Q: When grading kiln-dried hardwood lumber, our supplier says that he grades from the better face of the lumber rather than the poor face. He also says that the lumber only has to be 13/16 inches thick. Is this okay?

Q: What causes side bend during drying? We seem to see more of it nowadays and it affects our yields in the rough mill.

Q: I am having a problem with checking in our veneer. The problem seems to come in batches of veneer, while other batches are perfect (same species and supplier in all cases). When we have the problem, we might see a few checks before finishing, but most of them develop after finishing...a few hours to a few days. When we have the problem, it might be as many as 20 percent of the pieces. Can you shed some light on this and suggest what we can look at?

Q: We have some 5/4 hard maple, and when we resaw the lumber, the two 1/2-inch-thick pieces cup right off the saw. When they sit around for a day or so in the plant, then the cup goes away. Our foreman calls this casehardening and blames the kiln operator; the kiln operator says that the lumber is okay and that we have a storage problem and that we should not process cold lumber. We want you to resolve this please.

Q: I recently applied a sheet of "peel and stick" veneer to a cabinet end panel. The cabinet looked fine from time of application until several weeks after installation. Now many bubbles appear under the veneer. How can I avoid this in the future?

Karl Forth's observations from visiting successful companies.

Q: Our main red oak supplier sprays water on his logs during the summer. I have heard that some guys don't buy red oak if the logs were under water because you can't keep the sap from staining. Is this true?