired his first employee in 1998 to help with volume.

Suddenly, a couple of things happened. First, Jack Osborne, thenpresident of the U.S. Croquet Association, died. Osborne had been adamant about outsourcing croquet products, largely from England, but in the aftermath, somebody at a meeting noted that, “this guy up in Canada makes croquet sets.”

Concurrently, somebody called one day with a bunch of questions – many of which went well beyond the normal, “what length are the shafts?” sales questions, but Oakley answered, happy that somebody shared his newfound passion for croquet.

Then, the guy called back, announced he was from the Wall Street Journal, that a story about Oakley was to appear in that Friday’s edition,

Oakley’s first employee, still there, Jay Parnell, attends to applying the sighting groove to a set of mallet heads. Richard Perkins, shown on the cover, office manager Vanessa and Don’s wife, Diana, round out the team.

and hung up. According to Oakley, his phone started ringing at 7:30 a.m. that Friday, and by mid-day he had to hire an answering service to keep up with the calls. “It was a roller-coaster ride for the next six months, he said, and he and his staff, “were hanging on by the skin of their teeth.”

He hired some summer help, even if just to bore holes in heads and grinding points on hoops, and in the winter he hired some co-op from the

local high school.

Quickly, he ended up with a steady demand, with 90 percent of all sales going to the U.S., 5 percent to Canada and 5 percent to the rest of the world, with 2/3 of sales going to e-commerce.

Oakley wryly notes that Brighton is not a bright spot for finding lots of available labour, and his contact with the schools and summer work have petered out. One lad, for example, said he was concerned about social

distancing, started collecting Covid from the government and decided to self-quarantine “up at the cottage” with his girlfriend.

By 1993, it had become clear to Oakley that if he wanted to give credibility to his mallets, he had to play the game, so he started entering tournaments, and used them to ask people to critique his equipment versus theirs.

Before long, he was invited to the board of Croquet Canada, where he

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WOOD INDUSTRY 19

Don Oakley maintains a palpable sense of balance between technology and artisanship. His machines are not all new, but they do what they’re told. Oakley is, however, anticipating the installation this month of a brand-new, Chinese-made CNC router he feels will make a quantum change in accuracy, repeatability, and, of course, efficiency.

served for 15 years as their technical specialist, and is now over nine years as second vice-president of the U.S. Croquet Association, and is a certified instructor and certified referee.

As he got better, Oakley began to provide “swing clinics,” in which he would attend a tournament, and then coach people on their stance and swing, and, incidentally, how the balance, weight and size of their mallets

20 WOOD INDUSTRY

As the heads become more advanced, length is required for sighting, but weight has to be minimized — in this case with cutouts. According to Oakley, the metal plates in back of the facing material can make up as much as 70 percent of the mass.

affected their game.

While this was clearly self-serving, it was also to everybody’s benefit, Oakley says. “The better somebody is at their sport,” he says, “the better they will enjoy it and the more they will bring their friends into it.

Hmmm. Maybe by getting good at a job, having a passion for a sport and gaining a following that supports your business makes croquet

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

more like motorcycle mechanics than it first appears. It has to do with learning and understanding your market, not marketing to suppliers to your market. Do that, and you end up with a Canadian Tire set that falls apart in your garage under its own accord.

Do your concerns match others’ from your industry?

Survey results 2020 Once again, the annual Readers Survey is a fascinating look into the heart of our industry. We’ll deconstruct parts of it in a minute, but it bears noting that we rarely get a strongly negative comment in the feedback question, and this time we got two. Let’s take a look at the first, together, and I’ll print the other on its own, since both are similar in their approach.

One reader wrote: “Perhaps you should start your own blog for your political opinions and keep it out of the WOOD Industry news. ....But today’s Democrats have morphed. They are NOT what they were. They are killers. - That’s offensive on so many levels. To generalize an entire group as KILLERS- Come on.... I’m Republican and I think its inappropriate. As a journalist I find it sad you couldn’t come up with a better word. ...unsubscribed.”

Starting from the end, the writer did not unsubscribe.

