32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



which they are to be transported. The re- 

 sults that this firm obtains can be acquired in 

 no other way than by a perfected system. The 

 details of their business have been so care- 

 fully planned that it moves with the greatest 

 dispatch and uniformity. 



In no business is a system more necessary 

 or more easily adopted than in the manufac- 

 ture of handles. The manufacturer must have 

 his employees organized to do their respec- 

 tive work. The various departments must do 

 their work completely and certify it to the 

 succeeding department. The timber cutter 

 must be informed as to how much timber to 

 cut. He must know how to get out only that 

 portion of timber which is free from all im- 

 perfections — to cut out the knots, birdpecks, 

 etc. The foreman of the mill must know the 

 quantity required of each respective grade 

 and how to get them out. The turning of the 

 handles must be strictly in accordance with 

 specifications. Here is where experience 

 counts, for good handles are necessary to 

 obtain the best results. The manufacturer 

 must arrange to thoroughly season the 

 handles. He who has his handles thoroughly 

 seasoned of necessity makes superior ones for 

 the kiln drying process kills their resiliency. A 

 record of the stock must be kept, and a cost 

 system Is necessarj' to determine the value 

 of the stock, to determine how much labor is 

 necessary to get it out, to determine a uni- 

 form profit on all sales and to put a selling 

 price on the goods. The sales department 

 must anticipate the volume of business and 

 certify this to the operating department, to 

 have a stock created for prompt deliveries. 

 etc. In doing this the sales department must 

 know from whence this business is to come, 

 and must know their customers and the pos- 

 sibility of their purchases. 



Fine HiNDLES. 

 It is a pleasure to sell good handles. Handle 

 making may well be said to be a fine art. It 

 Is demonstrated thoroughly. Take our fore- 

 most manufacturers who have a reputation 

 for high-class goods, compare that with the 

 product of the inexperienced concern down in 

 the woods who do not know perhaps the first 

 principles of the business. The manufacturer 

 whose handles are patterned on the most sci- 

 entific lines to secure the greatest results in 

 usage, whose workmanship is of the highest 

 quality, whose handles are finished in the most 

 careful manner, and whose grades are uni- 

 form, I say that manufacturer is In an envi- 

 able position. Mr. R. W. Shapleigh in speak- 

 ing before a hardware convention in St. Louis 

 said that the value of an article is not deter- 

 mined so much by the discount the manufac- 

 turer quotes as by the quality of his goods; 

 the appearance of them and the attractiveness 

 of the labels; the carefulness with which thev 

 are packed; the facilities of the house tor 

 prompt deliveries, the character of the house 

 for prompt adjustment of claims, the reputa- 

 tion of the house for honest, uniform grades 

 and clean up-to-date merchandise. I say to 

 you, gentlemen, that the manufacturer who 

 has fulfilled these qualifications has mastered 

 the niceties of handle manufacture. 



These addresses closed the session, but be- 

 fore adjourning it was decided to hold the 

 regular annual meeting at Memphis on No- 

 vember IS. The following were present: 



Attendants. 



__F. W. Peters. I. F. Force Handle Company, 



Bedford. Pa. 



F. J. McLaughlin, J. L. McLaughlin & Sons, 

 Bedford, Pa. 



Henry H. Gibson, Hahdwood Record, Chi- 

 cago. 



M. P. Welsh, American Handle Company, 



Wm. 



Handle < 

 Claudi' 



Handle 

 H. D. 



Almyra, 



nvorth. Wm. Charlesworth 

 1. ville, Ark. 



Wm. Charlesworth 

 'Ville, Ark. 

 i Handle Company, 



iib.iL'ir. Columbiana Handle 

 Works. Columbiana. Ohio. 



Frank J. Leland. Standard Handle Company, 

 Ltd., Knoxville. Tenn. 



C. H. Jones, J. F. Jones Sons, Columbus 

 Grove. Ohio. 



J. F. Jones, J. F. Jones Sons, Columbus 

 Grove, Ohio. 



