HARDWOOD RECORD 



tion of a chief inspector. He is the most im- 

 portant man we have in our organization, we 

 consider. Some people whose business shows 

 a large amount of profit have found many in- 

 stances through this man, where they have 

 been losing money by not giving attention to 

 some of the small details of their business. 

 Our inspector sees where good work is being 

 done. He sees where the weak points are. 

 He is out in the big consuming markets from 

 time to time and finds out what customers 

 don't want, or what they are particularly 

 anxious for. All his ideas are sought to such 

 an extent that it is impossible for him to 

 cover the entire territory fast enough, and 

 we must put assistants on that work. He 

 watches the way material is graded; he knows 

 all the different classes of material; he knows 

 about all kinds of wood; he shows people how 

 to dry and grade their lumber, and load it 

 for destination. Tou will find when you put 

 such a man in office, after you get your grad- 

 ing rules established, that he is a very im- 

 portant person. 



Stock sheets represent a very essential part 

 of our work. We send semi-monthly to mem- 

 bers a double sheet, one showing a blank 

 form for woods on which a manufacturer is 

 overstocked, the other what he is short on. 

 This gives the members of the association, 

 who may need a certain wood, the first priv- 

 ilege of purchasing it. When compiled these 

 reports show what is short and what the 

 market is likely to be flooded with, and there- 

 fore what or what not to manufacture. I 

 would be very glad to send your secretary 

 all the printed forms we use, which can be 

 followed by you if you like. One line in 

 which we have been doing some good work 

 is in securing a reduction of output. We real- 

 ized that there was likely to be over-produc- 

 tion. Of course we did not agree to curtail 

 production, but we issued statistics to show 

 what was going on — and of course common - 

 sense guided our members after that. I must 

 say I am ver>' proud of our organization on 

 the question of interchange. I believe in 

 sending out all the information you possibly 

 can. We feel proud to say there have been 

 no failures in our association in the past eight 

 months, although we have been put to a 

 severe test, and I lay our success largely to 

 our method of interchanging information. 



Address of Mr. Gates. 



Charles D. Gates then addressed the meet- 

 ing on "The History of the Handle Busi- 

 ness," in which he reviewed this industry 

 from pioneer times to the present day. 



In the armory museum at Washington, D. 

 C, stands the original Blanchard I.-itho, oc- 

 cupying a place of honor. On tli j 1 1. ,1 nt 



tached to that lathe the siii ■ i 



that it was invented and i. i 



Blanchard in the year 18;!:. i : ■ i j , , 



lathe is somewhat similar to ti,. iiih. \\i,i, i, 

 are now used for manufactuniiK axe ti.-mriie.si. 

 Thomas Blanchard. the man who invented tliis 

 lathe, conceived the idea by turning tapering 

 gun barrels in an ordinary turning lathe by 

 changing the center. 



The story is toM f- ■. iniont works 



at Springfield, JI:i ■ ' iin to show 



them how to turij nels. After 



he had demonsti.^i I put them 



Into practical use i' . i;uii stock 



department, who wev th. i i . i ■- 



ment said to him: ■ Yuu 

 thing to do our work." t 

 stocks, and using the Y.r 

 that day he said: "I dn 

 never thought about it." 

 he started with his old N 

 horse to drive home, abr :' 

 distant, and as he was ri 

 down and his old horse joei;i 

 he said to himself: "I have K"t it. i i,:iv.- Lint 

 it." Men that were passing overheard him 

 and said: . "That old man must be crazy." 

 hut he kept on thinking and from the designs 

 conceived from that ride he developed and 

 made the axe handle lathe. 



