HARDWOOD RECORD 



2.7 



tliat the attitude of maii_y operators in this regard is much like 

 their advertising: When prices are good they say, "What's the 

 use?" and when times are bad they exclaim, "My God, I can't 

 afiford it.'' In the meantime the opportunities are likel_v to get 

 away from them. 



Suppose we take a look at some mills without refuse burners or 

 scrap piles and see what is happening. At Boyne City, Mich., three 

 mills are operated by one company, each cutting from 60,000 to 

 90,000 feet daily. Logs are cut down to a diameter of six inches 

 at the top. Everything is made into lumber that will give a board 

 6 feet long, 6 inches wide and 1 inch thick. The trimmings, slash- 

 ings and slabs are all thrown onto a conveyor and carried to a 

 "slab room," where they are sorted. The hemlock refuse is p.it 

 on a separate conveyor and dumped into a bin, the bark and wood 

 refuse being used in a local tannery for tanning purposes and for 

 fuel. ■ Sometimes the hemlock wood refuse goes to pulp mills. The 

 hardwood refuse is separated in the slab room into "slabs" and 

 "hog material." 



A slab is any piece 32 inches long cov- 

 ered with bark on one side and on the 

 other showing wood 1% inches thick on 

 one edge and a surface width of 4 

 inches for half the length of the piece. 

 These slabs are piled m the yard. Part 

 of them are sold to chemical plants and 

 part for firewood. The cheap rates by 

 water enable the operator to sell wood to 

 Chicago customers. In either case about 

 .$1.7.5 per cord is secured. The amount 

 of wood produced depends on the size of 

 the logs, in the case of small sizes reach- 

 ing as high as 1% cords per thousand 

 feet of lumber sawed. 



The "hog material" is the smaller 

 refuse, edgings, etc., part of which is 

 used for fuel in the mill, the remainder, 

 about two box-car loads per 90,000 feet 

 of lumber produced, going to the chem- 

 ical plants for fuel. 



Some of the large mills at Cadillac, 

 Mich., own their own acid or chemical 

 plants. Waste is also utilized by the 

 operation of novelty works in connection 



with the plants, and spools, spindles, toys, wooden clubs, mallets, 

 balls, etc., are turned out. 



Along portions of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan are impor- 

 tant saline deposits in the soil. The underground water is pumped 

 up and evaporated to obtain the salt. At Ludington and Manistee 

 the waste from the sawmills is used for fuel in evaporating the 

 water, and from the slabs are cut staves for making barrels to 

 contain the salt. 



The smaller mills in Michigan have good markets for fuel wood. 

 Last year a manufacturing concern in Grand Rapids paid some of 

 the small concerns seventy cents a ton for sawdust delivered on 

 cars. To be sure, it went for fuel, but that was much better than 

 burning it in the open or in a burner to get rid of it. 



At the government mill at Neopit, Wis., as the slabs, trimmings, 

 etc., come from the slasher, they are picked first for lath stock, 

 then for picket stock, and finally for crating and box ^material. All 

 species go into -lath and board material, but only pine and bass- 

 wood are used for picket stock. There was not much of a market 

 for this material when operations began, but a careful survey of the 

 situation revealed opportunities for a good profit on the by-prod- 

 ucts. Several markets have been developed in Chicago and even as 

 far away as the central prairie states and New York, proving that 

 transportation and market problems are not prohibitive. 



In Connecticut, on the other hand, where excellent opportunities 

 exist for close utilization of all wood material, it is not an unusual 

 thing today to find small mills cutting out ties of S-foot chestnut 

 logs and making no effort whatever to save the enormous waste in 



CI.E.VR 0.\K CHAIR STOCK, 2" 

 CIT FROM SLABS 



the slabs. Ask the millman why, and he will tell you that there 

 is no market for such material. As a matter of fact tie boards are 

 a staple product and~are in constant demand. 



This tendency of many people to follow the pMh of least resist- 

 ance is well illustrated by two tie makers, one in Connecticut and 

 the other in Pennsylvania. The former was engaged last winter in 

 cutting some good hickory timber into ties — timber that ^ould 

 make first-grade handles. His explanation was there was no market 

 for handle bolts, but that there was for ties. 



The Pennsylvania man <;onverted a grove of black walnut into 

 twenty sets of switch ties which he sold to the Pennsylvania Com- 

 pany at the same price as white oak. When the inspector expressed 

 surprise that tlip owner would thus dispose of 50,000 feet of so 

 scarce a wood, the man replied that he didn't want to go to the 

 trouble of looking up another market since the railroad was so handy. 

 In many ways the acid plant is taking the place of the refuse 

 burner and affords profitable returns. The opportunities in 

 this line are just beginning to be appre- 

 ciated. As yet little success has been 

 had from the destructive distillation of 

 sawdust and the finer refuse, but the 

 prospects are promising. Although three 

 hardwoods, beech, birch and maple, com- 

 prise SO per cent of the material used 

 for destructive distillation, recent tests 

 l:y the Forest Service show that a com- 

 mercial yield of acetate of lime and wood 

 alcohol can be obtained from hickory, 

 oak, tupelo and red gum. In fact, mill 

 waste consisting of oak and red gum is 

 now being used by at least one plant. 

 Moreover, the commercial methods used 

 in hardwood distillation are generally 

 c-rude and onl}^ part of the possible prod- 

 ucts are obtained. Tests have shown that 

 it is possible to increase the yield of ace- 

 tate of lime .50 per cent over present 

 practice. 



The foregoing are only a few sugges 

 tions regarding the great question of 

 closer utilization. We hear much of sci- 

 entific management and the great results 

 that can be obtained by the correct ap- 

 plication of the most efficient methods. Why should not the same 

 thought and care and application produce similar results in mak- 

 ing American milling methods as eflicient as they are now ex- 

 tensive. S. J. R. 



-IS', -VLL 



The sawmill slab fire looks more like a thing burning up gold 

 dollars now than it ever did before, and we are now beginning 

 to reduce this unclassed fire loss. 



The wooden railway tie has stood, up to more competition than 

 any other item on the wood list, and it is still in the center of the 

 stage — with a creosote make-up on. 



If those Mexicans would only get over the revolution habit and 

 settle down to business once more it would mean the restoring 

 of a big item to our furniture trade, and that in turn would help 

 swell the demand for hardwood lumber. We do not feel the need 

 of it much now, but some time we may. 



Too much competition in timber buying when the demand is 

 lively can work just as much disaster as too much competition in 

 lumber selling when the demand is slow. Keep together and don't 

 get excited. 



Salesmen are really just as useful when the demand exceeds 

 the supply as they are at other times, but it is a little harder to 

 see just why. 