We don’t track comments, but we can follow the ISPs. On this one, we did, and the person with the complaint was not a subscriber in the first place. This is one of the points that has been disappointing as I have watched the evolution (or devolution) of journalism and public discourse since the advent of the internet. People want to attack from behind, and never use their names. Clearly, everything I write not only has my real name on it, but also my address, e-mail and phone. I am accountable for what I write.

Secondly, as you can see, it is from an American replying to our Wood Industry US e-letter. From the person’s actual address, it appears the survey was forwarded from a supplier, not a reader. This is pertinent, because I have studied over the years the basic differences between our readers and the people that want to sell to them. For example, in this survey, 68 percent of you report that you are business owners. So am I. I think we would be unanimous in agreeing that there are differences of perspective and protocols for people that own and risk their own money versus people that get a cute title, such as PRESIDENT, and then push other people around using somebody else’s money. Every time I have traced a strongly negative comment, such as this one, it has led back to somebody that is not a business owner.

I am not a politician or political operative. I’m just the guy hanging around the breakroom. Once in each issue, and once digitally each month, we get away from business writing and just chat about what we’re thinking, and the responses are overwhelmingly positive. That’s why we do it.

In the case of the Democrats, it may not be “fair” to in-

What is your main challenge in supplying product?

Supply chain availability Price competition

Personal relationships Access to buyer reps Breadth of product lines

Aging receivables

To a distributor or dealer

Directly to consumers

Where do you sell your products?

ductively comment that Democrats are killers, but life is not about “fair.” When I look at American cities burning, I see Democrats tossing the cocktails. It was a Democrat that shot Congressman Steve Scalise, and it’s Democrats that shoot the police, toss firebombs in occupied police cars, shoot eight-month-old babies in strollers and steal property as “reparations.” So maybe not every Democrat has burned a building or killed a cop, but, at some point, you have to consider yourself complicit when the group you identify with has a consistent, definable, documented and predictable set of behaviours.

Finally, the writer invokes the idea of what I should do, “as a journalist.” Then this one, like ALL the others, suggests that I should put on a duck suit, smoke a joint and follow the gross majority of “journalists” into writing puff pieces for advertisers, pushing a limited, biased and www.woodindustry.ca www.woodindustry.ca

INDUSTRY 21 WOOD WOODINDUSTRY

“other” political agenda and pretend that everybody on earth speaks, thinks, talks and acts alike.

I’m more about diversity, and my readers vastly prefer an honest chat, even if they don’t agree, to “native advertorial” produced by marketing newbies on their first real job since college.

My point is that you have every right to be irked that a few, spineless, shithead, anonymous advertiser-reps consistently try to infiltrate your surveys, skew the results and feed you the kind of illiterate pap they learned how to cough up in Current Events 101.

Anyway, she wasn’t writing to, by for or about you.

Here is what you said.

As noted, 68 percent of you are owners. That is signif-

icant. Even more, 78 percent, are afraid of the internet.

Concerns you named are banking fraud, opened e-mail, data loss, credit card fraud, data hostage for bitcoin, identity theft, ransomware, spam cause by a virus and getting hacked. The most-prevalent fear was ransomware. You folks don’t trust “digital.”

Not surprisingly, the large majority of you do NOT want Wood Industry to go “digital.”

I asked whether you would pay $60 a year for Wood Industry if I could guarantee fresh, researched, professional content. You, even though all of you have been raised to expect your business news for “free,” said that 25 percent of you would pay.

This is interesting. Our list is 14,000. One fourth of that is 3,500, times $60 is $210,000. That is not enough to

What can we do better, what should we keep or get rid of, how do we compare or anything else on your mind?

All the comments Great magazine, everyone in the office reads it. More editorials would be great as it makes the world real. Could be projects, others sharing how they solved workplace issues etc.

I primarily use this resource to keep up with the changing technology and automation since human resources are getting harder to find. yes and no are not ideal options trade shows here are good but non if there is covid. Once a year would be nice but know it costs them a fortune to do that show.

