Kathie Nichols, age 12, of Fargo, N.D., for her question:

JUST WHAT IS VENEER?

Veneer is a thin sheet of wood of uniform thickness cut by peeling, slicing or sawing logs. It is used primarily for plywood panels made by gluing sheets of veneer together.

Most veneer is cut from the Douglas fir, but many other varieties of wood are also used. There are several ways of cutting veneer, but the most popular is the rotary cut method.

In the rotary cut method of making veneer, the log is placed in a lathe and then revolved against a knife extending across the length of the log. The veneer is unwound in a long ribbon, much like unrolling a bolt of wrapping paper or cloth.

Veneers vary in thickness from three eighths of an inch to one one hundred h of an inch. Most rotary veneers are cut in thicknesses from one seventh of an inch to one twentieth of an inch.    _

The United States produces more than one billion cubic feet of veneer logs each year while Canada produces about three billion square feet of veneer yearly.