iMay 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



39 



FOR SALE TO HIGHEST BIDDERS 



4,000,000 ft. (B. M.) OREGON PINE 



THICKNESSES— 2 in., 2%, in., 2^ in., 3 in., 4 in., 5 in. and 6 in. WIDTHS— S in. to 12 in. LENGTHS— 10 ft. to 34 ft. 



3,000,000 ft. (B.M.) VANCOUVER SPRUCE 



THICKNESSES— 2 in., 2^ in., 2}^ in., 3 in., 4 in., 5 in. and 6 in. WIDTHS— 5 in. to 12 in. LENGTHS— 8 ft. to 34 ft. 

 EVERY PIECE OF PINE AND SPRUCE IS DRY, FREE OF DEFECTS, AND STRAIGHT GRAINED. 



2,700,000 Sq. Ft.) BIRCH PLYWOOD VENEER 



THICKNESSES— 1-8 in., S-32 in., 13-64 in., lS-64 in., 5-16 in. and 25-64 in. WIDTHS AND LENGTHS— 36x48 in. and 

 48x60 in. 



EVERY PIECE OF PLYWOOD IS DRY, FREE OF DEFECTS, PLANED AND WATERPROOF. 



EVERY THICKNESS, WIDTH AND LENGTH IS SEPARATELY CRATED AND STRAPPED. 



FIVE CARLOADS OR MORE OF SPRUCE OR PINE WILL BE SOLD WHERE STORED. 



ONE CARLOAD OR MORE OF PLYWOOD WILL BE SOLD WHERE STORED. 



ALL THIS MATERIAL HAS PASSED RIGID INSPECTION BY U. S. GOVERNMENT OFFICERS. 



SPRUCE AND PINE ARE IN STORE AT PORT ARTH UR AND HOUSTON, TEXAS. PLYWOOD IS IN STORE 

 AT NEW YORK AND BALTIMORE. 



Terms: Certified Check or Sight Draft with B/L when loaded. Buyers shall pay loading charges. 



Address all communications to 



ITALIAN MILITARY MISSION 



Holland House, 5th Ave. & 30th St. 



Telephone Madison Square 2993 



New York City, N. Y. 



Cable Address Italyarm 



the market as such. Persons who handle these woods and are interested 

 In identifying them, will do well to procure Mr. Record's key and study 

 It. It should not be expected, however, that the job will be simple or 

 easy ; for the descriptions are condensed and tbe author presupposes that 

 the reader already has sufficient knowledge of wood structure to know 

 the meaning of certain technical terms and to recognize certain elements 

 when he sees them, among such being, resin ducts, gum deposits, tyloses, 

 parenchyma, rays, fibers, density, texture, pores, ring-porous, and dlflfuse- 

 porous. 



There is no short and easy road to the mastery of this subject. It must 

 be described in technical language, or not at all. because there is no other 

 language for it. Those who desire the ability to identify these woods will 

 simply have to learn the processes and the nomenclature. 



The work which Mr. Record has done will appeal to scientists, par- 

 ticularly to wood technologists, and they will appreciate the assistance 

 which this key gives. It is a contribution to an important subject. 



Portable Houses for Belgium 



Portable houses for Belgium are being made of wood in Aarhus. Den- 

 mark, reports tbe commercial attache in that city. It is stated that orders 

 have been placed with concerns there aggregating $13,000,000. 



A View of Conditions 



The National City Bank of New York prefaced its May business bulletin 

 with the following encouraging paragraph : 



The business situation in the United States has improved very much In 

 the last month, and the outlook is encouraging. It is a very great gain 

 to have dissipated the atmosphere of pessimism which was prevalent in 

 February, and that has been accomplished in large degree. The idea that 

 the bottom was about to drop out of all markets, and that a grave period 

 of unemployment and perhaps social disorder was pending, is no longer 

 entertained. The ppople. north and south, east and west, have disposed 

 of that bogie by simply continuing to buy goods at the greatest rate ever 

 known, evidently without apprehensions of poverty or revolution. We 

 conclude that the great body of the American people are disposed to go 

 along in a normal way, whatever the rest of the world may do, and as 

 their buying capacity is about equal to that of all the rest of the world 

 put together, they can do fairly well all by themselves if they try. With 

 strikes, revolutions, allied dissensions and all sorts of exciting news served 

 up in the headlines daily, they have been busy welcoming home the boys 

 from France, and incidentally and perhaps for that reason, the women 

 have bought ail of last year's high-priced dry goods remaining in the 

 stores, and thereby put the merchants at ease. The old stocks of textile 

 goods have bppn cleared out, and current demands now require current 

 production. The whole situation in the textile industry has changed. 

 Confidence has been restored, prices have recovered part of the mid- 

 winter decline, and the mills are resuming full time operations. The 

 strikes have been generally settled, hut in some instances the demands 

 of wage-earners have been held in abeyance pending recovery in the In- 

 dustry, and there are reports that they will be renewed. 



Pacific Coast Crossties for the East 



Orders are reported for large numbers of crossties from the Pacific Coast 

 to be used on eastern railroads. They will be Douglas fir, cut in Wash- 

 ington, and they will be carried by ship through the Panama canal. 

 Douglas fir lumber, and timbers of large size have been in the eastern 

 markets for years ; but the transportation of crossties on a large scale 

 appears to be new. 



It can scarcely be claimed the Douglas fir ties are as good as chest- 

 nut or white oak, but they may be considerably cheaper and that will 

 account for their appearance in the eastern markets. The wood possesses 

 some of the characteristics of the longleaf pine of the southern states. 

 A vessel load from the west coast, through the Panama canal will con- 

 sist of about 50.000 ties. 



Steaming of Vehicle Stock During Kiln-Drying 



Saturated steam as a means of alleviating the tendencies of green 

 lumber to honeycomb in the kiln has for some time been successfully 

 applied in the commercial drying of heavy vehicle stock. Under intelligent 

 control, such treatment has meant the difference between success and 

 failure in many kiln runs. It has frequently afforded the means of over- 

 coming discrepancies in operation or misjudgments as to the ability of 

 stock to withstand rigid drying conditions. 



So far, however, the steaming treatment has been confined to straight 

 stock. The contention has always been that bent stock, such as rims, 

 should not be steamed after removal from the form, experience indicating 

 that stock so treated would tend to straighten out to its original shape. 

 The kiln drying of heavy bent rims has been carried on, therefore, without 

 resorting to steaming to remove case hardening and other defects of drying. 



Recent experiments conducted under the direction of the Forest Products 

 Laboratory, Madison. Wis., have shown that judicious steaming of heavy 

 bent vehicle stock results In a considerably improved product, and that 

 the operation can be accomplished without serious effect upon the curva- 

 ture. Careful judgment is necessary, however, as it is a very easy mat- 

 ter to ruin the entire charge by too severe treatment. Contrary to the 

 common impression, this steaming has been done at high temperature 

 (150°-180° F.) and for short periods one-half to three hours), th" tem- 

 perature and time varying according to the requirement of the case. 



The method was given a rather severe test, being tried first on fifty-six- 

 inch oak rims and later on sixty-inch artillery wheel stock. When applied 

 to the kiln drying of heavy oak rims on a commercial basis it worked out 

 very successfully. Checks In the stock before steaming, which showed 

 "pinching in" tending toward honeycombing, closed normally without 

 further damage after steaming. From kiln charges totaling about 2400 

 pieces the losses attributable to kiln drying were only two per cent. 



