aayfima;iMMKsifimsi3jm3a2;famM^f^^^ 



A The Ripsaw in the Lumber Yard r^ 



The wholesale lumber y;nil is uot generally looked ujiou as a 

 member of the woodworking trade, because its principal business 

 is the assortment and rehandling of the product of the sawmills. 

 It stands as a sort of stopping-place between the mill and the 

 factory, and its chief function is that of the jobbijr, who draws 

 supplies from many sources and thus is eonstautly in a position to 

 serve the consumer with the particular item best suited to his 

 needs. 



But while the wholesaler of lumber is not primarily a wood- 

 worker, he is getting into that category more and more. In fact, 

 the number of yards in which manufacturing operations are being 

 indulged in is rapidly increasing, and it is by no means infrequent 

 to find concerns, -which originally did nothing but rehandle the 

 rough stock, now putting it through one or more manufacturing 

 processes iu order to make it better suited to the requirements of 

 the market or of some particular consumer. 



The ripsaw plays an important part in this direction. Many 

 lumbermen m the hardwood field believe that they can make money 

 out of a ripsaw simply by using it to cut up stock which is 

 low-grade because of defects, but which can be remauufactured 

 into boards containing so much clear lumber that the grade is 

 raised materially. That is to say, a board might have a sufficient 

 number of standard defects to be a common; but by cutting it 

 up so as to get clear faces for the smaller pieces, the grade on 

 the latter is raised, allowing the defects to be concentrated on 

 the remaining conunou plank. 



It is (rue tliat there is a sacrifice here of width, in order to 

 raise the grade; and consequently there might be said to be some- 

 thing of an economic loss. On the other hand, however, this 

 .service is performed for the sake of the consumer who needs clear 

 lumber, and who consequently buys upper grade stock. If the 

 ihange iu grade were not performed in the wholesaler's yard, 

 the board would not reach the factory of the consumer who 

 requires firsts and seconds; and by making a good board out of a 

 common one, the wholesaler-manufacturer has helped both himself 

 and the consumer. 



It is of course true also tliat the sawmill num nowadays endeavors 

 to increase the value of his product by edging and trinuning. The 

 old days when a board was allowed to go out with the bark still 

 on the outer edge, or the grade lowered by a bad place in the 

 center of tlie plank, has passed, and the prominent defects are 

 cut out and better lumber assured rigiit at the mill. The sawmill 

 man not only makes it possible for his lumber to look better and 

 sell better, but he also relieves the trade of paying transportation 

 charges on material that is certain to be waste. The only question 

 is whether the waste will be cut out at the mill or the factory; 

 and there seems to be little doubt that the mill is the proper 



place to do it. 



This idea, therefore, is likewise responsible for the tendency 

 of the wholesaler to carry forward the work started at the sawmill. 

 As indicated, only the prominent defects are attended to there, 

 and the finer points, which are appreciated only in connection with 

 a close study of the rules for grading lumber, are left for the 

 yard man to work out. That they can be worked out profitablj- 

 is shown by the fact that a certain lumberman recently reported 

 that on a single car of walnut he had made $50 through remanufac- 

 turing in this way. In the case of this particular wood, it is true 

 that the difference in value between the common and upper grades 

 is so great that a bigger opportunity is offered for the man with 

 a ripsaw and a good eye for grading opportunities than in the 

 ease of most other woods. It is extremely doubtful, for instance, 

 whether much is to be gained through the remanufacture of plain 

 oak along this line; while poplar lends itself pretty well to the 

 operation. 



Ordinarily wiiere lipping is done for the purpose of improving 

 the grade of lumber, the wholesaler operates his saw by means of a 

 motor. Naturally it would not pay to put in a steam plant for 

 the purjjose of generating po^^e^ merely for one or two machines, 

 and hence the motor fits into the scheme of things admirably. 

 Central station service is of course used, although the country 

 dealer, who desires to apply the principle of conservation in con- 

 nection with improving the character cf his stock, could of course 

 install a gasoline engine and cither drive his saw directly from 

 it, or interpose a dynamo and get electric current, which would also 

 do for lighting his shop. 



The character of «ork referred to is really a part of the general 

 plan of dimension stock manufacture which has made such a deep 

 impression on the woodworking trade. The number of dimension 

 inanufaeturors has been increasing steadily, and while many of 

 them are millmen, who cut the lumber to size right after it has 

 come from the log, many others are wholesalers of the kind indi- 

 cated, who have put iu machinery at their yard and remanufacture 

 the lumber there according to the desires of their customers. 



That the dimension idea is growing, both among the lumbermen 

 and the members of the woodworking industries, is indicated iu a 

 score of ways. The writer recently was in conversation with a 

 former superintendent of a large plant manufacturing musical 

 instruments. He had left this concern, however, to go into business 

 for himself, and was then equipping his plant. He made the 

 significant statement that instead of paying freight on random 

 widths and lengths in his hardwood lumber, much of which he 

 would lose in cutting up, he intended to buy all dimension stock, 

 as nearly as jmssible, and thus save much of his machine work 

 as well as waste and transportation charges. He is carrying out 



SPKCIAI. TK.MN I.E.WIXr, CMlto. 11,1,., APRII, 28. 1013. VI.\ IlIG I-Otin, rONT.\l.\ING 1-OUTY IWHS OF 2-INCH TO G-IXCH PL.VIN <i.\KL( 



—34- 