I would think if there was a way to convince people there is no window that has no maintenance. No maintenance just means throw it away down the road. perhaps more frequent trade shows, even virtual ones Remain unique. Continue to provide good journalism. Do not get kitschig.

Great Magazine What percentage of your business is commercial v. residential? <5% commercial, option not available.

No Comments stop w/the political commentary. i don't even bother reading most of the enews at all as the current political publisher/editor statement is a huge turn-off and unhelpful.

The only thing I really dislike about the magazine is your editorial content, Make it much more relevant to our specific interest and not yours.

I actually prefer the printed version of the magazine, but I realize that an electronic version is probably more realistic in the long term.

Just do what you do. Something for everyone as we do not all follow the same paths. Thank you I left a few items blank because the options didn’t address my concerns. For instance, I had comm with both Kerry and a publishing rep about where to send my subscription, and I still don’t receive the mag....been too busy to complain, but I dearly miss the read. For the record, I am both a manager and an owner but, understandably, the choices didn’t address my situation. All good. Really miss the physical read....

I would take my results with a grain of salt. I am a residential wood working equipment distributor; not production. I think your

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 2020 INDUSTRY NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 22 WOOD INDUSTRY

magazine has much to offer to SME cabinet and other woodworking shops. I enjoy flipping through your magazine, when time warrants, and wish you the best of luck!

It's all good as is.

I depend on your publication for view of the field. I would not read it if it was only digital.

I prefer a tangible magazine in my hands. But I also have apps on my phone for regular updates. One idea would be to replace the magazine with an app completely, not a newsletter by e mail. We could subscribe to the app at some cost and then have access to all the information. Quickly scrolling through headlines and then dig in to articles we are interested in. I would like to see more Western Canadian content and more info for secondary manufacturers rather than furniture shops. Wood industry means wood, means lumber, means remanufacturing. That is a segment of the market that is missing from Wood Industry in my humble opinion.

I enjoy reading your magazine. I find it informative, especially the editorial.

We're not even in the wood industry directly but I love reading your magazine, especially Knudsen's editorials. That's our prize. Thank you.

I am a skilled trades instructor and use wood industries as a classroom resource. Thanks for doing what you do!, .

Less conservative commentary in the newsletter.

Stop printing Kerry Knudsens politically charged opinions or at least replace it with a more current mindset More Company Case studies and more articles on the financial aspects of running a business and pricing our products. usually read cover to cover. Most of time articles are of interest, sum are informative , sum are humorous. This is a good publication.

I think you do a real good job now, Kerry. Your editorials are absolute gems, even in the odd instance where I don't completely agree with you. I imagine it must be difficult in these present times to continue producing an advertiser funded printed magazine sent out by mail.

Revenues for many businesses have taken a hit, and we all look for ways to reduce costs and continue to survive. While I certainly can see why "Wood Industry" may find it necessary to go completely digital, (and I'll still be happy to receive it that way if you do), I do prefer to read it in its present printed format if you can keep sending it that way.

pay the print and postage. You should think about that.

On the other hand, if I were to go digital in our way – the secure, no-exploitation way, the $210,000 could cover the costs quite handily. It’s something to think about. The trade-off is between getting print paid for by commercial outsiders or going “digital” in the face of fears of hacking.

The ultimate question is how much business information is worth, or is a catalog owned by three European OEMs good enough?

I’ll let the graphs tell their own story, from here, and, as promised, I’ll just run the rest of the comments so you can see what your colleagues have to say about Wood Industry.

Comment at www.woodindustry.ca

I like Kerry's editorials Keep up the print magazine . Like all the articles more product related content. I would prefer to see more detailed information about products , solutions and features.

Less opinionated and bias content. More content that is educational, company & product related, and focuses on wood working industry trends. more info for small shops alot of info for manufacturing companies but less for small 1 to 4 employee shops I love your editorials, please keep bringing them! I love your insight into North American politics! I'm in Mesa, AZ so your questions about shows there don't apply, but was forced to choose something.

