HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



spokes, rims, poles, shafts, single-trees, double-trees, spring bars and 

 axle caps. There is also a strong demand for hickory for sporting 

 goods, dowel pins, whip stocks, hames, sucker rods, mower pitmans, 

 skewers, and many other purposes. Nothing compares with it for 

 tool handles except in less exacting cases, where white ash and some- 

 times oak are employed. 



Kentucky surpasses all other states in the production of tool han- 

 dles, including those for axes; railroad and mining tools, such as 

 picks, drill hammers and sledge hammers; also mauls and smaller 

 tools like hatchets and chisels. In 1909 nearly forty-six per cent 

 (31,350,000 feet) of all the hickory utilized in manufacture in Ken- 

 tucky was converted into handles of one kind or another. This 



amount is equal to nearly one-sixth of all the hickory reported by 

 the sawmills in the United States in 1908. Of the amount used in 

 the state only one-third was native grown. 



Hickory timber is getting so scarce or is so scattered and inac- 

 cessible that the question of continued supply has become a matter 

 of serious concern to manufacturers. Improved methods of utiliza- 

 tion and the reduction in the use of hickory for purposes to which 

 other woods are better suited wiU prolong the present supply and 

 the increasing values of the hickory wood wUl stimulate the growing 

 of new trees. Since heartwood is not a desirable feature, it does 

 not require very many years for a hickory tree to become of mer- 

 chantable dimensions. — J. E. S. 



ai)jt:»a:>;TOTOOt<;)gTOcOTitTO;»l!i)ity>^^ 



Doing the Thing Just Right 



An efficiency engineer, to use the term created by the demand 

 for scientific methods of management and manufacture, was re- 

 cently quoted in a trade journal as saying that he could make a 

 better showing in woodworking factories, as a class, than in any 

 other single industry'. Doubtless he meant to include lumber plants 

 in the same category. Assuming that this is the case, the question 

 naturally suggests itself as to why the manufacture of forest 

 products and their conversion into finished articles should be con- 

 ducted upon a lower plane than, say, the production of pig iron 

 from the ore and the manufacture from it of steel and castings 

 and machined products and scores of other commodities figuring in 

 the commerce of the world. 



There are doubtless many reasons that could be cited as partial 

 answers to the question; yet one of them which seems to come 

 nearest the truth, and to summarize the situation most accurately, 

 is that the lumber business and its allied industries appear to be 

 operated on too much of a personal basis. That is to say, it is 

 largely an empirical process; or, to get away from the vocabulary 

 of the philosophers, everybody does the thing according to his 

 lights, and not, as a rule, following any standard which has been 

 creosoting disposing of waste by distillation, and the development 

 of by-products and the like. 



The fact that logging and lumbering are often carried on in 

 isolated communities, so that the superintendent of a mill may 

 have little opportunity to observe the methods used by his fellows, 

 might account for this to some extent; but then there are plenty 

 of sawmill towns in which from half a dozen to a score of mills 

 are located, without all of them, by any means, using the same 

 ideas in their operations. Of course it is true that the business 

 has been undergoing many changes during jecent years, with the 

 introduction of new processes, such as curing by steam under 

 pressure, rendering wood proof against atmospheric conditions by 

 creosoting, disposing of waste by distillation and the development 

 of by-products, and the like. 



But this very fact ought to operate to help to create and main- 

 tain standards, rather than the contrary, since every lumberman 

 should realize that with new ideas coming into use it is up to him 

 to select the best and apply them to his own business. He ought 

 to compare the practice in his own mill with that of the best of 

 other people; and by a process at once analytical and synthetic 

 arrive at a composite result which will include part of his own ■ 

 original scheme and part of the plans in use elsewhere. 



It is true, as most hardwood men will readily admit, that there 

 is a considerable lack of uniformity of practice on subjects which 

 ought to be thoroughly understood by the trade at large, and on 

 which there ought to be unanimity of opinion and consequently 

 standardization of practice. Yet in every gathering of lumbermen 

 where a discussion of business methods comes up, it is found that 

 there are wide variations in methods, all the way from the stump 

 to the car. 



There has been perhaps too little definite effort to compare notes. 

 Everybody getting fair-to-middling results has been rather prone 



to be satisfied, without going to the trouble to determine whether 

 even better achievements could be recorded. Of course there are 

 occasionally found plants which are obviously down at the heel, 

 poorly managed, inefficient, with outworn methods that no one 

 would adopt; but on the other hand there are mills where the most 

 up-to-date plans are in effect and where the best of results are 

 being secured, without many others in the trade seeking to learn 

 of and adopt them. The rank and file are too easily contented; 

 are inclined to look too hard at the larger outlines of the proposi- 

 tion, such as the day's cut and the size of the payroll, and to 

 neglect study of the vital facts lying beneath the surface of the 

 everyday operations. 



To give a more definite idea of the point which is to be luade, 

 consider a moment the soda-dipping process which has won some 

 favor in the South among manufacturers of gum. Many plants are 

 using this system successfully, and thereby getting rid of the 

 tendency of gum to stain and discolor. Others, however, have not 

 been so fortunate, and have accordingly announced that the system 

 is a failure. 



In a majority of cases, it is likely that failure to get the proper 

 results has been due to lack of the proper system in using the 

 idea. Too little attention has been given to the details of its 

 application, with the result that the process has not had the proper 

 chance to show its effectiveness. To prove this, a Louisiana saw- 

 mill man said only recently that he visited half a dozen different 

 plants where soda-dipping is practiced before he found one that 

 was using a carefully worked out and scientifically operated plan. 

 It was getting fair results all the time. He adopted this plan 

 and has been similarly successful, although there are other manu- 

 facturers near him who still insist that their gum is not thor- 

 oughly conditioned by the use of soda-dipping. 



Before going further it may be just as well to state the details 

 of the plan used in the plants referred to. They employ a seven-to- 

 eight per cent solution of soda, and high-grade soda should be used. 

 In many cases effort to secure economy by buying a cheap variety 

 of soda has been followed by indifferent results, quite naturally. 

 Of course there is a temptation to reduce the expense wherever 

 possible, and when it is necessary to buy material in carload lots, 

 with a big bill for material to be paid, the opportunity to save a 

 little looks pretty good. But obviously, if it is found that the 

 best results can be had only with the best grade of soda, it is 

 poor economy to stint at this point. 



The use of a hydrometer is also emphasized as necessary to suc- 

 cess. The object of this instrument, of course, is to determine 

 the strength of the solution, and to keep it strong enough at all 

 times to do the work. Some sawmills which have attempted soda 

 dipping have attempted to get along without hydrometers; just as 

 some panel plants have made an effort to operate without ther- 

 mometers on their glue-kettles. In both cases an extremely im- 

 portant matter is left to chance. 



It is desirable, also, to keep the temperature constant. The 

 proper temperature, it is agreed, is about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. 



