1 6 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



A Lumberman's Letters to His Son. 



Chicauo, April 7, 190t). 



My Dear Son: I am in receipt of your 

 letter of the 5th, containing your inviJious 

 observations concerning the commonwealth of 

 Arkansas. You are not the first chap that 

 has said unkind things about that state — 

 in fact, the mean things said about Arkansas 

 would fill a good many volumes. 



I want to call to your mind an auoc<lote 

 you have heard your grandfather tell of the 

 tenderfoot who asked the -Arizona bartender 

 for a cocktail, whereupon the bar-keep 

 promptly hustled a jug of "kill-me-quick" 

 and a tin cup onto the bar with the observa- 

 tion, "Young feller, when you're in Arizona 

 you '11 drink whiskey — you '11 drink whiskey 

 out of a tin cup — and you'll learn to like it! " 



It's the same way with you in Arkansas. 

 I am not going to permit you to build your 

 proposed bungalow and maintain a cook and 

 valet. You are going to eat and sleep with 

 the bunch in the mill boarding house. You 're 

 not going to have any golf clubs down there, 

 but you 're going to get exercise enough 

 hustling around the sawmill, tramping the 

 woods, and in trying to learn something that 

 will make a lumberman of you and, if pos- 

 sible, a decent citizen. I know you don 't 



approve of Arkansas \ve:Uhcr, Arkansas 

 swamps, Arkansas redbugs, Arkansas timber, 

 Arkansas people, or Arkansas anything else at 

 the present time, but 1 till yon you've got to 

 learn to like them. 



Your mother, with my complacent assist- 

 ance, has succeeded up to date in making a 

 good deal of an ass of you. This nianinia's 

 jiet business may be all right for n while; 

 but 1 believe that we will both be doing 

 you a greater kindness by making you go to 

 work, live on common fare, and learn some- 

 thing about the realities of life. Your an- 

 cestors have all been respectable citizens as 

 far back as it has been safe to trace, and I 

 want you to be of some account in this world. 

 This timber proposition down there in Arkan- 

 sas is a good one. Within live years red gum 

 lumber will be worth as much, thousand for 

 thousand, as cypress is today. There's some- 

 thing worth while coming to you if yon will 

 be a man and stick. Think it over; 



Your affectionate Fathek. 



P. S. A richly upholstered and highly per- 

 fumed young woman blew into the office yes- 

 terday liud made diligent inquiries about you. 

 Both grand oi)era and Fay Foster's bur- 

 lesquers arc in town this week, but her regis- 

 ter didii 'I Iddk riylit fur .-ni opera .singer. 



Hardwood Record J\lail Bag. 



[In this department It is proposed to reply 

 to such inquiries as reacli this office from tlie 

 Habdwood Kecobd clientage as will be of enough 

 general Interest to wan-ant publication. Every 

 patron of the paper 's invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fullest extent, and an attempt 

 will be made to answer queries pertaining to all 

 matters of Interest to the hardwood trade, lu 

 a succinct and intellieent manner.! 



Tools for Making Dimension Material. 



The editor is indebted to Van B. Perrine 

 of the Perrine-Armstrong Company, Ft. 

 Wayne, Ind., who is an expert in the produc- 

 tion of dimension material, for the following 

 letter giving suggestions as to the best ap- 

 pliances to be used for the making of this 

 product: 



KiiiiT Wav.nk, 1x0., March 20. — Editor Hahd- 

 WfKiu Kei-ohd: Yours of the 2.3d received. Will 

 be glad to post your friends regarding the man- 

 ufacture of dimension stock: that is, (he equip- 

 ment, etc. Notice you state these people have 

 a band resnw for the sawing of their slabs. 

 This of loursc Is a (|uestloD, but your corrn- 

 Mpondent does not tidnk It the proper saw to 

 tfv to gel the best resulls In manufacturing di- 

 mension slock. We have these bund resaws but 

 do not use them for this class uf work, as we 

 foimd they are altogether too slow, and from 

 experience prefer the old-fashioned rip saw, 

 about eighteen Inches in diameter, twenty-six 

 teeth to the saw, and thirteen gauge. But In 

 using this class of outfit for manufacturing 

 dimensliin stock, the proper precaution must 

 be taken to prevent Injury to the operator. The 

 sawyer nnliiraily standn In front of the saw 

 and his helper «t the rear of the table, to throw 

 off the worthieMs pieces, and to pass bark Imine. 

 diately the piece when partly manufactured. If 

 Mh helper should be cnrelesH and not securely 

 hold the piece. It Is llubic to hit the saw, which 

 would naturally throw It forward with terrific 

 force. To jirevent this accident we swing on 



liiuiics Iroin a Itcani overliend ji heavy plank 1 ',■_. 

