Photo Courtesy of Ken Aschliman

Two of our best logs were used to complete the Campus Reading Room on the 11th floor. “Comb grain” (very tight and straight grain) rift veneer was sliced and selected for the panels. The veneer for these panels was specified to be 12 feet long and the knife on the veneer slicer was only four inches longer. The height of the ceiling and the angle of the panels meant that the logs had to be cut perfectly before going to the veneer mill. The 11th floor was the first area to be completed in the renovation. Consistency of color and texture in the wood would follow throughout the rest of the library as timber for the project was harvested from the same forest.