In 1S53 Aaron and Obert Blanchard com- 

 menced the manufacture of handles at War- 

 ren, Mass. That is the first record we have 

 of any one entering the manufacture of hick- 

 ory handles as a business. The lathes at that 

 time were rude and expensive to run. a day's 



work being twelve dozen. The handles were 

 turned rough, same as they are at the pres- 

 ent time, and it was very slow process to 

 finish and smooth them by hand. The first 

 experiment in belting or grinding handles that 

 is recorded was done on a grindstone. Tou 

 can well imagine the shape of the handles 

 that were finished in this manner. 



In 1S4S John Force commenced the manu- 

 facture of axe handles at Pittsford. N. T. We 

 are not sure that the lathe which he used 

 was constructed similar to the Blanchard 

 lathe, as we are told the pattern instead of 

 running horizontal worked upright, had a 

 screw on a No. 10 thread running the full 

 length of the rod that moved the carriage, and 

 a pair of wire clamps shaped like a blacksmith 

 tongs with a thread adjusted so that it 

 clinched on the rod and worked perfectly. 

 After this was clinched and the pattern ad- 

 justed a small link was slipped over the end 

 to hold it together. After the handle was 

 turned the pattern was pulled down and held 

 bv a catch until the next handle was put in. 



The records show that Mr. Force after mak- 

 ing handle? with this lathe at Pittsford, N. T., 

 eror-tf.i 1 -iv-i:,ihp factory at Rochester. That 

 fa I was burned soon after it 



wi (rude lathe was moved to 



FI ' in 1868. 



.1 ih. now in his S4th year, is 



li\i:,. ,., .- Ohio. He commenced to 



maiuii:M till, handles at Sandusky in 1855. His 

 business was well managed and he was very 

 successful. In a few years the name of James 

 Woolworth was known in all the handle mar- 

 kets of the world. He managed his business 



ORIGINAL BI 



IIAKD LATHE. 



ability and he undoubtedly w-as the 

 ' and progressive and largest man- 

 luring his active connection with 

 s. He organized the three-lathe 

 ' -t.-m. which was located at 

 commenced operation 



14, 187 



He 



tiz iiiized the manufacture of 



h.r 'in of paying for turning, 



piv lie by piece work. Having 



;.. Isome fortune he closed out 



hi -l. consolidating with Tur- 



!.• ville. In which company he 



> 111.1 Xrman Day formed a 



s 11 after that date they 

 \ ...I li. Conn., where they 

 111 iture handles. The 

 ' 1 I lathe having become 



> manufacturers, they 

 1 ■ ry and made their 

 1 lay. however, con- 

 iiild furnish better 

 than those which 

 th.-y U.T.. th. n tiMi.,, ,. .,1 ii 1. suited in Tur- 



ner A:: L>ay sccuriti;, i i i npply all the 



axe manufticturt-r- , . . .miles. They 



purchased all th. I I machinery 



owned by the ax. m k. i -.iii.> of which 

 after constant scrvicu for forty-five years were 

 destroyed by fire at the Louisville factory in 

 1901. 



Turner & Day secured the services of Albert 

 Day just before moving to Baltimore in 1S68. 

 The business was enlarged at that time, and 

 In 1877 Turner & Day moved to Louisville and 



increased their capacrty. In 1884 they consol- 

 idated with James Woolworth, changing the 

 name of the company to Turner, Day & Wool- 

 worth Manufacturing Company, with a capital 

 stock of $400,000. Soon after the consolidation 

 Sidney Turner and Norman Day retired from 

 active participation in the business, Mr. Al- 

 bert Day becoming president and general man- 

 ager of the increasing business. In 1898 the 

 Turner, Day & Woolworth Manufacturing 

 Company purchased the Nashville 



they consolidated with the Hartzell Handle 

 Company, Huntington, W. Va.. the American 

 Handle Company, Knoxville. Tenn., and in- 

 creased their capital stock to $800,000. In 1906 

 they purchased the Hartzell Handle Company. 

 Memphis, Tenn.. and increased their capital 

 stock to $1,000,000. 



