HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



live rolls; again put through the rig; again flopped and returned; 

 and so on until the piece is reduced to a small wedge-shaped sec- 

 tion. 



The specific method of handling these logs is exhibited by the 

 drawings accompanying this article. The logs are split one side 

 ot the heart, and the minor section dropped back to the log deck. 

 The boards are then sawed from the larger section through and 

 ai-ross the heart. The section remaining on the carriage has a 

 minor quarter section sawed from it, which is dropped back to the 

 log deck. Four or five boards are then taken out of the center 

 section, and the remaining quarter is turned on edge and split 

 with the big saw. The third quarter is then split, and the first 

 half log dropped to the log deck follows the same process. The 

 eight wedge-shaped sections of the log are then forwarded by live 

 rolls to the horizontal band resaw, and are reduced to boards and 

 strips. 



A first-class horizontal band resaw of a tj'pe similar to that 

 shown in the half-tone accompanying this article, which inci- 

 dentally is produced by Wm. B. Mershon & Co., Saginaw, Mich., 

 is capable of reducing these small flitches to inch lumber and 

 strips at the rate of from thirty to thirty-five thousand feet in 

 ten hours. 



This particular illustration represents a side-view of a Mershon 

 horizontal resaw. The machine consists of a framework of struc- 

 tural steel about twelve feet long, carrying six driven rolls, which 

 form the feeding bed of the machine. This arrangement of rolls 

 is very similar to the live rolls used for conveying stock in a saw- 

 mill. The machine is mounted on a heavy bed plate, which also 

 carries the band wheels. The saw blade passes over the center 

 of this train of feed rolls, and is supported by means of so-calleil 

 crowding wheels or rotary guides, so as to present a relatively 

 short-supported cutting section of the saw to the stock. This con 

 struction makes it possible to feed stock of either regular or ir- 

 regular dimensions, and remove any thicknesses up to four inches 



SHOWING HOW LOG IS SAWED FOR LUMBER AND FLITCHES ON 

 THE BAND SAW 



from the bottom surface. Pressure rollers ride on top of the stock, 

 and are so designed as to adapt themselves to any irregularities, 

 no matter what they are. 



The experience of the Yellow Poplar Lumber Company in manufac- 

 turing its quarter-sawed lumber with the supplemental horizontal band 

 resaw equipment has been so satisfactory that several other pro- 

 ducers of quarter-sawed stock have purchased a similar rig. The 



cost-records made by this house prove that it can produce quarter- 

 sawed stock by this method with a loss of only about twenty per 

 cent; that its stock is perfectly quartered, and the resultant prod- 

 uct is absolutely accurately sawed. In width of stock involving 

 logs down to eighteen inches in diameter, it is showing an average 

 of better than eight-and-a-half inches, which is a remarkable width 

 for quarter-sawed oak lumber. In general cost of production the 

 company is effecting a manifest economy over any other con- 

 cern engaged in quarter-sawing lumber by the older approved 

 methods. 



The new system is entirely worthy of a thorough investigation 

 by those engaged or desiring to engage in producing quarter-sawed 

 lumber from any variety of wood. 



SHOWING HOW THE SECTIONS ARE TRANSFORMED INTO BOARDS 

 AND STRIPS BY MEANS OF HORIZONTAL BAND RESAW 



River Birch for Cooperage 



River birch [Betula nigra) has never been prized for any pur- 

 pose. It is the softest of all the birches and is devoid of figure and 

 attractive color. Consequently lumbermen take it only when of large 

 size or quite convenient. Eiver birch occurs from Massachusetts 

 and New York southward east of the Allegheny mountains to western 

 Florida; west in the Gulf states to Texas and north through Mis- 

 sissippi to eastern Oklahoma, eastern Nebraska, central Minnesota, 

 southern Wisconsin nnd Ohio. In addition to the name river birch 

 it is also known as red birch, water birch, and occasionally as blue 

 birch and black birch. It does not form forests but grows in clumps 

 or' scattered mostly along streams. 



The tree rarely attains very large dimensions, though in good 

 situations a diameter of two foet and a height of seventy-five feet 

 are not uncommon. The bark is rough and shaggy, giving the tree 

 a ragged appearance. The wood is light and soft and fairly uniform 

 in texture. The pores are scattered throughout the growth ring — 

 diffuse-porous. While inferior to the other birches the wood is 

 beginning to have a value for cooperage. 



There is no question about the suitability of river birch for 

 cracker, flour and similar barrels. It is probable that it will be 

 found satisfactory for packing house barrels for the shipping of 

 pork and lard. The revision committee of the Chicago Board of 

 Trade has issued a revised list of woods for use in the packing house 

 trade and birch is included. As no species is mentioned all may be 

 tried including paper birch, western birch, black or sweet birch, 

 yellow birch and gray birch. The western and gray birch are too 

 far from the trade to be available. Other woods included in the 

 revised list are white oak, red oak, burr oak, and white ash. 



Eiver birch is said to make high-grade barrel hoops — -at least one 

 farmer in New Jersey has made a good living out of the cutting of 

 such material. He has a small plant for making hoops and his first 

 experiments with river birch were made rather secretly. He was sur- 

 prised to find that dealers preferred the new hoops to any other in 

 the lot. This set the farmer to thinking, and as a result he bought 

 for a song all the river birch for miles around. His neighbors were 

 glad to get rid of it and he has a bigger demand for his product 

 than he can fill. Eiver birch hoops are said to be tough and strong 

 and very durable. As there is considerable of the timber scattered 

 along the streams throughout the East and South, there seems no 

 reason why the material should not be more widely employed for this 

 purpose. 



Some of the fruit and vegetable basket makers in eastern Maryland 

 work river birch into bands around the tops of the baskets, and it is 

 said to be as satisfaetorv as elm. S. J. R. 



