HARDWOOD RECORD 



A Planer Point. 



It is not so important whether the bed of a 

 smoothing planer is set on inclines or not as how 

 those inclines are constructed and operated. The 

 ordinary methocF of constructing the incline 

 wedges on a smoothing planer is to let the base 

 of the triangular wedge rest loosely on the ex- 

 tended base of the machine ; and the bed rests 

 on the hypotenuse of the triangle without any 

 additional support. 



The proper plan would be to have adjustable 

 gibs both at the base of the triangular wedges 

 and at their hypotenuse. This would secure 

 greater firmness to the bed and prevent the 

 wedges pulling away from it when setting the 

 machine for planing to dimensions. 



The usual plan of operating the inclines Is by 

 a single screw in the center at the feeding-in 

 end of the machine, controlled by a hand-wheel. 

 This construction has its bad features, which 

 appear after the machine has been used for a 

 while and the surfaces of the inclines have worn 

 unevenly, as they inevitably must. When such is 

 the case the surface of the bed will not be paral- 

 lel with the cutting edge of the knives, one side 

 being lower than the other. Hence the impossi- 

 bility of planing a straight surface when such 

 is the case. 



A better adjustment of the wedges would be 

 by parallel screws — mounted on ball bearings so 

 as to turn easily — and operated by bevel gearing, 

 pulling both wedges in exactly the same plane, 

 shown in the accompanying diagram. These 

 gears should be arranged so as to be moved in 

 or out independently, so as to constantly keep 

 the hypotenuses of the wedges in the same plane, 

 no matter how unevenly the wear on them may 

 be. The arrangement would always insure the 

 surface of the bed to rest perfectly parallel with 

 the cutting edge of the knives, which would give 

 a straight surface to the stock at all times. 



With this method of raising and lowering the 

 bed, a board the full width of the machine could 

 be planed to exactly the same thickness on both 

 edges and throughout its entire surface, which 

 is essential to very fine surfacing. 



There is a machine on the market with this 

 improved construction. It is manufactured by 

 J. A. Fay & Egan Company, ■Jl-1-434 W. Front 

 street, Cincinnati, Ohio. They call it their No. 

 156 cabinet smoothing planer, and it Is illus- 

 trated herewith. 



Demise of Samuel Williams. 



The lumber fraternity of Philadelphia has 

 lost one of its most valued members in the 

 death of Samuel Williams, head of the hard- 

 wood lumber house of Thomas Williams, Sr., & 

 Co., which occurred at Haverford, Pa., on June 

 18. Mr. Williams was ill but one week, and 



his death will be a sad surprise to his many 

 friends in the trade outside Philadelphia. 



His work will be greatly missed in the vari- 

 ous societies and associations with which he 

 was affiliated. He was particularly active in 

 the work of St. Mary's Episcopal Church at 

 Ardmore and in the Society of Sons of Colonial 

 Wars and Sons of the Revolution. 



Mr. Williams leaves a widow and two sons — 

 Robert F. Williams, treasurer of the Merion & 

 Radnor Gas & Electric Company, and Samuel 

 Chester Williams, associated with his father's 

 lumber interests ; also a brother, David Wil- 

 liams, and a sister, Mrs. G. B. Roberts of Bala. 

 Funeral services were held June 22 and inter- 

 ment was at Laurel Hill. 



Mcllvain's Lumljer News. 



The Hardwood Record wishes to acknowledge 

 receipt of the anniversary number of Mcllvain's 

 Lumber News, published monthly by the well- 

 known hardwood house of J. Gibson Mcllvain 

 & Co. of Philadelphia. The paper contains 

 some very interesting matter in the way of edi- 

 torials, an authoritative review of market con- 

 ditious in the hardwood industry, a charming 

 poem on "The Forest," an article on the World's 

 Fair walnut log, some attractive "funny stuff" 

 with numerous amusing anecdotes related by 

 well-known men, and a complete Illustrated 

 history of the lumber house of Mcllvain, which 

 has probably been in the lumber business longer 

 than any other concern in the L'nited States, 

 having existed uninterruptedly for 110 years ! 