 to 2 inclies thick, 12 lo Ki inches wide. Bear 

 iu mind, swinging on hinges and coming down 

 very near Hush wilh I lie top of tlie saw, so if 

 any of these pieces climb the saw, this l)oard 

 will prevent them hitting the sawyer. This 

 lioard Is swung on hinges as a matter o£ con- 

 venience, so it can be swung up and out of the 

 way when changing saws, oiling, etc. To work 

 quickly and to advantage it is necessary to have 

 the saw taole equipped with an adjustable 

 gauge. Your correspondent does not know what 

 name this particular gauge goes by, but It can 



lidlllJ 'JVI'K OF SAW TAIil.K I'OK (MI'I'I.NI ; 

 KIMK.VSKiN STdCK. 



be obtained fioni ihc Ihiuna-Krarkenrldge Com- 

 jiiiny of this city. In fjicl. If my memory serves 

 me right, I am respfUislble for a good sluire of 

 (he contrivance myself. Tlie gauge shifts in 

 .xinnlnneously every eiglidi Inch, thus enabling 

 the sawyer to work up every pnrll(*le of good 

 lumber In Ihe piece of wasle material he Is cut- 

 ting. A Hti'cl splllter nl the rear of llie saw, 



which is on the style of a knife blade, Is an 

 essential. Am sorry your corespondent Is not a 

 lii-aiigiitsman, so that he could do hetler than 

 ilie enclosed, but think this will give you an 

 idea. Any further Information will be gladly 

 furnished. — Van B. Pkhui-\k. 



The Kecokd is also in receipt of a letter 

 on this subject from F. W. Webster, manager 

 of the Huntsville Lumber Company, of De- 

 catur, Ala., who is one of the foremost pro- 

 ducers of dimension material. It will prove 

 of interest to makers of this class of product : 



Dkcatur, Ala., March 27. — Editor Hardwood 

 ItccoiiD : I am in receipt of your favor of the 

 23d. Our dimension plant is equipped for cut 

 (lug edgings and slabs from nur lumber waste, 

 mid we have a sli()r( log saw i .T. .\. I'ay & ICgan 

 ('ompany.i, a self-feed rip saw. a couple of swing 

 cut-ofT saws and a band vip saw. This is all 

 we need for the manufacture of the amount and 

 kind of stuff we make. Our stuff is practically 

 all cut into chair stock — squares and seat stock. 

 Some of it goes into pattern stock, for which we 

 use the band rip saw as a scroll saw. I would 

 think the kind of material your man wants to 

 mannfa<'ture would govern the kind of machines 

 be would want. ri-obably the short log saw 

 would suit a mau making squares better than 

 a band resaw. — V. W. Webster. 



Tupelo Grading Rules. 



N'ew Orleans. La., March 28. — Editor IIaud- 

 wooD IticcoRD : In going through the llAimwooD 

 Kecord of March 25 I note the paragraph In 

 which you make mention of the inspec- 

 tion rules adopted by the Southern Cypress 

 -Manufacturers" Association on Jlardi 1, pertain- 

 ing to tupelo or bay poplar. Don't you th»nk 

 you have gone off half cocked on this proposi- 

 tion'.' I believe you have never raised any ob- 

 ji ction to the Southern Cypress .Manufacturers' 

 .Association adopting a set of InspecLbm rules on 

 cypress, nor have you objected to the Hardwood 

 Mauufiicturers' Associatiou of the United States 

 adopting hardwood inspection rules, although 

 this latter organization b.v no means controls 

 lifty per cent of the oak in this country. Don't 

 you believe that if a set of men own more than 

 t'fty per cent of the standing timber of some 

 specific wood, that these men should be permit- 

 ted to name inspection rules for their own 

 guidance In ihe manufacture of tlieir stock? 

 It is an absolute fact that more than fifty per 

 cent of the lupclo stumpage iu tlie I'nitcd States 

 is owned by membeis of this organization. It 

 is also a fact that no other organization has In 

 its memljership men who control even one-tenth 

 lis much tupelo stumpage as is controlled by 

 I lie Southern Cypress Manufacturers' .Associa- 

 tion. It is a further fact that no other organi- 

 zation manufactures into lumber as much tupelo 

 as is manufactured l>y the members of this asso- 

 ciation, although I will admit that our members 

 do not yet miiiuifai tiirc as much as lifty jier 

 (I'Ut of the total production. 



Tills association is giving a large amount of 

 lliooght to tupelo gum; it is spending money 

 Mild a great deal of time in Investigating meth 

 oils of production, drying, etc., all of which is 

 something no other association has ever at- 

 iiiiipled. 11 is true that the word "tupelo" Is 

 not mentioned in tlic name of our organization, 

 biK it seems to me this should have no hearing 

 upon the proposition. I wish you would give 

 lurther tliought to the subject, giving i>roper con- 

 sideration to these facts, and have Honiething 

 (o say on (lie subje<'t iu tlie next Issue of your 

 paiier. — (!i:iu;iiK E. Watsox, Secy. 



To the foregoing letter the following reply 

 has been made: 



(fi;oitoi-: 10. Watson. Sec'y : I linvi' your fa- 

 vor of March 2H. My only object In making 

 the comment I did concerning your tupelo rules 

 was tliiit I believe there are enough associations 

 today making rules on miscellaneous lines of 