Thanks for a concise easy to follow survey. All the best to you Weekly emails of different snippets from the most recent Wood Industry would help bring attention to different articles. I'm not going to have time to read the entire magazine. If a get a summary, on a weekly basis, showcasing one article from the magazine, I will be more inclined to find that article and read it. The content of the magazine is worth it, but there is something about the layout of advertisement vs. content that throws me off whenever I read the magazine. I put "Price Competition" as our main challenge, but along a different viewpoint. Our prices are competitive, but there is a false idea in consumers' minds that "custom" means expensive.

For us, very few customers actually need custom woodwork for their projects. Most of the time it is specific cabinet dimensions because they have an odd sized walls, etc.. That is not an obstacle for us who use CNCs to just cabinetry.

Trade show are a thing of the past. Total waist of money. Spend your money on Digital marketing and sales instead none Buy and sell section ( material, equipment) B to B Employment section ( offer job, look for job) Sub contracting section ( specialty work, Capacity ) offer and request B to B Need more info on my comment , I have some idea that it would be benefit for both party , buyer and seller.

The magazine's editorial is intolerable. The rant on the Covid lock down with cherry picked statistics was pathetic. It's showed no understanding of statistics, epidemiology or three interplay off cause and effect, really it was embarrassing.

How Are You Coping?

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INDUSTRY 23 WOODINDUSTRY WOOD

Products WOOD Dark gray stain added to cabinet components

WalzCraft has added a gray stain to its line of finish options for custom cabinet components. The Nightfall V3 is a dark gray combination stain that covers most of the natural wood colour and highlights the darker wood grain. The company says the

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Web-based closet design tool

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24 WOOD INDUSTRY

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Spindle service adds two-year warranty program

Precision Drive Systems has announced PrecisionCare, a 24-month warranty program for new, repaired and rebuilt spindles. This optional program aims to support new and existing customers with a hassle-free, extrameasure of protection for their machine spindles, the company says.

The program provides customers with a cost-effective warranty as well as post sales service enhancements for the company’s products for up to two years or 4,000 working hours, whichever occurs first, from the date of end user spindle installation. www.spindlerepair.com

Door pulls in new colours and lengths

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The Hadly Collection by Elements from Hardware Resources now in

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Decorative metal laminate line extended

Aligning with warmer metals trending in commercial design, Formica Canada has released additions to its DecoMetal Metal Laminate collection. Thirteen new metal visuals add warm tones of brass, copper, light gold and black, providing designers with a full-spectrum toolbox of 37 metal laminate designs for architectural interiors, the company says.

The solid metal aluminum sheets are artistically printed with visuals enhanced by a metal sheen base. The new laminate patterns are for vertical use, lightweight and easy to install and maintain, it adds. www.formica.com

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models that require adjustable legs, units have a U-shaped groove incorporating the adjuster which can be maneuvered for fixing the setting of the foot. Available in a glossy finish and in 2 measures, the legs come in polished chrome, stainless steel effect and brushed black, as well as in 3 sizes. www.marathonhardware.com

Compact edgebander with corner rounding

Panel worktable offers tilting option

Corentium Plus is a radon monitor from Air Things built with multiple sensors. It employs a passive diffusion chamber and alpha spectrometry for detection to measure radon, temperature and humidity. Measurement range is 0 to 50,000 Bq/m3 at a one hour sampling rate in an operating environment from 4° to 40°C and 5 to 85% RH. Battery life is approximately 1.5 year of continuous monitoring with replaceable AA batteries.

Units weigh 148 g with batteries and are 119 x 69 x 26 mm. www.airthings.com

Automatic sanding machine

The Felder Fat 500S is a height adjustable heavy load working table with rollers to permit portability within the shop environment. Dimensions (L x W) are 81-½ x 46-1/2 in. and height varies from 18-½ to 42-¾ in.

Net load capacity is 500 kg. Ergonomic foot hydraulics are easily accessible for operator comfort, the company says. Automatic changeover between heavy load and quick lift is featured.

