February 10, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



Park Falls 



The basis of success for which the Park Falls Lumbef" Company 5" 

 bidding cannot be better expressed than in the words of Edward Hines, 

 its president, in a paper which he recently read in Milwaukee: "I 

 consider it good merchandising to give a man what he wants, what 

 will best suit his work, and to charge him a proper price for it." 

 WhUe the vast majority of this great plant's output is hemlock and 

 pine, yet it wiU put in pOe this season nearly 25,000,000 feet of 

 hardwoods, chiefly birch, quality of which and the care with which 

 it is graded show that the firm does, indeed, "give a man what he 

 wants. ' ' 



The Park Falls Lumber Company employs about 350 men about 

 the plant and 500 in the woods. From 100 to 120 cars of logs are 

 unloaded daily, nearly 300,000 feet going into pile in two shifts. 

 Walter Clubine, the general manager, has developed a most eflEcient 

 organization. 'While each man is responsible for his own department, 

 Mr. Clubine keeps in intimate touch with all, being familiar with 

 every detail of the mill and woods operations. The sales manage- 

 ment at Park Falls is in the hands of H. H. Butts, who has demon- 

 strated unusual ability in the handling of this important department. 



Phillips 

 The Kneeland-McLurg Lumber Company's plant differs from most 

 of the large northern mUls in that it kiln-dries its birch and basswood, 

 green from the saw. It has in operation at present a battery of 

 twelve kilns with a capacity of 500,000 feet, which put through green 

 hardwood in from seven to ten days, drying to four per cent mois- 

 ture content. Only the number one common and better grades are 

 kiln-dried, the balance being air-cured. Wm. A. Kahl, the sales man- 

 ager, says that since the consuming trade has found out the advan- 

 tage in being able to procure kiln-dried northern stock he has had no 

 difficulty in disposing of his lumber — in fact it sells itself. His firm 

 win put in nearly 50,000,000 feet this season, and so satisfied is he 

 that lumber values are going still higher that he is refusing aU busi- 

 ness except for reasonably prompt shipment. The Kneeland-MoLurg 

 camps, like those of the Park Falls Lumber Company, are aU on 

 wheels, and are employing this winter about 500 men. In order to 

 better care for its retail yard trade a hardwood flooring factory has 

 been installed, having an annual capacity of 3,000,000 feet. 



Tomahawk 



The Mohr Lumber Company, which last spring lost its Wausau mill 

 by fire, has taken over and completely rebuilt the Bradley mill at 

 Tomahawk and this week started on the season's cut, which will 

 amount to nearly 15,000,000 feet, over half of which will be hardwood. 

 The mill is a single band and band resaw, and is assured of about 

 twenty years' cut. In addition to the sawmill the company has pur- 

 chased the plant of the Tomahawk Veneer Company, where it will 

 work up its number two logs and low-grade lumber into heading, 

 banana crates and cheese boxes. The present personnel of the com- 

 pany is comprised of J. S. Griffith, secretary and general manager, 

 and C. F. Burbach, but C. F. Mohr, the president, whose home is in 

 Portage, expects to move to Tomahawk in the spring. 



Andrew Oelhafen, head of the well-known Oelhafen Lumber Com- 

 pany, has never been known as a pessimist, but just now is in far 

 from a pleasant humor and not at aU sanguine over the lumber 

 outlook. The same conditions prevail with his firm as with others — 

 car shortage, poor labor, severe winter, all of which will greatly 

 reduce the amount of limiber to be offered during the coming season. 



It has been nearly three weeks since I wrote the first half-dozen 

 paragraphs in this story wherein I gave my views of the present mar- 

 ket situation. Since then I have talked with scores of men vitally 

 interested in the lumber business — -manufacturers, jobbers, loggers — 

 and if I were to rewrite it, 'twould be in even stronger language. 

 Prices are higher today than they were three weeks ago, and they 

 are going still higher. The wise buyer of hardwood lumber is going 

 to cover his requirements as fast as he is able, and if he dopsn't — 

 well, you know — ^i bird in the iush gathers no moss. 



Boy H. Jones. 



_- What to Do for the Belt 



Slipping due to a belt not being able to pull its cut, means 

 waste power and loss of production. If the cut be heavy enough 

 the maximum slip will be reached when the machine is stalled, 

 the power input remaining approximately the same, the loss being 

 entirely one of friction due to sUp on the belt. A familiar illus- 

 tration of the above is that of an operator decreasing the depth 

 of the cut on account of slow down, because the belt will not 

 carry the load. 



Whenever the belt does not pull, the size of the belt must be 

 increased. However, this does not cover all cases for there are 

 numerous instances where there either is not room to increase 

 the width of the belt or if step cones be used the nujnber of 

 steps will have decreased. Changes in sizes of pulleys will fre- 

 quently assist in such cases. 



When the belting is dry, the surface dirt should be removed by 

 a cloth dampened with kerosene, or by a scraper. A light dress- 

 ing may next be applied to both sides. After this has worked in, 

 the dressings should be repeated untU the belt is "mellow" but 

 not greasy. Be careful of the use of sticky belt dressings. They 

 are liable to stick the belt so tightly to the pulley that the grain 

 is puUed off the belt. They also shorten belt life by rotting it. 

 Much oil is injurious to leather. Besides, rotting machine oil 

 causes excessive slipping. When oil soaks into the belt laps it 

 tends to loosen them, so that the laps start up at the points. This 

 may also occur from running the belts in the wrong direction. 



Belts used on main drives should be able to transmit about five 

 per cent more power than needed, while machine belts should have 

 25 per cent excess capacity. Belts should always be narrower than 

 the width of the pulley face, as any misalignment may cause 

 rubbing, which would result in loss of power and a damaged belt. 



Belts should get a mechanical grip of the pulleys they run on. 



Avoid running belts too tightly, as great tension shortens the 

 life of the belt, occasions a waste of power, and causes great 

 inconvenience from hot boxes, broken pulleys and sprung shaft- 

 ing. 



There are instances where a man 's work and the surroundings 

 are so attractive that he would rather be at work than not, but 

 this condition is not general, nor will it ever be. Still, by keep- 

 ing this ideal condition in mind, we may work nearer to it from 

 time to time. 



System in the shop is a great thing, and should be encouraged 

 till it gets to a point where it threatens to interfere with brains, 

 and then it is time to put a check rein on it. Brains will beat 

 sj'stem any day, and they should never be made a sacrifice to it. 



Generally, the heaviest class of machine woodwork is that of 

 railway-car making, if we except shipyards. There is developing, 

 however, quite a practice of doing heavy framing work with ma- 

 chinery, by large contractors, and this sometimes involves work 

 fully as heavy as car factory work, though perhaps not comparing 

 with it in quantity. 



It helps some in the winter time, as well as makes it convenient, 

 to have the boiler room near the factory proper, but when the hot 

 days of midsummer come along, the close proximity of the boiler 

 room is undesirable. The best answer to this is a heavy brick wall 

 between the boiler room and the factory proper. It keeps the 

 heat out of the factory in the summer time and is a safeguard 

 against fire all the time. 



One of the best and surest ways for the mill or factory owner 

 to always keep good men with him, is to make it worth their while, 

 not only in the matter of direct pay, but by encouraging them to 

 take stock in the business. It will not only help hold them, but 

 will inspire a keener interest. 



There is not so much said about it as some other things, but, 

 just the same, the making of office furniture is today a fairly big 

 and mighty important item in machine woodworking. 