W. C. Kelly, Kelly Axe Manufacturing 

 Company, Charleston, W. Va. 



R. L. Reuther, Nashville Spoke & Handle 

 JIanufacturIng Company, Nashville, Tenn. 



H. B. Alexander. Columbia Manufacturing 

 Company, New Philadelphia, Ohio. 



G. W. Ward. Veedersburg Handle Company, 

 Veedersburg, Ind. 



J. Crow Taylor, American Lumberman, 

 Louisville, Ky. 



T. R. Clendlnen, Jackson Woodenware 

 Company, Atchison. Kan. 



A. N. Malthy. Central Manufacturing Com- 

 pany. Kansas City, Mo. 



Abner Fellabaum, Frankfort Handle Man- 

 ufacturing Company, PYankfort, Ind. 



G. Sherman, Sequatchie Handle Works, Se- 

 quatchie, Tenn. 



M. McCrlllls, McCrillis Handle Company, 

 Norwalk, O. 



Thos. Scanlon. Nashville Spoke & Handle 

 Manufacturing Company. Nashville, Tenn. 



R. F. Arnett, Hartwell Brothers, Chicago 

 Heights, 111. 



Chas. T>. Gates, Turner, Day & Woolworth 

 Handle Company. Louisville. Ky. 



T. J. Gregory. T. J. Gregory Handle Works. 

 Cookeville. Tenn. 



C. W. Sperry. Fort Wayne Handle Company, 

 Fort Wavne. Ind. 



P. C. Scott. Keller & Tamm Manufacturing 

 Company. St. Louis, Mo. 



A. E. Gordon, Hardwood Record, Chicago. 



Handle Notes. 



The Rex Handle Company has been incor- 

 porated at Memphis. Tenn.. with $75,000 capi- 

 tal stock, $50,000 of which Is preferred. M. R. 

 Grace, who has been prominent in the handle 

 world for a number of years, will be presi- 

 dent and general manager, which will Insure 

 the company's success. The home office and 

 principal factory will be located at Memphis. 



The Kelly Axe Manufacturing Company has 

 about completed its factory at Charleston, 

 W. Va., and expects to have a production of 

 1,000 dozen handles per day. Most of these 

 will be used for handling their axes; the sur- 

 plus, if any, will be placed on the market. 

 The company is also building a large factory 



at Rector, Ark., which they expect to complete 

 about July 1. 



The Turner. r>ay & Woolworth Handle Com- 

 pany of Louisville has leased the Rector Han- 

 dle Company's plant at Rector. Ark., which 

 they Intend to put in full operation about the 

 first of August. 



A new plant at Little Rock, Ark., Is the 

 Harrisburg Hardwood & Handle Company. It 

 has recently completed a new factory and 

 will manufacture all grades of rough and 

 finished handles. 



The Fort Wayne Handle Company of Fort 

 Wayne. Ind., has about completed its plant. 

 It has a capacity of 30.000 handles a day. The 

 factory is located at New Haven, Ind., with 

 main office at Fort Wayne. It is equipped 

 with Defiance lathes and other modern ma- 

 chinery. C. W. Sperry is president. 



The Withee Manufacturing Company, 

 "Withee, Wis., is a new institution for the 

 manufacture of cant-hook and broom handles. 

 The stock Is manufactured from select maple. 

 The owner and manager is Helge Wester- 

 gaard. 



The Terre Haute Handle Company, Terre 

 Haute. Ind., has taken over the "D" handle 

 plant belonging to the Baldwin Forging & 

 Tool Company of Columbus. O. The capacity 

 of the plant is 175 dozen per day. The new 

 company is incorporated at $175,000. R. C. 

 Davis Is president and John E. Waldron sec- 

 retary and treasurer. 



J. T. Brown, who represents the large 

 handle interests of Hartwell Brothers of Chi- 

 cago Heights. 111., at Sidney, Australia, re- 

 cently visited the home office, and while in 

 Chicago favored the Record with a call. 



