44 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



of poplar. When it gets down to real scientific facts, American 

 manufacturers are still obliged to take their hats off to the specific 

 knowledge and scientific attainments of foreign experts. 

 STEEL BARRELS 



The writer can recall that lov a period of more than a quarter 

 of a century, attempt after attempt has been made to build a 

 steel barrel for general use, that would compare in efficiency 

 with a wooden one. These attempts have invariably met with 

 failure. They have not met with failure by reason of the fact 

 that the steel container could not be made for the same or less 

 money than the wooden one, or that it would not hold its contents 

 any better, but from the fact that the metal barrel could not bo 

 built to withstand pointed pressure. The same thing obtains in 

 metal automobile bodies. The least contact means pointed pres- 

 sure, resulting in abrasion, dent, or break of the metal. 



No one has yet succeeded in putting a finish on steel automobiles 

 that would stay for any length of time, but, on the contrary, the 

 finish placed on any of a dozen varieties of American woods, in 

 coupe, automobile or car building, stands up for a quarter of a 

 century with only an occasional application of varnish. 



THE EVENTUAL OUTCOME 



In conclusion, lumber producers need in uo wise be discouraged 

 over the present situation concerning wood substitutes. The wood 

 substitute game is undeniably a craze, as it is a curse that will 

 speedily wear itself out. The eternal fact remains that the truth 

 will prevail, and if it were not for the pernicious exploitation of 

 these fake wood substitutes, lumber would quickly come into its 

 own in hundreds of places where it is now largely being substi- 

 tuted by steel and concrete. 



It must be recalled that it costs money, and big chunks of 

 money, to exploit any new material, or old material for new pur- 

 poses, and it is extremely doubtful if the wood substitute crowd 

 can withstand forever the tremendous sales expense account in- 

 volved in creating public opinion of sufficient strength to force 

 their goods onto the buying public for purposes where wood is 

 infinitely the better and in many cases much the cheaper. 



All producers of lumber should ask for is to have the truth told 

 about the merits of wood. After this is done, all the lying 

 encomiums that can be issued b.v the wood substitute crowd will 

 fail in effectiveness. 



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Hardwood By-Products 





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AVc may never reach the day when the liy product of the wood- 

 working industry will assume as much importance, compared to 

 the original product, as the products of cotton seed have assumed 

 in comparison with the cotton itself. But we may, and, whetlier 

 we do or not, the fact is apparent that we are rapidly approaching 

 the stage where the by-product is becoming a very important 

 factor. It would be well for lumbermen to look after this end, that 

 they may get more pro'fit out of the business and have a chance to 

 >vax fat financially before timber resources are exhausted. 



When speaking of the by-product of wood, many people think 

 of resin, turpentine, pine-needle extract and other things made 

 from the tops, stumps and waste of pine, and from pine wood 

 itself, and do not consider hardwood as an important factor in 

 this connection. However, it is an important factor, and when 

 it comes to wood distillation, hardwood is not only the main 

 factor, but practically the whole thing, the ratio for 1910 being 

 1,257,997 cords of hardwood used for distillation, against 192,442 

 cords of softwood. The woods mainly used for this were birch, 

 beech and maple, but there are great possibilities for future de- 

 velopment in distillation of the waste product of other woods. 



The principal results of distillation are charcoal, wood alcohol 

 and gray acetate of lime. Usually a cord of wood will produce 

 from forty-five to fifty-two bushels of charcoal and distillates 

 yielding from ten to twelve gallons of wood alcohol and from one 

 hundred and thirty to two hundred pounds of acetate of lime. 

 What other woods may do and what other bj--products may be 

 developed remain to be seen. It is to be hoped that many experi- 

 ments will be conducted in the near future with different species 

 of wood, and especially wood waste, with the idea of developing 

 important and worth-while by-products. 



There is evidently some work of this kind unaccounted for in 

 the government reports. Mention is occasionally made of the 

 use of syrup or extract of hickory wood as a flavoring or substitute 

 for maple in the commercial product known as maple syrup. Then 

 there are the tanning yiroducts, in which approximately eleven 

 million dollars' worth of bark and wood is used annually. In 

 addition to this, there are many untold, or at least unaccounted, 

 uses for wood that do not enter into the average general con- 

 sideration of by-products from hardwood. .\t times, too, it is a 

 little difficult to distinguish what may be regarded as the pnidin't 

 and what should be classed as the by-product. 



W'hen we (onsider the original production in lumber and timber 

 for the product, then we have the edgings, slabs, short lengths, 

 and many other parts of the tree that may be worked up into 



small dimensions and other special stock. Here we have, whether 

 it is classed as a by-product or as a product, a case where hard- 

 wood has more value than softwood. It is worth more in these 

 small dimension uses, because it performs a more important 

 economic mission. Many small pieces of hickory are used in agri- 

 cultural implement work and many products, aside from that of 

 tool handles. The same is true of oak and other hardwoods. 



Classing everything but standard lumber and timber as a by- 

 product, considerably more progress has been made in the develop- 

 ment and utilization of the by-products of hardwood than of soft- 

 wood. This is not a thing to be elated over as much as a fact to 

 contemplate seriously with the idea in view of making more out 

 of it. Many efforts in the past have been misdirected or badly 

 financiered. There has been either too much handling, cumber- 

 some equipment, or not enough figuring has been done on the 

 cost of production, and too much of this valuable product has 

 found its way to the market without bringing anything like an 

 adequate return to the manufacturer. 



To the onlooker, especially after noticing what has been done 

 in different fields, it appears that the hardwood trade has over- 

 looked some good bets or neglected some excellent opportunities 

 for making more profits out of its business. It will surely be 

 worth while for the hardwood trade to give more earnest, scientific 

 attention to the matter of by-products. J. C. T. 



Dyeing Black Walnut Sap 



Complaint lias reachcil ll.\i:ii\V(icii) K'Kcouii tluil >iiiic black walnut 

 has come into a renaissance of domestic demand, the old game of 

 dyeing the sapwood is being revived by some manufacturers, who 

 boil the bark into a dyeing material and dip and steam the sap 

 boards with it, which blackens the surface of the wood to quite a 

 close similitude of the heart portion of the lumber. The corre- 

 spondent contends that this is a fraud on the wood, and that black 

 walnut sap after being thus treated will not take a high polish 

 or anywhere near as good a finish as the heart-wood will. 



When black walnut saps are treated with this stain it makes A. 

 good basis for a stain imitation, but it is impossible to finish the 

 wood to look like natural black walnut, as it leaves a dull, dead- 

 liko color that does not match the heart-wood. 



Hardwood Record's correspondent suggests that inspectors should 

 be cautioned against black walnut treated in this way, and states 

 that he know.-* of one unscrupulous manufacturer who even stains 

 butternut in the method above described, and passes it olT on tho 

 uninitiateil as black walnut. 