Mcllvain's Lumber News is always a sample 

 of typographical excellence and is full of good 

 things, and its anniversary number is printed 

 on heavy enameled paper, in two colors, present- 

 ing an exceedingly attractive appearance. 



the supply of the highest grades of white oak is 

 rapidly diminishing. The staves exported are 

 almost exclusively of the highest grades of white 

 oak and form about a fifth of the annual pro- 

 duction of white oak staves in the United States. 

 As might be supposed, a large part — SO per 

 cent — of the staves went to Europe, 40 per cent 

 to France. The export trade makes a heavy 

 drain on the supply of white oak. 



Boards, deals, planks and sawed timber made 

 up 50 per cent of the total value of forest prod- 

 uct exports. Rosin ranks next, with nearly 10 

 per cent of the total value of these exports. 

 Spirits of turpentine follows with about 10 per 

 cent. Four-fifths of the rosin and turpentine go 

 to Europe. 



The amount of wood exported in the form of 

 hewn, or sawed timber and lumber was about 7 

 per cent of the total lumber cut in the United 

 States in 1907. More yellow pine is exported 

 than any other kind of timber. The order is 

 yellow pine. Douglas fir and redwood, .\lthough 

 there are no figures which bear directly on the 

 amount of yellow pine lumber annually exported, 

 it is estimated that at least 13 per cent of the 

 yellow pine cut finds its way to other countries. 

 Probably a third of the Douglas fir exported went 

 to South .\merica. 



Exports of Forest Products. 



Itocent statistics of the Forest Service show 

 tha/t Uncle Sam's exports of forest products have 

 shown higher and higher values during the last 

 five or six years. This has been the case, al- 

 though reports show that there has not been a 

 corr.?sponding increase in volume. For instance, 

 the quantity of sawed timber exported from 

 this country has increased less than 12 per cent 

 in the last four years, while the price has In- 

 ci eased over 50 per cent. Again, the amount 

 of rosin exported has increased but little, while 

 the price has more than doubled. 



From 1903 to 190G the value of staves showed 

 very little increase, but in the year 1907 there 

 was a decrease in the number exported of about 

 10 per cent, together with an increase in the 

 price of about 20 per cent. This last would 

 seem to indicate a recognition of the fact that 



Increasing the Business by. Specializing the 

 Product. 



Under the above title the Selling Magazine 

 descrilws the evolution of a well-known machin- 

 ery house — not irom three types of machines to 

 a hundred, but from a hundred types to three ; 

 This reduction, or rather specialization, of out- 

 put has taken place in the plant of the .S. A. 

 Woods Machine Company of Boston in the past 

 fifty years. The tine was when the company 

 manufactured almost all kinds of woodworking 

 machinery, supplying a shop with everything it 

 needed in the way of equipment. 



When Frank F. Woods, who is now director 

 of the company's affairs, assumed charge he 

 found an immense business was being done, but 

 was not at all satisfied with the net returns 

 and proceeded to analyze conditions with the 

 determination of finding out why this was so. 

 Believing that he had found the reason, he pro- 

 ceeded to take what he deemed the logical course 

 to put the factory on a more paying basis. 



It took a goodly supply of nerve to deliber- 

 ately stop manufacturing machines which were 

 well known, and in which quite a trade had 

 been built up, but, he proceeded to cut the num- 

 ber from over one hundred to just three, and 

 to devote his time and energy toward mak- 

 ing these better in every way, and pushing their 

 sale as well as their manufacture. He reor- 

 ganized his shop as rapidly as possible, gather- 

 ing all similar operations under one foreman. 



?^Si^|i|f 



DIAGRAM OF PLANER, SHOWING PROPEIt ADJl'STMENT OF 



