32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



are small. Nearly all of those omitted are, however, of some im- 

 portance in restricted regions. Among siieh are the following white 

 oaks: Eoeky Mountain blue oak, gam'bel oak, California blue oak, 

 Arizona white oak, and netleaf oak. Among minor red or black oaks 

 are turkey oak, laurel oak, highland oak, and California live oak, the 

 last one being regarded by some as a white oak. 



In the statistics of sawmill cut collected yearly by the United 

 States census, the oak lumber is- not even divided into white oak and 

 red oak classes, but all goes in simply as oak. Manufacturers who use 

 oak are nearly always desirous of separating white oak lumber from 

 red oak, and some go further and keep species separate where they 

 can. In a report on wood using industries in Michigan, recently is- 

 sued, the manufacturers listed five white oaks and three red oaks. A 

 similar report for Illinois listed four white and five red oaks; while 

 a like report from Texas carried the subdivision still further, and 

 listed ten white oaks and eleven red oaks. 



Log cutters in the woods can separate the diiferent oaks much 

 easier than the lumber can be separated after the sawing is done. 



Most tinrbermeu know the principal oaks by sight, but it takes an ex- 

 pert yardman to pick out the various kinds of oak lumber from a 

 common heap. If it is the purpose to separate the oaks, it is better 

 to do it in the woods, and mark the logs. That will help the yardman 

 to keep the lumber apart. Railroads are pretty careful to keep white 

 oak and red oak ties separate. It is more important with ties than 

 with lumber kept dry, for red oaks are generally more susceptible to 

 decay than white oaks. Manufacturers of tight cooperage are another 

 class who are strict in keeping white oaks and red oaks apart be- 

 cause the red oaks are too porous for some of the highest grade 

 barrels. Furniture makers and manufacturers of interior finish use 

 both white oak and red oak, but they usually want either one or the 

 other, and it is to the lumberman's advantage to be able to ship white 

 oak to the man who orders it, and red oak when ordered, and not in 

 mixed lots. In order to do this, identification and separation ought 

 to begin in the woods, and it can then be carried through the mill, 

 into the yards, and finally on board the cars, and each customer will 

 receive the kind of oak he asks for. 



• TO TOiaMmaiia^ro;)iTOMttTOiKTOmyTOi^M^^^ 



Specializing Proves Its Worth 



One of the most important consumers of hardwoods in the Ohio 

 valley was never a prospect for lumbermen of that territory, save to 

 A small extent, for a very interesting and convincing reason: it made 

 its own lumber. It regarded its sawmill as one of the departments of 

 the factory proper, and, while it never undertook the job of manu- 

 facturing its own paints or tanning the leather which it used in some 

 of its goods, it did not see why the production of lumber should not 

 be regarded as a factory proposition, just as cutting it into sizes was 

 a recognized part of factory routine. 



Consequently it maintained a regular department for the purchase 

 of logs; had buyers out in the hardwood country within a radius of 

 several hundred miles, and got its consignments of logs just as regu- 

 larly as the sawmill men in the same town with it. The head of the 

 lumber department was an e.xperienced man, and there was no fault 

 to be found with the lumber which his mill turned out. The system 

 used by the company apparently was a successful one, and to all 

 appearances refuted the frequently heard assertion that this is the 

 day of the specialist, and that the company which succeeds confines 

 itself as closely as possible to its own particular business. 



Recently the announcement went out that the sawmill was to be 

 closed down and operations discontinued. The reason given at the 

 time was that the building where this work had been done was needed 

 for the uses of another department, which had been added a few- 

 months before by the manufacturer. Later on the head of the lum- 

 ber department, who had undergone a metamorphosis by which he 

 was changed from a manufacturer of lumber to a buyer, said that 

 the reason for the change was that the timber country in which the 

 concern had been buying was pretty well cut out, and that it was 

 being farced to go further away from the factory than it liked to get 

 its logs. The long haul involved too much expense, and the economy 

 of the proposition had been reduced to such a point that it was no 

 longer worth while to maintain the department. 



In spite of this assertion, however, the mills which have been run- 

 ning for years in that locality are continuing to operate, and seem to 

 be getting enough logs for their requirements; so that, while the 

 growing scarcity of timber undoubtedly affected the convenience of 

 operation, this could not have been the only reason for the change. 



The company, as indicated, has just taken on a new line of work, 

 and is manufacturing an article somewhat different from the line to 

 which its attention has been devoted. It needs additional capital for 

 this work, of course, and in order to get the best results from its 

 business it is finding it advantageous, without doubt, to concentrate 

 all of its resources on its manufacturing lines proper. In other 

 words, instead of spending money to buy logs, cut the timber into 

 lumber, sort it and leave it on sticks for a year — the time usually 

 given by tliis concern in drying its huuber — it is taking the same 



money and using it for the manufacture of the product which it sells 

 to the trade, and out of which it can get a return almost immediately. 



The fact that the lumberman is now going to make an incidental 

 profit on the material consumed in the factory, which heretofore has 

 gone to the consumer himself, by virtue of his operation of a sawmill, 

 does not alter the fundamental fact that more money can be made 

 by using the capital and other resources of the concern to turn, out 

 goods rapidly than by attempting to squeeze a profit out of the manu- 

 facture of materials which it uses. 



Another interesting fact in this connection is that the manufac- 

 turer, in operating his sawmill, cut all of his lumber to the dimen- 

 sions required for the goods turned out of the factory. It was dried 

 in this way and went to the factory proper ready for dressing and 

 actual use. The advantage of doing this work at the sawmill im- 

 pressed the company to such an extent that now that it is to buy all 

 of its lumber, instead of only a part of it, it will purchase dimension 

 stock, and not random lengths and widths. So that, while the com- 

 pany will be in the open market for lumber hereafter, it will still 

 not be a prospect for those who are not prepared to sell lumber cut 

 to size. 



The whole question of specialization is thus given a double signifi- 

 cance: first, the consuming manufacturer decides to make his special 

 product and quit manufacturing lumber; and second, he is going to 

 buy from concerns which are themselves Specializing in the lumber 

 field and are furnishing consumers with stock cut to the size required 

 and not just as it came from the log. 



The experience of this concern is suggestive, for the reason that 

 actual demonstrations of this kind are sometimes needed to convince 

 one that it is not only more convenient, but actually more profitable 

 to concentrate instead of spreading out capital and energy over the 

 large space made necessary through the operation of a great number 

 of departments. Even the largest consumers of lumber, with but 

 one or two exceptions, buy their lumber; and if their knowledge of 

 the situation has demonstrated the futility of attempting to increase 

 net earnings by getting a manufacturer's profit out of the materials 

 used in the business, it is pretty clear that the average consumer is 

 making no mistake by doing likewise. 



Instead of users of lumber wanting to go into the lumber business, 

 the tendency is just the other way, as was suggested by the fact that 

 the company which has been making its own lumber is now to be a 

 user of dimension stock made somewhere else. In just the same way 

 furniture manufacturers and others are buying all of their glued-up 

 stock from manufacturers who specialize in this material; and in 

 that business the usual plan is for the panel man to buy his veneers 

 instead of making them himself. Thus the apparent wastefulness of 

 tlic plan which reijuires the services of a great nnnilcr of ;p i-^alists. 