Turner & Day, and their successors, have 

 always made a specialty of manufacturing 

 gage axe and hatchet handles. The policy 

 of the above mentioned companies has always 

 been to make the best handles possible and 

 obtain the highest prices. For the last fifty 

 years they have enjoyed the reputation of 

 manufacturing the best gage handles made. 



Sidney Turner and Norman Day would scorn 

 the idea of turning an axe handle and then 

 belting it down to a gage, or using what is 

 now known as the gaging machine. They 

 trained their superintendents and foremen to 

 turn handles for axes from green stock so that 

 they would fit the axe without any belt work 

 at all. 



The history of the Keller & Tamm Manu- 

 facturing Company is very incomplete. We 

 find that on May 7, 1870, the company was or- 

 ganized and incorporated at Mound City, III., 

 composed of James Woolworth. Chester Wool- 

 worth. Lloyd G. Harris and Edwin S. Ches- 

 ter. On Nov. 20. 1874, it was incorporated in 

 the state of Missouri under the name of Ches- 

 ter & Harris with $100,000 capital. On June 

 10. 1SS9, the name was changed to Keller ,& 

 Tamm; on, Jan. 1. 1892. capital increasf.l i 

 $150,000. and on July 1, 1894, capital incre.i 

 to $200,000. 



This gives me historj- of the four lai- 

 companies engaged in the handle busin. 

 prior to 1875. 



In looking over the records of these differ- 

 ent companies I find they had .a very pleasant 

 and consistent habit of declaring semi-annual 

 dividends ranging from eighty per cent to one 

 hundred per cent a year, notwithstanding that 

 the prices which we are now receiving for 

 handles were about the same as the prevail- 

 ing prices in 1880. 1881, 1882, 188,1 and 1884. All 

 the old manufacturers retired with large for- 



We find the prominent names among the old 

 manufacturers to be as follows: Sidney Tur- 

 ner, Norman Day, Albert Day, James Wool- 

 worth. E. S. Chester, L. G. Wells, M. L. Kel- 

 i> r and I. F. Force. The first five named were 

 Nutmeg Yankees" and raised in the same 

 locality. 



The men connected with the early manu- 

 facture of handles were men of great ability, 

 force, dignity and power, and if they were to 

 enter one of our association meetings every 

 member present would readily understand why 

 thev received dividends of eighty to one hun- 

 dred per cent on their business, while most of 

 us following in their footsteps are satisfied 

 with a me.ager eight to ten per cent. 



It was my pleasure to attend a number of 

 the meetings of the old Handle Manufacturers' 

 Association In 1880. and the broad basis 

 adopted at their meetings, the confidence 

 which they had In each other's sincerity and 

 the willingness to abide by their honorable 

 pledges is in striking contrast with the 

 methods pursued by the present association. I 

 often think what an Inspiration It would be to 

 every member of the present Handle Associa- 

 tion if we could have these old "war horses" 

 appear on the scene. Their method of con- 

 ducting their business was as follows: They 

 acquired a thorough knowledge of all the prac- 

 tical details of their manufacturing depart- 

 ment, they ascertained the wants and require- 

 ments of their customers, the exact cost of 

 manufacturing their handles, their ability to, 

 take care of the business. If offered to them, 

 the amount of profit they could derive from 

 manufacturing a certain line of handles, se- 

 curing the capital as they needed it, not ex- 

 panding their business any more than they 

 had capital, or the actual necessities of their 

 business compelled them to. Ever>- detail of 

 the business was carefully watched, and re- 

 sulted in a handsome profit at the end of the 



In' striking contrast with their method is 

 the policy now adopted by a good many of 

 the handle manufacturers. Before they know 

 the first practical detail of the business they 

 listen to some agent representing axe handle 

 machinery, who has sung a beautiful Siren 

 song, telling them of the great fortunes to be 

 made In a few weeks In the handle business, 

 thev build a plant and embark In business. 

 Thev do not know anything about the cost 

 of material, the cost of labor, freight or any 



