HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



ahead. It is likely that when the spring trade 

 opens up prices on some woods will go even 

 higher than they are at present. 



R. G. Dun & Co. say this of the lumber busi- 

 ness in Pittsburg for 1905 : 



"Extended building operations created a large 

 demand for lumber and 1903 showed up much 

 better than 1904. When the year opened there 

 was a strong feeling in the Northwest and 

 South, where stocks were not heavy. The large 

 consumption used up the major portion of avail- 

 able material and the year closed with stock 

 at the mills very low and prices about twenty 

 per cent higher than twelve months ago. Pres- 

 ent demand is unusually good for this season 

 of the year and many wholesalers repo'rt the lar- 

 gest volume of business in many years. A 

 healthy sentiment pervades the entire trade and 

 the consensus of opinion is that 1900 will start 

 nnder very propitious conditions." 



With a single exception every building craft 

 in the city is continuing at work despite the 

 fact that many of the wage scales expired Jan. 

 1. The housesmiths' union, however, inaugu- 

 rated a strike as the result of their failure to 

 obtain an increase of o cents an hour. About 

 200 workmen, arc affected. This is the tirst 

 time in the history of Pittsburg that so many 

 organizations were satisfied with accepting the 

 prevailing rate of wages and working conditions 

 without submitting a schedule to their employers. 

 The failure of the various unions to notify the 

 master builders that they desire a new agree- 

 ment is equal to a reaffirmation of the wage 

 scales that have prevailed during 1905, accord- 

 ing to the mutual understanding. As it requires 

 three months' notice for the majority of the 

 unions to change their contracts with the em- 

 ployers it is probable that peace in the labor 

 world in Pittsburg will exist for some time. It 

 is expected that the carpenters and joiners will 

 ask for an increase from 43 cents to 50 cents an 

 hour March 1. The plumbers, tile layers and 

 painters' unions have already signed their scales. 

 W. W. Campbell, secretary of the Pittsburg 

 Builders' Exchange League, says : "It appears 

 that the skilled workmen in this locality are 

 perfectly satisfled with the situation. I do not 

 anticipate any outbreak in the building indus- 

 try. The year 1906 promises to surpass the 

 year just closed in activity in our business." 



the sawmill and at the factory where they are re- 

 manufactured. 



Kiln-drying is so important a process that a 

 need is keenly felt for fuller information regard- 

 ing it, based upon scientific study of the be- 

 havior of various kinds of woods at different 

 temperatures and under different mechanical dry- 

 ing devices. In the effort to develop it to the 

 highest efficiency, a variety of methods have been 

 employed, but as yet these methods have not 

 been carefully compared with a view to ascer- 

 taining which of them is best adapted to each 

 special requirement of species or of manufac- 

 ture. The Forest Service has begun a study of 

 the dry-kilns throughout the country, first, to 

 acquaint itself with the methods now in vogue, 

 and second, to map out such improvements of 

 the kiln-drying process as may render it in the 

 highest degree satisfactory and profitable. 



Frederick Dunlap of the office of forest prod- 

 ucts in the Forest Service, who was assigned to 

 this study, has during the past weeks inspected 

 kiln-drying methods in the states of Indiana and 

 Wisconsin and in the city of Chicago. He found 

 manufacturers disposed to aid the study by all 

 means in their power. 



In Indiana, a hardwood region, the prevailing 

 method of kiln-drying is based upon the use of 

 steam pipes, which supply the dry heat required 

 in the kiln. The pipes run on the floor of the 

 kiln, and the lumber is placed over them. The 

 radiated heat from the pipes dries the lumber. 

 In Wisconsin softwoods are more widely manu- 

 factured and blower kilns are more generally 

 used. In these air is pumped by means of a 

 circular fan through a steam coil and so heated, 

 and then passes on to the chamber in which the 

 lumber is piled. After passing through this 

 chamber, the air is sometimes returned to be 

 reheated and sometimes allowed to escape. 



In connection with the further study of kiln- 

 drying processes, attention will be given to the 

 value of the preparatory steaming of wood be- 

 fore the kiln-drying is begun. For this purpose 

 work is planned in coijperation with firms which 

 are interested in experiments to determine the 

 value of steam treatment. 



Kiln Drying of Hardwoods. 



From recent literature emanating from the 

 Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture, 

 the following is abstracted, which refers to the 

 investigations now being made by Frederick Dun- 

 lap of the office of forest products, in relation 

 to the kiln drying of hardwoods : 



Drying is an essential part of the preparation 

 of wood for manufacture. For a long time the 

 only drying process used or known was air dry- 

 ing, or the exposure of wood to the gradual, 

 drying influence of the open air. Kiln-drying, 

 which is an artificial method, originated in the 

 effort to improve or shorten the process. By 

 subjecting the wood to a high temperature, or to 

 a draught of heated air, in a confined space or 

 kiln, time is saved and a certain degree of con- 

 trol over the drying conditions is secured. 



There are two points in the manufacture of 

 lumber at either of which it may be kiln-dried. 