Hardwood Record Mail Bag. 



i d.partnipnt it is proposed to reply 

 ii|ulries li-oiii llAUDWuou Kkcuud read- 

 ill 111' of i-niiuuli geni-ral interest to 

 nliliiation. Kvi'ry patron of the paper 

 tu use this department freely, and 



tainUif; to n 

 wood trade 

 ner. J 



uteres 



(luer 

 intelllge 



s per- 

 bard- 



hc eiii|ilii\e(l ext('nsivcl.v as a substitute. In 

 rcforence to the heartwood, several authors 

 have been consulted, as they were before the 

 article was prepared, and they furnish author- 

 ity for the statements. — Editor. 



Differs on Birch Botany. 



New York, May 16.— Editor Hakdwood Rec- 

 ord : Thank you lot the reference made to 

 our transformed woods In connection with 

 that article In your last issue, on "Yellow 

 Birch." However, some of the references are 

 Incorrect, referring particularly to the com- 

 mercial handling of the subject. The state- 

 ment, for instance, that It Is almost exclu- 

 sively used for spools and shoe-pegs. Is far 

 from right. I have been engaged in the manu- 

 facture of spools for cotton and silk on a verj- 

 extensive scale for some time, and have never 

 yet been able to get one of my customers to 

 take one made of yellow birch. They abso- 

 lutely insist on paper birch, as do the shoe- 

 peg factories in the New England states. You 

 also state that the heart portion of the wood 

 is Inferior and of little commercial value. 

 That also refers to paper birch, for the heart- 

 wood of yellow birch Is really of most value 

 —it is the lumber that Is largely sold under 

 the name of red birch, at an average of ten or 

 twelve dollars a thousand higher than the 

 sap portion. I note also you say It Is a "com- 

 paratively small tree," while It Is one of the 

 largest hardwoods of our northern forest. — 

 AV. A. Hall, president Publishers' Paper Com- 

 pany. 



With regard to above criticism, the Rec- 

 ord would not presume to dispute Mr. Hall's 

 opinion, as it is one based on long experi- 

 ence; the only explanation is that botanists 

 evidently differ upon the classification of this 

 tree, and while, as is well known, the paper 

 birch is the popular tree for spools and pegs, 

 the other variety, or Bctula lutea, is said' to 



A Correction. 



JoH.NSON City, Tenn., May IS.— Editor Hard- 

 wood Record: Referring to the widespread 

 publication regarding the insolvency of the 

 Gartner-Hancock Lumber Company of Johnson 

 City. Tenn., you are herewith given the facts 

 In the case. The action against the Gartner- 

 Hancock Lumber Company was brought by 

 the Vestal Lumber & Manufacturing Com- 

 pany of Knoxville, Tenn., and a receiver ap- 

 pointed In the absence of the partners and 

 the manager of the firm, without giving any 

 notice and without giving any bond. The 

 Indebtedness toward the Vestal Lumber & 

 Manufacturing Company Is fully met and has 

 been fully paid. Theje are no other creditors 

 pressing the Gartner-Hancock Lumber Com- 

 pany. The company Is perfectly solvent, hav- 

 ing filed with the court a statement and affl- 

 davlt showing the company's and personal 

 assets of $50,525. while the liabilities are only 

 $14,820.84, leaving net assets of $35,704.16, as 

 shown by the record now on file; and receiver- 

 ship has been dissolved. 



The partners. W. T. Hancock and Walter 

 Gartner, are greatly harassed at their repu- 

 tation and Integrity being thus attacked, re- 

 sulting from the action brought against them, 

 which they consider was wholly unwarranted 

 and without the least foundation. The facts 

 which prompted It are being Investigated, 

 and will be made known to the public if clr- 



— Gartner-Hancock Lcmbeu Co.mpany. 



That Hickory Controversy. 



An English correspondent writes: "A 

 further proof of the low prices obtain 

 for hickory on this side, I may say thai 

 of my buyers actually paid 16d and ISil 

 two p.trcels of hickory logs landed on 



