HARDWOOD RECORD 



37 



A great many wives of 



the limit to accommodate everyone, 

 members were present. 



The speaker of the evening was E. M. JIacDonald, K. C, mem- 

 ber of parliament, Picton, Xova Scotia. His subject, "Canada," 

 was handled in a very able manner. 



J. Hampton Moore, president of the Atlantic Deep Waterways 

 Association, and T>. J. Lewis, congressman from Maryland, were 

 also prominent speakers at the occasion. 



It goes without saying that in the selection of Mr. Walcott as 

 president of the Xational Wholesale Liunber Dealers' Association, 

 great wisdom has been displayed. Mr. Walcott is a man who 



stands very high in lumber affairs, and is one of the most promi- 

 nent, aggressive and intelligent members of the fraternity of the 

 entire East. He has been a hard worker for the association for 

 many years, and this is a just recognition of his abilities and 

 talents that is worthy of the organization. He surely will carry 

 the afifairs of the organization to still higher standards of good 

 business results and good business morals that have prevailed in 

 the past. 



Nothing but words of encomium can be said for F. E. Parker, 

 who has been a very faithful and competent incumbent of the 

 position of president for the past year. 



^ C«^>:~>^;>^^:o:o^■^.\:.i.:/Ky:^^:a.>^>A:,.v.>;oi^;■;s^■ > !^^^c>l^^■^ 



-^ Flooring Factories Progressive -^ 



A good deal of ground might be found for the contention that 

 flooring factories, as a whole, are among the most progressive 

 in the entire hardwood and woodworking field. The average 

 manufacturer of hardwood flooring realizes that he is turning out 

 a quality product and that he cannot give too much attention 

 to its manufacture; and while it is said by those who have had 

 experience that the flooring business still needs education on the 

 subject of how to get proper prices for its product, there is little 

 fault to be found in the factory end, at all events. 



One feature of flooring factories that commends itself is the 

 way in which dry kilns are made use of. In proportion to the 

 amount of lumber consumed, it is probable that the well-managed 

 flooring factory has a larger kiln capacity than the typical plant 

 in any other line. In fact, a big manufacturer recently stated 

 that he had enlarged his kilns to a considerable extent with the 

 idea of reducing the cost of handling material to the minimum. 

 This is possible in a good many cases, because the flooring factory 

 is often located in a hardwood lumber market, so as to enable 

 the manufacturer to pick up his oak without much trouble, and to 

 get prompt deliveries. 



When conditions are favorable, the factory can be operated at 

 full capacity with no lumber being handled in and out of the 

 yard whatever. The operations of the kiln can be adjusted so 

 that lumber received is put into the drying apparatus, instead 

 of the yard, and taken out for immediate use, so that there is no 

 necessity for piling the material on the yard, and then rehandling 

 it when the time comes to put it into the kUn. If this method can 

 lie worked out, a saving of something like $1 a thousand on the 

 lumber used is effected, less the cost of building and maintaining 

 the additional kilns made necessarj- by this system. 



A stunt which is said to affect production costs favorably in 

 a good many flooring factories, especially those making plain oak, 

 is ripping the strips on a gang edger. It is worth noting H;hat the 

 custom is confined almost entirely to those using plain oak, as 

 quartered oak flooring manufacturers as a rule contend that the 

 character of their material does not warrant the use of the gang 

 edger for ripping purposes. The obvious advantage is secured in 

 the greater volume of work that can be done, and the greater 

 accuracy of the work; for, say what you will, there are bount' 

 to be inaccuracies in ripping on a single saw, for the sawyer 

 cannot hold the strip against the guide firmly and evenly enough 

 to insure absolute accuracy, as is certain to be the case when the 

 piece is cut between two saws. 



Some flooring manufacturers who have investigated this plan 

 believe that the chance for waste is greater on account of the 

 fact that the work is done more or less mechanically, the material 

 being fed into the edger without any opportunity for discrimina- 

 tion and selection to be exercised. But the waste problem cannot 

 always be taken care of at the saw; it calls for a broader policy 

 than that. In fact, one of the big factories which does use gang 

 edgers in ripping has a remarkably small amount of waste, because 

 it takes occasion to work all of its offal into narrow stock like 

 crate material, binder strips, etc. 



But it is plain that when a manufacturer is producing quartered 

 oak flooring, and has a chance to save money by the proper use 

 of his lumber, there are plenty of opportunities for him to do so if 

 he is ripping his stock on a single saw. One flooring concern 

 which uses this plan turns out little or no }g" select flooring, 

 throwing out strips of that grade to be worked into something else 

 for which there is a better demand and on which there may be 

 more profit, confining its production of this particular thickness 

 to clear flooring, and working up selects, by means of resawing, 

 into thinner stock. 



By putting it up to the experienced sawyer to get the most 

 out of the lumber that there is to be had, the manufacturer insures 

 losing no values in high-priced quartered oak and similar material. 

 He pays more for labor, of course, and it is simply a question of 

 determining which element is the most important in dollars and 

 cents. 



The situation may be likened to that in the sawmill business. 

 In a good many small mills, turning out high-priced lumber from 

 high-priced logs, the manufacturer cuts all thicknesses, every log 

 being carefully scanned and sawed into the dimensions which 

 will produce the best grades. In this way the lumberman loses 

 nothing of the value of his timber. But on the other hand when 

 the operations of a big mill cutting from 50,000 to 100,000 feet 

 of lumber a day are investigated, it is customary to find attention 

 being coucentrated on a few thicknesses; sometimes on one, such 

 as inch lumber. The manufacturer in this case is concerned prin- 

 cipally with getting out a big production in order to keep his 

 manufacturing costs low. This he has to do because of his large 

 overhead expense. The smaller plant has an entirely different 

 problem, and handles it differently. 



Another interesting department of the flooring business is the 

 warehouse proposition. Inasmuch as flooring is used in construc- 

 tion work, sales are a seasonal proposition. The extent of the 

 periods may depend on the selling system employed by the manu- 

 facturer, and will be affected by whether he sells through jobbers, 

 who in turn sell to the contractor, or direct to the latter. But in 

 any event it is usually necessary to store a considerable amount 

 of stock to take care of the heavy business which it is known 

 will come later. 



Adjusting the capacity of the factory to the facilities of the 

 warehouse, and vice versa, is a nice problem for the flooring man. 

 Shall he attempt to make capital out of his storage facilities by 

 keeping his plant going at top speed all the tfme, and carrying 

 a lot of flooring in stock, compared with the daily output of the 

 factory; or shall he increase his manufacturing facilities, using 

 the warehouse merely as a means of tiding over the occasional 

 dull periods, and not as an actual complement of the manufacturing 

 end of the business? 



. If a big warehouse is put into service as a kind of reservoir, 

 into which is put stock which will not be sold for some months 

 ahead, the manufacturer immediately faces a charge for interest 

 on this idle capital; but he makes up for it in having a smaller 

 investment in machinery, and in being able to operate his plant 



