\\(>()i)-rsi xc. 1 .\i)i"S'rKii;s ni" maixi'.. 123 



of wood are consumed annually by Maine box makers. Nearly 

 all of this material comes from the forests of the State. 



While details oi manufacture vary in different mills, the pro- 

 cess in general is about the same in all box factories which man- 

 ufacture the same class of goods. Some box factories saw 

 their own logs, and some buy luniber from sawmills. In 

 either case, the higs usually are live-sawed, generally by circu- 

 lar saws, into one-inch round-edge boards. In the box factory 

 these boards are then planed on two sides and cut to a length 

 about one inch longer than that recjuired for the box shook. 

 These short boards are then edged and enough placed side b}^ 

 side to build up the end or side of a box. These sets are 

 tongued and grooved, the inside boards being worked on both 

 edges and the two outside boards on one edge only. The set is 

 then knocked together and the ends are trimmed oft' square, 

 the total trim seldom being over one inch. Cleats are cut from 

 the same kind of lumber and are nailed on to the shooks by a 

 nailing machine. The waste in box manufacture is mostly in 

 edging, and sometimes in cutting the last board of a set. It 

 is obvious that the smaller the logs the greater the waste in 

 edging, and that therefore a diameter limit in logging opera- 

 tions might be practicable. In cutting the last board of a set, 

 it sometimes happens that a piece several times the size of an 

 ordinary edging must be removed, but since the value of the 

 lumber must be balanced against the wage of the operator, it is 

 generally cheaper to waste lumber. 



The table shows that some hardwoods are used within the 

 State for the manufacture of boxes. The softer hardwoods, 

 such as basswood and aspen, are, of course, about as easily 

 worked and nailed as the softwoods, but such woods as birch 

 and maple do not work easily enough for the manufacture of 

 the usual kind of packing box. Hardwoods are used in veneer 

 ])lants which manufacture furniture jianels and drygoods pack- 

 ing boxes. Raw material comes to the mill in the form of 

 logs which are cut on a rotary machine into veneer. The latter 

 is cut to size and dried. The end or side of the box is usually 

 made from three pieces of veneer, the grain of the middle 

 piece being placed at right angles to the grain of the other two. 

 These sheets are glued together under pressure, and later piles 

 of these composite sheets are placed under a hydraulic press. 