 AVith softwoods, for instance, it is a common 

 practice to kiln-dry the lumber at the sawmill 

 before it is shipped. This practice, however, is 

 ill adapted for hardwoods, in which it would 

 produce such checking and warping as would 

 greatly reduce the value of the product. In 

 practice, therefore, hardwoods are more or less 

 thoroughly air dried before being placed in the 

 kiln, where the residue of moisture may be re- 

 duced to between three and four percent, which 

 is much lower than is possible by air drying 

 only. Yet another practice obtains in the case 

 of a few woods which give up their moisture 

 very slowly. With these woods, of which cypress 

 is an example, the kiln is resorted to both at 



A 'Walnut Story. 



A farmer appeared in Leavenworth, Kan., re- 

 cently with two loads of firewood that attracted 

 a great deal of attention — much more than is 

 ordinarily given to wood of no higher value than 

 to be used as fuel. It was remarked that they 

 nere the two finest loads of wood that had been 

 brought to the Leavenworth market in years. 

 The farmer vouchsafed the information that he 

 had cut all the wood from one walnut tree which 

 grew on his farm in Salt Creek 'Valley, and that 

 he had several more loads of like quality ready 

 to market, as well as a number of big trees 

 he intended to cut and work this winter. And he 

 sold this walnut wood for $4.50 a cord ! 



Here is a person who evidently does not read 

 the newspapers or he would not be so ignorant 

 of the real value of walnut timber. He little 

 dreams that manufacturers everywhere are buy- 

 ing up all the walnut they can find — stumps, 

 roots, knots, anything — and paying big prices for 

 it. Even old wood that has been in service for 

 years is eagerly snapped up. A Chicago concern 

 recently sent out representatives to scour the 

 country for old walnut fence rails, for which 

 very good prices were offered. Walnut trees have 

 practically disappeared from this section of Kan- 

 sas. In 1903 Leavenworth county, according to 

 the report of the Kansas Board of Agriculture, 

 had 22S acres of artificial walnut forest, the 

 following year this acreage was cut down to only 

 01 acres. However, there are doubtless many 

 trees yet standing which would bring from $800 

 to $1,000 apiece if sold to the right parties, ex- 

 asperating information to the above sleepy 

 farmer. 



Important Sash and Door Combine. 

 A million dollar corporation was launched at 

 Kansas City recently when the American Sash & 



Door Company filed articles of incorporation 

 there. The company will increase its capital 

 stock as soon as other interests for which nego- 

 tiations are now pending have been acquired. 

 The incorporators are ; H. W. Huttig, William 

 Huttig and W. L. Roach of Muscatine, la., E. H. 

 Kienzie and Walter Wood of Kansas City, F. J. 

 Moss of St. Joseph, Mo., and C. H. Keith of 

 Kansas City. 



The new organization is a consolidation of 

 the Huttig-Moss Manufacturing Company of St. 

 Joseph, Mo., and the Roach & Kienzie Sash & 

 Door Company of Kansas City, two of the new- 

 est and most thoroughly equipped plants for the 

 manufacture of this line of material in the coun- 

 try. The affairs of the company will be conducted 

 on the strictest business principles ; it was not 

 '>rganized with the idea of controlling or corner- 

 ing the market, boosting prices or stifling com- 

 petition, as is so often the case with large or- 

 . ganlzations. 



The main offices of the American Sash & Door 

 Company will be located at the present plant of 

 the Roach & Kienzie Sash & Door Company, 

 Sixteenth and Bellefontaine avenue, Kansas City. 



Annual of Hardwood Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation. 



The fourth annual meeting of the Hardwood 

 Manufacturers' Association of the United States 

 will be held at the Gait House, Louisville, Ky., 

 Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 16 and 17. 



The program arranged for this meeting is as 

 follows : 



First Day. 

 9 :30 to 10 :30 a. m. — Registration of dele- 

 gates. 

 11 a. m. — Meeting called to order. 



Address of Welcome. 

 Annual address of president. .R. H. '^''ansant 



Report of secretary J. C. Burchette 



Report of treasurer F. C. Fisher 



Report of chief inspector '.J. V. Hill 



Recess. 

 2 p. m. 

 Paper — Applied Forestry and Practical Lum- 

 bering, Wm. Wilms, of Paepcke-Leicht 

 Lumber Co. 

 Paper — What Should the Association Expect 

 of Its Members, A. J. Gahagan of Loomis 

 & Hart Mfg. Co. 

 Paper — Value of Statistics to the Producer, 

 W. W. Dings, of Garetson-Greason Lumber 

 Co. 

 Paper — Progress of the Lumber Trade Since 

 the Organization of Association Work, 

 J. K. Williams of Williams-Haas Lumber 

 Co. 

 Paper — General Outlook for the Lumber 

 Business in 1906, Otto Lachmund of Ba- 

 con-Xolan Hardwood Co. 

 General discussion. 

 Appointment of committees. 

 Second Day. 

 10 :30 a. m. 

 Meeting called to order. 

 Reports of standing committees. 

 General discussion. 

 Reports of committees appointed preceding 



day. 

 General business. 



Recess. 

 2 p. m. 

 Reports of committees. 

 General business. 



Election of officers — President, vice presi- 

 dents and directors for 1906. 

 Adjournment. 



Meeting of directors immediately after ad- 

 journment for election of executive board. 

 Meeting of executive board immediately after 

 directors' meeting. 

 President R. H. Vansant, in his invitation to 

 be present at this meeting, says that manufac- 

 turers of hardwoods who are not members will 

 be heartily welcomed and be given an opportunity 

 to speak in the general discussions. "Many sub- 