Also available with the system is an optional panel tilting device. www.felder-group.com

The Cantek MX370M from Akhurst is said to be a versatile edgebander in a small package. The dual-purpose end trim and corner rounding unit allows users to choose either flush or radius end cuts for cabinet parts or cabinet doors. The pre-milling cutters ensure a pristine edge prior to applying the edgebanding. Panel feeding is by a chain track system to ensure the board is being properly fed through the machine for accurate processing. Other working units include PVC scraping and buffing. www.akhurst.com

Hand tool installation kit

Furniture legs with adjustable feet

Viefe Fonda furniture legs from Marathon Hardware are manufactured

The KSN series automatic sanding machine from Weber is a redesigned automatic sanding machine for wood sanding, veneer sanding and lacquer sanding for artisans and industry. Up to four sanding stations allow for a wide variety of machining variations.

All sanding and brushing stations can be installed in any order, to suit

in aluminum. Suitable for furniture

The Limited-Edition Installation Kit from Festool is said to provide an efficient solution for organizing and transporting hand tools that installwww.woodindustry.ca

WOOD INDUSTRY 25

Products WOOD

ers depend on at the jobsite. The tools in the kit are positioned inside labeled, easy-to-read organizer trays to ensure tools remain easily accessible. The installation kit, provided in the company’s latest generation of systainer organizers, comes equipped with a see-through lid and is stackable for efficient tool transportation.

The new kits are packed with five categories of tools in a range of fixed and adjustable sizes. The components of the kit consist of an adjustable wrench, ratcheting combination wrenches, screwdrivers, nut drivers and a hex key set with a holder. The tools are available as either an Imperial or a Metric set. www.festoolcanada.com

Entry level miter, mortise and tenon machine

(24,000 rpm); 6 hp high frequency spindle for tenon (18,000 rpm); 1 x 3.5 in. machining capability (larger sizes available upon request); combination top/side clamps; 1900 lb. frame; and, 15 in. industrial colour touchscreen for creating and selecting programs. www.pillarmachine.com

Thermofoil colours and door styles expanded

Elias Woodwork has added eight colours to its thermofoil solid colour collection. Included in the new colours are ultra-matte soft touch and painted wood grain texture finishes.

Along with the new colours, the company has added several new door styles. www.eliaswoodwork.com

be combined for bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms or shop fitting.

Adjustment capabilities — vertical, lateral and tilt — are provided to obtain reveal alignment to front panels. Additionally, the designer profile on the drawer side not only provides a style element but conceals the drawer tilt adjuster, the company says. Simply slide the exterior décor back and customers will see the unique sliding mechanism makes it possible to release the front panel and adjust it both vertically and laterally, it adds. After releasing the front panel, it drops into a retained position for easy removal to ensure safety. www.hettich.com

PUR gluing system for moisture curing

Drawer system supports various loads The M45 from Pillar Machine is an entry level miter, mortise and tenon machine. The wood CNC machine features side pressure clamps to ensure the part is firmly against the side fence prior to clamping and is said to guarantee a 45˚ miter every time. The machine can produce 150 to 200 doors per shift. Units provide multi-axis control for high quality joints and flexibility in machining various sizes of profiles, the company says. The machine has two working zones. Specifications include: 3 hp high frequency spindle for mortise

26 WOOD INDUSTRY

The AvanTech YOU drawer system from Hettich has been created to offer furniture designers a way to impress customers with great performance — regardless of the load class. The drawers and runners can

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

The easypur gluing system for the application of PU adhesives (PUR) from Taurus Craco provides for one component moisture curing. The unit features an operating panel, pump unit and silica gel filter to keep air dry. The glue gun has a ring for flow (quantity of glue) control and a brass spatula nozzle. The inspectable nozzle allows for easy cleaning, the company says. www.tauruscraco.com

Bullets WOOD All sectors in Canada observed gains in the total value of building permits issued in September, which rose 17.0 percent to $9.4 billion. The total value of residential permits, including single family and multifamily dwellings, increased 6.9 percent to $6.0 billion.

