HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



grade stock. Considering this in addition to the loss of good 

 material suffered through the other method, it seems as though 

 the burden of evidence is in favor of the plan just outlined. 



A well-known sawmill man who is always on the lookout for 

 good ideas admitted that he decided to change his methods in 

 this regard in a rather odd manner. 



"One day a chap came into my mill and asked for a job as 

 filer," he said. "He didn't look particularly attractive, and 

 as the man I had was doing satisfactory work I told him that 

 his services couldn't be utilized. 



"He took the rebxiff kindly enough and stood there a few 

 minutes watching the sawyer running the mill. He noticed the 

 way we handled our swell-butted logs, two or three of which hap- 

 pened to be brought in while he was there. We were then 

 using the generally adopted plan of taking enough off the outside 

 in short boards to straighten the log and make the sides jiarallel, 

 in order to enable it to be handled most quickly and easily. 



"The newcomer laughed to himself when he saw this, and 

 finally came over to me and said he'd like to make a suggestion. 

 I told him to go ahead. 



"'If I can .show you how to save several hundred dollars a 

 year,' he said, 'would you be willing to paj- me $50?' 



"I answered that I'd have to be shown mighty conclusively, 

 but that if he could really make such a demonstration I'd pay 

 him for the information. 



"AVe went back to the office and he demonstrated the thing 

 on a sheet of paper, showing me how much good lumber I was 



losing through slabbing and how much poor stock I was cutting 

 long. He proved how much better it would be to saw the logs 

 of the swell-butted type the other way. I studied the thing over 

 for some time, and finally admitted that the suggestion was 

 correct. I wrote out a check for fifty dollars then and there, 

 and immediately proceeded to put the plan in eseeution. The 

 sawyer objected at first on the ground that it would take longer, 

 but after a little experimenting with the blocks we found that 

 the log could be put in proper position on the carriage without 

 much loss of time, and that the results, as far as the quality of 

 the lumber was concerned, were so much better that the fifty 

 dollars payment to the peripatetic filer was a good investment 

 after all." 



It is possible, of course, that the matter of time is of greater 

 importance in a big mill than in a small one, and that in the 

 latter, where the grade of the lumber must be kept high in 

 order to make a showing, on account of the high cost of timber, 

 it would be much better to risk a little loss of time in order 

 to get all the good possible out of the log. But considering the 

 problem as a whole, and remembering that the sawyer who is 

 given an idea of the relative value of grades and the necessity 

 for cutting good lumber as much as possible, instead of just 

 lumber, is usually anxious to do the thing in the best possible 

 way, it looks as if the better plan would be to follow the method 

 suggested, and throw the cull lumber into the center of the 

 log, where the heartwood and the natural defects are to be 

 found anyway. 6. D. C, Jr. 



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^ Veneers and Hardwoods in Fixtures 



Fixtures are midway between furniture on the one hand and in- 

 terior finish on the other. Furniture is intended to be moved from 

 place to place, as occasion requires, and with certain exceptions it 

 will fit one room as well as another. Interior finish is not intended 

 to be moved. It is built where it is meant to stay, and it becomes a 

 permanent part of the room in which it is placed. Fixtures are not 

 exactly furniture nor can they be properly considered as finish, but 

 partake of the character of both. They may be buOt in place, or 

 they may be moved in and out; but unlike most furniture, they are 

 intended to occupy a certain position, and would be out of place any- 

 where else. 



There are other differences. Interior finish is often largely orna- 

 mental, and is made with that idea in view, though, of course, useful- 

 ness is always borne in mind by the builder. Fixtures are more 

 directly associated with business. They may be highly ornamental, 

 but that is not the principal matter held in view. The man who buys 

 fixtures does so with the idea that they wiU improve his business 

 chances and make money for him. The buyer of furniture may not 

 regard it as a money-making matter; Ijut the buyer of fixtures always 

 thinks of that phase of the situation. It is the main thing with 

 him. He wants his fixtures to look nice, and designs them with the 

 object of improving the appearance of his place of business; but 

 that is only the means to an end, and the end is money-making. The 

 makers of fixtures and the buyers of them study every point that will 

 increase business. The purchaser expects them to serve as profitable 

 advertising, and he expects also that they will assist him in carrying 

 on his business. 



Fixtures are of several kinds, classified according to the business 

 which they are designed to assist. Tht^e intended for one business 

 are useless for another. Specializing is, therefore, necessary on the 

 part of the manufacturer. He must know the wants of the buyer before 

 he makes th# article. Five general classes of fixtures are made, ac- 

 cording to use intended. These classes belong to banks, stores, offices, 

 barber shops, and saloons. There are, of course, many special kinds 

 and modifications which do not fall in any particular class, but kinds 

 include the majority of the fixtures manufactured, and most manu- 

 facturers specialize on one or the other of the classes. 



The making of fixtures is an important industry in this country. 

 The total quantity of wood demanded annually is not known, but it 

 runs into hundreds of millions of feet, and some of it consists of the 

 finest woods on the market. A few figures selected from statistics 

 collected in the three contiguous states, Michigan, Illinois, and Mis- 

 souri, show the extent of the industry in that region, and it is doubt- 

 less typical of the iixture industry in the whole country. 



In Michigan twenty-two woods are reported in use by fixture man- 

 ufacturers, and the yearly demand exceeds 24,000,000 feet at an 

 average cost at the factory of $38.51 per thousand. There are five 

 wood-using industries in Michigan which pay a higher average price 

 for their lumber and twenty-seven which pay less. The total annual 

 use of wood by the industry in Illinois exceeds 21,000,000 feet, made 

 up of thirty-one woods, at an average cost at the factory of $41.44. 

 Of the fifty-one wood-using industries listed in Illinois, ten pay 

 more than fixture makers for lumber, and forty pay less. In Mis- 

 souri the manufacturers of fixtures use twenty-eight woods, aggre- 

 gating 10,000,000 feet a year, at an average cost of $37.24 per 

 thousand feet. Of the twenty-three listed industries in Missouri 

 which use wood as raw material, four pay more and eighteen pay 

 less than fixture makers. 



It is thus apparent that material niucli above the average is used 

 by fixture manufacturers. Those located in the three states named 

 buy twenty-eight per cent of their lumber in Michigan, Wisconsin 

 and Illinois; fifty per cent in the Ohio and lower Mississippi valleys; 

 three per cent on the Pacific coast ; and the remainder in various 

 parts of this country, and the world at large. It is interesting to 

 note the exact amounts of different woods used yearly by fixture 

 manufacturers in the three states of Michigan, Illinois and Missouri. 

 The woods and the annual quantity of each are shown in the follow- 

 ing table: 



Woods Used Ye-^rly By Fixture Maxufactukers in Michigan, 



Illinois and Missouri 



Wood Feet used annually 



White oak 11,181,000 



Maple 8,800,000 



