i8 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



■svas duly explained to him what was the ob- 

 ject and aim of the journey. 



"He's too lazy to live," the neighbors 

 said. 



' ' Well, well, ' ' said the man, briskly, ' ' this 

 will never do! Let us each contribute some- 

 thing to relieve the man's immediate necessi- 

 ties and then get him something to do. I 

 will give a bushel of corn." 



Here the man in the wagon raised himself 

 in an interested manner. 



"Is it shelled?" he asked. 



' ' Ts what shelled ? ' ' 



"The cohn! Is it shelled?" 



"No," said the man, "of course it is not. 

 You will have to shell it yourself. ' ' 



' ' Well, ' ' said tlie other, to the driver. 



wearily, as he sank back in the strav^, 

 " drive onl '■ 



That is an old story— so old it is respect- 

 able, and there is no doubt but the way of 

 the conscientious man who wants to give 

 away his money is hard. 



After all what is there about a dollar that 

 man is mindful of it; that he should climb 

 so high, or dig so deep, to get it that he 

 should sacrifice all his best feelings for it 

 and betray all his best friends; that he will 

 lie and steal and grind the faces of the 

 poor? And after all have serious trouble in 

 giving it away. 



But I am threatened with prosperity and 

 will have to do something about it. 



Charles D. Strode. 



Hardwood Record M^iil "Bag. 



[In this department it is proposed to reply 

 to such inquiries as reach this office from the 

 Haedwood Record clientage as will be o£ enough 

 general interest to warrant publication. Ever.v 

 patron of the paper is 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, in 

 a succinct and intelligent manner.] 



Regards Thick Maple Inspection Unfair. 



Boyne City, llich. Mar. 1.— Editor IIardwooii 

 Record : For the last eight years I have been a 

 reader of your paper. The IIardwoob Record 

 is a subject of interest, not alone to the manu- 

 facturer and dealer of timber and lumber, but 

 also to the men in the mills. I note in your 

 paper some good and timely cartoons regarding 

 joint lumber inspection. As a plain mill work- 

 ingman. or as one who has no particular interest 

 in it one way or the other, I desire to express 

 to you, and if this does not lind the waste paper 

 basket to .vour readers also, my opinion why 

 this can not be done under the present rules of 

 the National association. 



For the last nineteen years I have tried to 

 ieain and study how to saw logs properly, so 

 as to obtain the best results. From my experi- 

 ence in this work I can say that some of the 

 rules of the National association are very unfair 

 to the sawmill man. I note in the Record of 

 Feb. 10 your reply to ■'On Inspection." Under 

 the rules your answer is correct. Now, let us 

 apply .your argument to 3 and 4 inch hardwood 

 planks. Say we cut two clear 4-inch maple 

 planks out of a IG-foot log and leave a little 

 bark, say l.S inches long. V-i inch deep and 1 

 inch wide on one end. and about the same on 

 the other. Vou see tor fear you will throw it 

 out for "lacking the tirst elements of correct 

 manufacture" or for fear you will reduce them 

 one grade, those four strips or about 20 feet of 

 clear lumber must be left in slabs. In order to 

 overcome your above objection in a good many 

 cases 3 or 4-inch plank will show a little heart 

 on one side, sometimes enough to reduce an oth- 

 erwise clear plank to a No. 2 common. On a 

 4-inch plank 12 inches wide and 12 feet long 

 the buyer will get 30 feet of clear and 12 feet 

 of No. 2 common for 48 feet of No. 2 common. 

 This is not fair. 1 believe the National associa- 

 tion rules require all lumber 1/16 inch plump 

 at least in 1-inch lumber. There should be no 

 ohiection to any bark or sap which will not 

 show after a board is dressed to standard thick- 

 ness. This is wasting lumber. 



Herman Kuneet. 



To Darken Oak and CJliestnut. 

 It is alleged that oak may be darkened by 

 the use of liquid ammonia of full strength, 

 which can be purchased from any wholesale 

 chemist. The wood to be darkened should be 

 [.laced in a dark and air tight room and a 

 quantity of the ammonia poured into an 

 earthen vessel standing on the floor near the 

 center of the room. The ammonia should 

 not touch the wood, but the jar containing 

 it should be located near the center and 

 below the wood to be darkened. This done, 

 the entrance to the room should be secured 

 and every o|iening tightly stopped up by 

 pasting over them strips of paper or caulking 

 them. The fumes which arise from the 

 ammonia have a peculiar chemical action 

 upon the tannic acid in the wood, and burn 

 it so deep that even a shaving or two 

 may be taken off without materially chang- 

 ing the color. The darkness of the shade, 

 and the depth to which it penetrates will 

 depend entirely on the quantity of ammonia 

 used and the time the wood is exposed. A 

 very attractive result from this ammonia 

 dyeing is obtained in chestnut, the result be- 

 ing a very lively brown tone, which makes a 

 remarkably handsome interior finish. A fine 

 example of chestnut handled in this way 

 may be seen in the main office of William E. 

 I'ptegriive & Brother, New York Oity. — 

 Kditou. 