—Statistics Canada Total investment in building construction increased 5.0 percent to $16.0 billion in August. Residential sector investment increased 8.2 percent to $10.8 billion, while non-residential investment decreased 1.2 percent to $5.2 billion. —Statistics Canada Every year, wastewater samples around Europe are analyzed for traces of illicit drugs. Looking at traces of cocaine found at a recent weekend, Amsterdam was at the top of the scale with 1,028 mg of the drug per one thousand people flowing through the drains.

In second is Swiss banking hub Zurich with 976 mg and rounding off the top three is the Danish capital, Copenhagen, with 780 mg. —European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction With the Tuatara, the U.S. car manufacturer Shelby SuperCars has broken the speed record for a production car. Over a distance of approximately 11 km, the sports car achieved an average speed of 509 kph, beating the previous record holder, the Chiron from Bugatti, by 19 kph. Coming in third is the M2K Motorsports Ford GT and 483 kph. —Auto Motor und Sport July 2020 U.S. retail sales (not online) of furniture and home furnishings were up 2.1 percent year-toyear. —U.S. Census Bureau There were 14 million light-duty vehicles (cars, SUVs and minibuses) exported to low- and middle-income countries between 2015 and 2018, with 40 percent destined for Africa. The European Union accounted for 54 percent of all used vehicle exports during the above period, followed by Japan’s 27 percent and 18 percent from the U.S. —United Nations Environment Programme Orders of machinery and tools for wood and furniture in Q3 2020 in Italy recorded a decrease of 10.1 percent compared to the same quarter of 2019. Orders on the domestic market decreased by 32.3 percent, as opposed to international demand, which decreased by 1 percent.

This general trend is mitigated by the fact that orders increased by more than 40 percent in Q2. —Acimall

There have been 19 federal government consumer protection enforcement actions in the U.S. taken during the third quarter of 2020 — the most taken since the third quarter of 2015. —Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Wall Street Journal The Law and Order Index, a composite score based on reported confidence in the police, indicates feelings of personal safety and incidences of theft/mugging in different countries over the past year. Countries with the highest possible score out of 100 were considered the safest and most secure. Singapore had the joint highest level of confidence in law and order with a score of 97 along with Turkmenistan. China rounded off the top-three with 94 out of 100. The lowest confidence levels were seen in Afghanistan. The Canada scored 86, higher than the global average and the same as the U.S. Ireland, France and Sweden. — Gallup According to its Canada 2021 Salary Guide, 71 percent of employers are optimistic about the future Canadian employment outlook, while 40 percent of employers are intending to integrate remote work as part of their normal practices. —Hays Employment in Canada rose by expected 378,200 in September, bringing employment to within 720,000 (-3.7 percent) of its February level. Manufacturing jobs employment rose for the fifth month in a row in September, up by 68,000. Accordingly, the sector has recovered 95 per cent of its pandemic-related job losses. — CME, Statistics Canada According to Emerging Trends in Real Estate Surveys, Real Estate Business Prospects 2021 versus 2020, real estate builders and developers in Canada rate 2021 prospects at 3.55 out of 5 compared to 3.31 in 2020. On the scale, 1 is considered abysmal and 5 is consider excellent. —PwC Nearly half of Canadian equipment manufacturing companies that responded to a survey indicated it will take one year or longer to get back to pre-pandemic business levels and 50 per cent say they have used or intend to use the federal Covid-19 assistance program to help their businesses. —Association of Equipment Manufacturers The trend in housing starts in Canada was 214,647 units in September 2020, up from 212,609 units in August 2020. —Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation www.woodindustry.ca

WOOD INDUSTRY 27

Bullets WOOD The total of $1,414.0 billion US construction activity for September 2020 in the U.S. was 0.3 percent above August 2020. —U.S. Census Bureau The total number of new condominium apartment sales in the Greater Toronto Area increased 30 percent year-over-year in Q3 to 6,370 units, reaching a record high for third-quarter activity. —Urbanation U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 33.1 percent in the third quarter of 2020. In the second quarter, real GDP decreased 31.4 percent. — U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis The Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index registered 55.5 in October, down slightly from 56.0 in September, indicative of another strong improvement in overall business conditions. — IHS Markit Total employment in Canada rose by 246,000 (1.4 percent) in August, following an increase of 419,000 (2.4 percent) in July and 953,000 (5.8 percent) in June.

