30 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



As a commercial practice the soaking of 

 logs or lumber to remedy warping of the fin- 

 ished product is not to be recommended except 

 when it can be done during storage or trans- 

 portation, because of the time required to 

 produce results that fall far short of what is 

 usually claimed. 



Band Saw Driven by Electric Motor. 



The accompanying cut shows a rather novel 

 and quite recent application of electric motor 

 lirive to a hand resaw. The interest of this in- 

 siallafion lies in the fact that instead of direct 

 motor drive, the belt drive with its slightly lower 

 . iliciency has been chosen. 



The belt tightener shown at the upper right 

 hand corner of the picture consists of a rather 

 heav.v framework carrying a pulley. As the 

 entire frame is hinged from the rafters, the pul- 

 ley rests on the slack side of the belt by gravity 

 alone. This keeps the belt from flapping and 

 swaying and at the same time allows slippage 

 under heavy load. This arrangement allows the 

 use of a high-speed motor and is in itself quite 

 a saving, as the slow-speed motors are larger 

 and therefore cost considerably more than motors 

 of the same capacity running at higher speed. 



The slippage of the belt when the motor is 

 starting enables it to take the load gradually. 



bringing the saw up to speed in a short time. 

 This slippage avoids overloading the motor and 

 prevents the blowing of a fuse or possible in- 

 jury to the motor when starting, or in cases of 

 sudden or heavy demands for power. The addi- 

 tional convenience of operation and the saving 

 in the cost of maintenance more than compen- 

 sate for the small loss of power caused by the 

 use of the belt and tightener. While there is 

 very little danger of Are with an electric motor 

 it is quite desirable to put it out of the way of 

 the sawdust which is continually accumulating 

 on the floor near such a machine. Moreover, a 

 motor located on the floor and directly connected 

 with til., saw is necessarily in front of the re- 

 : ! I . .ii.iaiiil\ . \pc.„ ii 111 injury from 

 :i ill tiMik- iiini large timbers. 

 _i .ii liiMin^ 111,, motor hung 

 I, I- III;. I ill ihis position it is 

 Mil., in.iii iL. iii.'ildlin..; of mischievous boys who 

 have in several cases toi-nd that by dropping a 

 nail Into the motor tlioy could disable It and 

 enjoy a rest while repairs were being made. 



This arrangement of motor and saw affords 

 on the whole an Installation that could hardly 

 be Improved upon, as all possible causes of in- 

 Icrruption seem to have been antlclpalcd and the 

 motor requires but llltlc attention. 



National Conservation Commission Active. 

 Five hundred manufacturers of explosives, 

 viulpwood and similar products have been asked 

 by the National Conservation Commission for in- 

 formation as to all possible uses of sawdust. 

 From this it will be seen the commission is 

 going into fine details in its inventory of the 

 natural resources of the country. Seven thou- 

 sand lumbermen have been asked for their opin- 

 ion as to the waste of lumber in sawmills, and 

 more than two thousand lumber dealers and 

 cooperage, veneer, furniture, box, vehicle and im- 

 plement manufacturers have been asked to point 

 out striking features of waste in their respective 

 lines. Yet all this is only one part of the gen- 

 eral scheme of hunting down waste which the 

 commission is following in making its inventory. 

 It is going after the little wastes here and there, 

 which, added togetlier, and put into dollars and 

 cents, make an astonishing total. 



Take the making of veneer, for instance. The 

 scarcity of the more attractive finishing woods 

 in the last few years has led to the annual pro- 

 duction of over 1,100,000,000 square feet of 

 veneer. This, of course, has been made possible 

 only by the Introduction of new veneer-making 

 machinery. 



The use of veneer is generally regarded as ex- 

 emplifying the scarcity of the finer woods and 

 typifying the complete utilization of various 

 kinds of woods, yet from one of the schedules of 

 the National Conservation Commission It Is evi- 

 dent that the commission expects to discover 

 ^■reat waste even In veneer manufacture. Though 

 I be word veneer carries many meanings, from a 

 ;;laze applied to pottery to the ••polish" of a 

 man of the world. It is commonly employed as 

 I he name for the thin slices of wood now ex- 

 i.nsively used in the manufacture of all sorts 

 1 articles, such as wood plates, baskets and the 

 \lerior finish of furniture and woodwork, though 

 111.- term "thin lumber" is more applicable to 

 iiany varieties of this product. The manufacture 

 I veneer in the last few years has advanced by 

 ' aps and bounds. 



The woods principally used for making veneer 

 lie red gum. maple and yellow poplar, which 

 i.isether yield more than half of the total prod- 

 iMt. Red gum is largely used for baskets and 

 maple for furniture. More valuable than these, 

 h.iwever, are white oak and walnut veneer. 

 r.eech, which can be cut very thin, is used very 

 liugely for wooden plates. 



A good deal of waste occurs in the manufac- 

 ture of veneer. It is always a problem, for in- 

 stance, what use to make of the cores left by 

 the rotary process. In many cases these are 

 used for pulpwood, pillars or panel headings, 

 i.nil they are largely used also for fuel, excelsior, 

 iratcs. boxes and baskets. In the schedule of 

 inquiries which the National Conservation Com- 

 mission, through the Forest Service, Is sending 

 out, several questions are aimed" to secure in- 

 formation as to the amount of waste in veneer 

 luanufactme and the possibilities of finding ways 



10 untillze it. 