CHiCAfju, March 6. — Editor Uardwood Rec- 

 ord : Do you know anything of the method by 

 which oak and chestnut are darkened by means 

 of ammonia'.' — J. L'. L. 



Wants a Gift of Chestnut Oak. 



AMES, Iowa, Feb. 4.— IJear Sir : I have been 

 authorized by the board of trustees to have 

 each room of the new Central building finished 

 with different kinds of lumber, the amount of 

 lumber for each room being very small. It Is 

 hoped to demonstrate in this way to visitors 

 of the Iowa State college how different types 

 of lumber may be used. It is also the inten- 

 tion to have a transparency of the tree and 

 name of the donor placed in each room. May 

 I ask if you would be willing to furnish me 

 with the following amounts of lumber fop this 

 building? 



Chestnut Oak — Actual feet of flooring, 918 ; 

 linear feet of baseboard, 119 ; linear feet of 

 picture molding, 119 ; one door, veneered ; strips 

 for three windows, — L, H. Pammeu, Department 

 of Botany. 



The Hakdwood Record has received the 



foregoing letter through E. E. Hodson of 

 New Haven, Conn., who asks to have named 

 some one who could furnish this lumber so 

 that this species would be absolutely certain. 

 Mx. Hodson suggests that this would be an 

 advertisement for a firm dealing largely in 

 chestnut oak that would be worth consider- 

 ing. The editor of the Recced would sug- 

 gest to the distinguished professor of the 

 department of botany of the Iowa State 

 college that if he really wishes to have a 

 room finished in chestnut oak and be sure of 

 it, he would best have the shipment of the 

 wood accompanied by a very well authenti- 

 cated pedigree of the foliage, bark and range 

 of growth of the tree, inasmuch as it requires 

 an e.xi)ert to tell chestnut oak from many 

 other oaks of very similar fiber and grain. — 

 Editok. 



Death of Timothy Sullivan. 

 The severe illness of Timothy Sullivan of 

 Buffalo, N. Y., who was prostrated while on a 

 visit to his son, Frank T. Sullivan, represent- 

 ing the hardwood firm of T. Sullivan & Co. at 

 Tacoma. Wash., resulted in bis death on the 

 morning of March 6 while on the train by 

 wliich he sought to return home. At one 

 time it was thought that he would recover, but 

 the dropsical nature of the difficulty forbade, 

 and it was only his iron will that thrust death 

 aside so long. He had lived in Buffalo since 

 1,S88 and was one of the most sterling of its 

 lumbermen, a deacon in Lafayette .\venue Baptist 

 <liurch and a man given to many quiet char- 

 ities, though always unostentatious in every- 

 thing he did. Born in Toronto in April, 1S3S, 

 lie was almost C" years old. Left an orphan 

 when a small boy. he earned his own living and 

 was able to establish himself as a contractor 

 when a young man. He built a section of the 

 Welland Canal as his first start in successful 

 Inisiness, then bought cargo lumber as a begin- 

 ning to the business of bis later lite. In 

 1S(".2 he married .Miss Margaret Sinnett of St. 

 Catherines, Ont., of which he was then a resi- 

 lient, and he leaves besides the widow, four 

 ihildreu, .Mrs. .John R. Gray of Buffalo; W. H. 

 Sullivan of Galcton, I'a. ; F. .^L Sullivan of the 

 lii-m, and F. T. Sullivan of Tacoma. Mr. Sulli- 

 van bore the highest character and he will 

 be severely missed by all who knew him. Al- 

 ways the soul of honor, a man of very decided 

 ideas, it will bo difficult to fill his place. 



Hoo-Hoo, 



iMillowlng the ri'cepticm given the visiting 

 liuMbermeu .March 1 a concatenation was held 

 at the Continenlal Hotel. Bhiladelphia, initiat 

 iug a number of kittens into the ways of the 

 great black cat. The concateuatlon was ably 

 \conducted by Vicegerent Suark .John .1. Rum- 

 barger and his assistants, who opened the eyes 

 c.r the visitors to the ways in which the af- 

 fairs are conducted in this district. 



The officers were: Snark of the Universe, 

 .lohn .J. Rumbarger: Senior Hoo-Hoo, Emil 

 Cunther: Junior Hoo-Htoo, Frank W. Lawrence; 

 Bojum, Francis Goodhue, Jr. ; Scrivenoter, St. 

 George Bond ; Jabberwock, Thomas Hoffman ; 

 Custocatlan, Edward Glauser ; Arcanoper, Benja- 

 min Currlc ; Gurdnn, Edward M. Maelln. 



The initiates were : Hugh McLean, the Hugh 

 McLean Lumber Company, Buffalo ; Thomas B. 

 Suzier, Jr., T. B. Suzler & Son ; Robert S. 

 Coryell. William Whitmer &Son, Inc.; John 

 W. Bonner, William W. Bonner & Sons, Inc.; 

 Norman B. Taylor. Justice P. Taylor & Co. ; 

 William I'. Craig. William Whitmer & Sons, 

 Inc. ; B. Swain Dowdell, solicitor of the Balti- 

 more & Ohio railroad, and ILury 1. Soble, 

 Soble Brolhcrs. all of IMilladelpliia. 