—Statistics Canada The top two upcoming housing-related construction projects in Ontario and Quebec, respectively, include the $3.5 billion Union Park in Toronto, Ont., and a $2.5 billion mixed use development project in Montreal, Que. Next on the list are the $3.1 billion Square One District Phase Two project in Mississauga, Ont., and the $1 billion Quartier des Dialogues residential and commercial complex in Levis, Que. —ConstructConnect The third quarter of 2020 ended on a more promising note for U.S. architecture firms, as fewer firms reported declining billings in September than in recent months. While the ABI score of 47.0 for the month means that the majority of firms still saw a decline in their firm billings, things have taken a more encouraging turn from the last three months where the recovery had all but stalled. —American Institute of Architects The 2020 Q1 Architectural, Engineering and Related Services Price Index for Canada indicates a quarterover-quarter change of 0.8 percent and year-overyear change of 1.9 percent. —Statistics Canada A new poll about U.S. attitudes towards 195 different countries found that Americans consider their own as the best country with 78 percent of respondents rating it favourably, followed by Australia (75) and Canada (74). At the opposite end of the scale, North Korea was named the least popular country with the U.S. public, followed by Iran, Iraq, China and Russia. —YouGov

28 WOOD INDUSTRY

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

An analysis has projected that the total cost of the 2020 U.S. election will be just under $11 billion US. When adjusted for inflation, the 2020 election is set to be 50 percent more expensive than in 2016. —The Center For Responsive Politics Total U.S. retail sales, including expenditures at restaurants and bars, rose by 1.9 percent in September, reaching $549 billion US for the month. This marks the fifth consecutive month of increases, with total sales recovering to near pre-pandemic levels.

For perspective, during the initial pandemic shutdown in March and April, retail sales had dropped by 20 percent vs. pre-Covid. —U.S. Census Bureau Business conditions for the interior design industry remained at its current, unchanged levels for September as the Interior Design Billings Index (IDBI) recorded a score of 52.2. After dipping to 19.1 in April, the industry appears to have completed a ‘V’ shape recovery as the IDBI index has now hovered around 52 for three consecutive months (any score above 50 represents expansion and below 50 represents contraction). —ASID The U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index is at 55.5 in October, a 20-month high.

—IHS Markit In the 2020 Kitchen & Bath Market Outlook September Update, U.S. respondents were asked about their level of comfort within their homes during the pandemic. Although 8 percent were not at all comfortable to the point where they wanted to move, the predominant answer, cited by 71 percent of homeowners, was that they were generally satisfied with where they were living. However, nearly 1 in 4 who planned to remain at home expressed a need to remodel — and soon — with changes designed to increase their level of comfort during the Covid-19 era and beyond. —NKBA In Germany, 42 percent of the furniture manufacturers surveyed in August now expect a drop in sales of up to 5 percent for the full year. At the beginning of July, they had expected a reduction of up to 10 percent. —VDM Global carbon emissions are down by 6.5 percent in 2020 to date. The largest contributor to this drop is the reduction in ground transport use — down 17 percent from 2019 and accounting for roughly half of the overall change. —Carbon Monitor

Events WOOD Jan. 20 – 23 IMM Cologne Cologne, Germany www.imm-cologne.com April 8 – 9 Canada Woodworking East Saint-Hyacinthe, Que. www.canadawoodworkingeast.ca April 13 – 18 EuroCucina Milan, Italy www.salonemilano.it/en/ exhibitions/eurocucina-ftktechnology-for-the-kitchen April 17 – 21 High Point Market High Point, N.C. www.highpointmarket.org April 20 – 23 Woodworking Industry Conference 2021 Coronado, Calif. www.wmia.org/events

WOOD

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Perspective Whether in production or in sales, warehousing or distribution, sometimes the critical factor is not whether you see something, but how you see something. – Editor

W.I. Media’s back property line, Ontario

INDUSTRY NOVEMBER/DECEMBER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2020 2020 30 WOOD INDUSTRY

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