Fire in Licking Biver Company's Plant. 

 Fire broke out In the big plant of the Lick- 

 ing River Lumber Company at Farmers, Ky., 

 September 17. Its origin is unknown. The 

 mill was in operation at the time and the 

 employes did all they could, using modern 

 fire equipment and chemicals— to put it out. 

 Thus the lumber yard was saved; otherwise 

 several million feet of lumber would have 

 been consumed. In the mill the flames spread 

 rapidly, so that it could not be saved. It 

 was a large and valuable one, being one of 

 the best equipped in eastern Kentucky and 

 .oiisisting of a heavy band mill and carriage 

 which had only recently been Installed. This 

 heavy loss is covered by some insurance. R. 

 G. Page, secretary of the company, states 

 they will rebuild at once on the same site 

 and continue operating. The Licking River 

 has its main offices at Ashland. F. G. Kber- 

 luirt of Misbaw.ikii, Ind., Is president. 



Miscellaneous News Notes. 

 The Walker Veneer & Lumber Company is a 

 new concern at Mound City, 111., capitalized at 

 $25,000. 



The Helena Hardwood Lumber Company is a 

 new corporation at Helena, Ark., which is capi- 

 talized at $40,000, of which $28,000 has been 

 subscribed. A. B. Pierce is president. 



The Warden Land & Lumber Company is a 

 new St. LouLs cimcern, capitalized at $45,000. 



The Mexican Central railroad has decided to 

 follow the example of the Santa Fe and provide 

 for future supplies of telegraph poles and tics 

 by the establishment of eucalyptus forests. 



The Whaley Lumber Company is a new con- 

 cern at Bristol, Va.-Tenn. It is capitalized at 

 $15,000. J. B. Baumgardner is president and 

 Irving Whaley, treasurer. 



riH' ISucke.\i. Lumber Company has been incor- 

 l„.i.ii.il ji riM-iiiirg, Pa., to deal in lumber and 



II .1 iiiial, $30,000. 



- of New Zealand hardwoods 



ji.n. 1. II 1.1. 1 iiunugh a series of tests by the 

 Initi'd states Forest Service and showed up well 

 in comparison with whita.oak, four of them rte 

 veloping a bending strength even greater than 

 that wood. 



The Jamestown Hardwood Trim Company has 

 entered business at Chautauqua, N. Y. It is cap- 

 italized at $40,000. 



The Novelty Wood Works of Waterloo, la.. 

 has changed its name to the Waterloo Sash & 

 Fixture Works. 



The Phoenix Lumber Company of Little Itoek. 

 Ark., has had a petition in bankruptcy filed 

 against it by creditors. W. B. Ferguson is at 

 the head of the concern: the Ferguson Lumber 

 Company is already in the bankruptcy court. 



Keccivers have been appointed for the Bel- 

 trami Cedar & Laud Company of Minneapolis, 

 Minn. Liabilities are said to reach $80,000. 

 while assets are valued at $50,000. 



.Tohn Cathcart Lumber Company is the style 

 of a new corporation at I'lalnfield, N. J., Incor- 

 porated at $50,000, of which John Cathcart of 

 N..W York City is the head. 



Plants for treating mine timbers and railroad 

 ties are to be erected by tlie Philadelphia and 

 Reading Coal & Iron Company and the Delaware. 

 Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company In the 

 Pennsylvania anthracite region. 



Fire which it is believed was started from an 

 overheated bearing in the Northwestern Cooper- 

 age & Lumber Company's stave mill at Glad- 

 stone, Mich., destroyed that part of the plant 

 before the flames were under control. The loss 

 Is e.stimated at $35,000. 



F. M. Sprague, a well-known lumber inspector 

 of Grand Rapids, Mich., and H. W. Mellenbacker 

 of that city have organized the Sprague Lumber 

 Company, to engage in buying and selling lumber. 

 The mill, two warehouses and two dry kllnu 

 belonging to George U. Tennant of Minneapolis 

 were recently destroyed by fire at a loss of 

 .'i:-5,000. 



The Miller & Miller Lumber Company Is the 

 name of a now Philadelphia concern, capilal- 

 iz.>d at $40,000. 



The Illinois-Arkansas Lumber Company, hav- 

 ing headquarters at Tivoll. III., has been given a 

 charter to operate in Arkansas. Its assets are 

 estimated at $100,000. Its headquarters will be 

 In Little Rock, and J. M. Rose will be local 

 manager. 



The stockholders of the Pioneer Pole & Shaft 

 Company held their annual meeting at PIqua, O., 

 last week. W. A. Snyder of PIqua is president ; 

 J. A. Smith of Muucle, Ind., flrst vice-president, 

 and F. I-:. Keplluger of PIqua, secretary-treasurer. 

 According to an article recently published In 

 Toronto, the Ontario lumbermen have decided to 

 red-ice the cut of lumber In the bush during the 

 coming winter by 50 to 75 per cent on account of 

 stagnation In the trade and American competi- 

 tion in Canadian markets. The cut In l!>0tl-7 

 was 25 per cent greater than the previous .venr. 

 .V quarter of that cut was left over, either in 



