Lumber Uses 



Bv Warren B. Bullock 



A CENTRAL exhibit of the commercial woods of 

 America, with diagrams and models to show the 

 manner in which the various woods may be used, 

 is planned in Chicago by the lumber associations of 

 America. There will be similar building exhibits in 

 other cities, for which the plans are nearly completed in 

 Detroit and San Francisco. 



The general display in Chicago will be chiefly of a per- 

 manent nature, and will be instrdled as part of the Build- 

 ing Materia! Exhibit in the Insurance Exchange. The 

 exhibit is being so planned that any builder can at once 

 get an idea of the character and uses of every commercial 

 wood in America. It is planned to make a collection of 

 woods, in different finishes, to a total of literally thou- 

 sands. All sorts of finishes will be shown, and various 

 types of construction. 



There will be cases containing hundreds of panels of 

 wood, in the natural finish, and in stains. There will 

 also be for the building engineers an exhibit of treated 

 and untreated woods, good and bad structural material, 

 giving visual examples of what kinds of wood to select 

 for various building purposes. One of the striking dis- 

 plays will be a large model of a heavy timber mill con- 

 structed building, showing floors, roof timbers, posts, 

 girders, and all the interior work on a factory building 

 of large size. 



There will be several models of farm l)uildings, and 

 also of four frame houses to cost from $2,000 to $8,000, 

 preferably for homes in the city, for that is where most 

 of the spectators at the exhibit will come from. Side- 

 walks, creosoted block roads, models of garages, and 

 chicken houses, will also be provided. One exhibit will 

 be of large-sized specimens of structural material and 

 other such phases of the industry will be shown. 



It is the biggest part of this plan, however, to copy 

 this exhibit on a less extensive scale in every large city 

 in the country, to provide information for prospective 

 builders. There will be the permanent exhibits, and then 

 there will be also special exhibits, which will be sent from 

 city to city to be shown for a week or possibly a month 

 at a time, bringing special building points to the attention 

 of possible builders. 



Speaking of farm buildings, such as will be shown 

 in model or diagram in this building exhibit, the National 

 Lumber Manufacturers' Association has just completed 

 the first two of a series of nine bulletins on farm build- 

 ings of various types, which goes into detail on the con- 

 struction of practical buildings about the farm. The 

 first two bulletins are on implement sheds, and grain- 

 storage buildings, two of the most important, but most 

 neglected buildings about a farm. 



farm machinery allowed to stand in the open is five years. 

 He says that farmers who care properly for their machin- 

 ery can get from twenty to twenty-five years' use of the 

 same type of machinery. He figures, therefore, that on 

 an average investment of $1,000 per farm for machinery, 

 the liuilding of an implement shed for $350 will save 

 the farmer $1,800, or rather, give him an investment 

 representing $1,800, gauged by its savings. He says 

 that the growing use of the small tractor on the farm 

 increases the necessity for a well-built implement shed. 

 The bulletin gives storage space dimensions for the vari- 

 ous items of farm machinery, with suggestions on the 

 technical side of the building problem. 



In the same author's bulletin on grain-storage build- 

 ings, he brings out that while economy in construction is 

 a main factor in the building of implement sheds, strength 

 is of the utmost importance in the building of granaries, 

 'i'he i)roblems of pressure on walls, the foundation 

 strength, floors and framing, are all given due considera- 

 tion. The use of solid materials, the right sizes and 

 grades of lumber, it is asseverated, will avoid the com- 

 plaints against the old style buildings made of wood not 

 of the best, and not erected on the basis of strength of 

 every timber in the construction. 



Though the building exhibit is only planned, it has 

 already been selected as the meeting place of the newly 

 organized Home-Makers' Cuild, of Chicago, founded 

 by Mrs. T. Vernette Morse, widow of a former well- 

 known middle western lumberman, an organization which 

 is affiliated with the National Vocational Art and Indus- 

 trial Federation. 



The L'niversity of Washington has just held a unique 

 e.xhil)ition, in the demonstration for the general public 

 and the men in the industry as well, of woodcraft, mining 

 and road and trail building. A sawmill fed by a sky-line 

 logging apparatus was in actual operation, and the prob- 

 lems of forest-fire fighting were exemplified. The day of 

 April 13 was open house at the university, and several of 

 the colleges in the university vied for the honor of giving 

 the best showing. The forestry building was shown lo 

 visitors with a typical camp fire, sawmill, with apparatus 

 for swinging logs across the country in the air. The 

 operations were carried on as they are in the real woods, 

 and the lumber showing was concluded with a demonstra- 

 tion of how the forest products can be utilized in building, 

 showing finishes and construction work. 



K. J. T. Ekblaw, of the University of Illinois, author 

 of these bulletins, estimates that a fair averasre life for 



Last month, the writer told of the manner in which 

 birch was coming to be used for the manufacture of 

 gunstocks, taking the place of the traditional black wal- 

 nut. Since that number of American Forestry was 

 issued, there has come to hand an article showing how 

 birch is being used for fuse plugs for the shells sent to 



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