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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



September 25, 1919 



quence took his timber out of the market, it did prevent 

 much speculation and often helped the company's buyer 

 to effect a purchase where an exorbitant price was at 

 first asked. Competition between log buyers of different 

 firms drove the price of logs gradually upward and these 

 higher costs resulted in higher prices being paid by the 

 government for the blanks. 



Owners of choice lots of walnut timber asked increas- 

 ingly high prices, and well informed farmers often put 

 a value on their timber which the contractor could not pay 

 without financial loss on the logs. In some cases, where 

 the farmer had agreed to sell his standing timber for a 

 stated price, he demanded an exorbitant sum for it after 

 it had been cut by the company's men and forbade the 

 company to remove it. The signing of the armistice left 

 many such lots of timber in the hands of the original 

 owners who thereby suffered financial loss on account of 

 the drop in the price. 



There were many instances where timber buyers secured 

 walnut by improper means, representing themselves as 

 government agents and claiming they had a right to take 

 it and pay their own price. In one case which the writer 

 personally investigated in Maryland a log buyer had 

 enlisted the services of a local justice of the peace who 

 assured walnut owners that the buyer had authority to 

 take the trees for the government whether they consented 

 or not. This is only one of many instances where walnut 

 timber was taken without the owner's consent. 



Properties of Walnut 



The question is often asked: Why is walnut necessary 

 for gunstocks and propellers as well as furniture and 

 cabinet work? What properties in walnut wood make it 

 particularly suitable for these uses? Some ow^ners of 

 walnut timber refused to sell during the war because they 

 thought some other wood could be used for gunstocks 

 which would do as well as walnut. As a matter of fact, 

 American black walnut was the standard wood for rifle 

 stocks in our Civil War, and no other wood in this country 

 has been found that will serve as well. The so-called 

 English walnut is considered equally as good, but on 

 account of its limited supply European countries have had 

 to use much of our black walnut instead. England im- 

 ported large quantities of blanks and flitch from this 

 country during the war. Fortunately the English stock 

 is a two-piece stock and can be made from the waste in 

 the manufacture of the American one-piece stock, so that 

 this did not lessen the gunstock material available for our 

 own use. 



Walnut wood shrinks and warps to a minimum degree 

 in seasoning compared to other woods of moderate 

 weight and strength. It is also a very satisfactory wood 

 to cut with tools. These qualities make it suitable for 

 manufacture into gunstocks. In addition there is just 

 enough uniform porosity to the wood so that it can be 

 gripped well by the hand, and it does not become either 

 rough or extremely smooth or slippery through wear from 

 handling. 



In the process of manufacture of the finished stock 



from the rough blank in the rifle factories there are about 

 fifty separate and distinct machining or cutting opera- 

 tions. Its adaptability to cutting with tools is, therefore, 

 of much importance for this use. 



Some yellow birch stocks were made for the U. S. army 

 and a large number w^ere shipped to the Russian govern- 

 ment during the war, but there is much more waste in the 

 machining operations and the wood is somewhat harder 

 than walnut so that rifles can not be produced as rapidly. 

 Birch makes a serviceable stock, however. 



The capability of walnut to "stay put" as the saying is, 

 that is, to shrink, swell, and warp to a minimum degree 

 under varying moisture conditions, and its excellent gluing 

 qualities make it desirable for airplane propellers and for 

 furniture, cabinets, etc. For furniture and all kinds of 

 finish the fine appearance of walnut and its adaptability 

 for different kinds of finishes, as varnishes, stains, fillers, 

 etc., are essential qualities which were not important for 

 war uses. For furniture the figured wood, caused for the 

 most part by irregularities of growth and accompanied 

 by wavy and twisted grain, is in great demand. The wavy 

 grain is not suitable for either propeller laminations or 

 gunstocks because it is not strong, is likely to warp, and 

 does not machine well. Figured wood is generally used 

 in the form of veneer for furniture and the tendency to 

 warp is thus overcome. For propeller blades the lack of 

 strength is the most serious objection to cross grain, w^hile 

 difficulty of machining is the greatest drawback to its use 

 for rifle stocks. Figured w^alnut is highly prized in the 

 butts of sporting rifles. These must be finished by hand, 

 however, because the machine tool often follows the wavy 

 grain of the wood and, therefore, does not cut accurately; 

 consequently the metal parts of the rifle will not fit 

 properly. 



The warping of cross-grained w^ood also precludes its 

 use for propellers and gunstocks. In the former the glue 

 joints between the laminations are liable to open up and 

 thus render the propeller worthless; in the latter the metal 

 parts of the rifle may not fit properly or, if cross grain is 

 in the forward part of the stock, the accurate firing of the 

 rifle may be interfered with by the stock s exerting pres- 

 sure upon the rifle barrel and springing it out of a straight 

 line. British gunstock inspectors will tell you that a rifle 

 with a certain degree of cross grain in the stock under the 

 barrel will shoot accurately about 8 or 1 times w^hen fired 

 in rapid succession, after which the aim will be inaccurate. 

 This is evidently due to the w^ood becoming w^arped from 

 the heat. Clear, straight-grained, forest-grown walnut 

 was, therefore, of much greater value for these war uses 

 than the limby, open-grown timber. This latter class, 

 however, had to supply the bulk of that used and many 

 a tree valued only for the shade it provided to the owner 

 was sacrificed in response to the plea that it would help 

 win the war. 



Black walnut has proved itself to be a very valuable 

 wood for both war and peace times, and the supply, 

 although not plentiful, will probably prove to be sufficient 

 for the future. 



