28 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



ail ugly, red brute, einered over with scattering hairs. It crawls to 

 the opening of its tunnel, fastens itself to the tree's bark, and there 

 the change from a caterpillar to a moth takes place. 



In view of the fact that the moth deposits several hundred eggs in 

 crevices of the bark nf suitable trer-s, the wonder is that the pest 



does not become so numerous as to destroy the forests. There are 

 counteracting agencies at work. It is believed that woodpeckers and 

 other birds hold the moths within limits by eating the eggs. Birds 

 have been observed picking them from the crevices in bark, and it is 

 believed they get most of them. 



S ( «TOaimix^i>iwwm4m:iiiia^^ 



Lumber is the most important of tlie raw materials entering into the 

 manufacture of furniture. When the purchasing department of a 

 furniture factory tackles the item of lumber there is an entirely 

 different proposition involved from that of the purchase of other 

 materials. Lumber can not be analyzed and tested chemically as can 

 glue, varnishes, oils, and then with a certain fixed standard of samples 

 bids be invited and purchases made accordingly from the lowest bidder 

 under these specifications. It is physical analyses rathtr than chemical 

 analyses that enter more into the grading and specifications of lumber, 

 and it is because of this fact that tlic purchasing agent of the furni- 

 ture factory may get stung when he thinks he is getting a bargain 

 by buying lumber at the lowest price offered within certain grades or 

 specifications. 



The bargain habit has just as strong a grip on the purchasing 

 department of a furniture factory as it has on any one else, and 

 even the furniture houses themselves who decry price cutting and 

 bargain buying seek for bargains just as diligently through their 

 purchasing department as they talk against them threugh their sales 

 department. They get left, too, just about as often as the retail 

 merchant who goes out in the furniture world to buy bargains in 

 furniture. They get left because their desire to save a dollar in first 

 cost often blinds them to other advantages that might be noi-th more 

 than the dollar. . There are bargains to be had in h'mlx'r now and 

 tlieii anil the furniture men get some of them. When they do, however, 

 it is the result of luck or accident or because the lumber buyer knows 

 his business so thoroughl.y that he actually knows a bargain when he 

 sees it. 



For a purchasing agent to send out a large nuiiibcr of iiii)uirics for 

 lumber of specific grade and thickness to various mills and whole- 

 salers, then sort these out and accept tlie lowest quotiitions in the lot, 

 is really no way to get a bargain. The low biddtr may not be 

 equipped to make deliveries and the inconvenience Irom this may 

 easily amount to more than the gain in price as compared with quota- 

 tions of some lumberman who has the facilities and can make deliveries 

 on time. 



This is only one feature of the matter. .\m)ther is that the pur- 

 chasing agent who is not thoroughly familiar with Kiniber may get 

 caught, because of the fact that lumber from different mills may 

 vary considerably, even within the same specifications as to grade. 

 It is a fact that lumber may vary from one to five dollars in value 

 inside of a given grade, because of the variations between grades. 

 Another factor is the nature of the defects in any of the lower grades 

 of lumber. They may seriously affect its cutting into the particular 

 forms wanted. Standard defects of various kinds appear in lumber 

 in various forms and locations, and the lumber from one mill or one 

 locality may differ considerably from that of another in the nature 

 and distribution of the defects. 



Let us suppose, for example, one is buying No. 2 common in plain 

 oak. Here we have a product that may vary in texture, color, defects, 

 and in many other ways and still pass muster in this grade. It may 

 even be bought under one of the recognized grading rules, inspected 

 by an authorized inspector, and the inspection certified, and yet there 

 will be quite a difference in the value of the lumber when it comes to 

 working it up into a particular kind of furniture. 



It follows that instead of putting in a lot of time compiling lists 

 of lumbermen, getting quotations, and studying the market, the lumber 

 purchaser for the furniture factory should make a study of lumber 

 as it is used in his cutting department. He should know what sizes 

 most of it is worked into, and wliat form of defects causes most 



trouble and loss. If he will study this carefully, he will find there 

 are more important things for consideration than finding the mill or 

 the dealer that will promise to furnish lumber of a given grade at a 

 dollar or two lower price than the general market quot^itions. He will 

 realize that the most important thing is to find a source of supply that 

 can be depended on for the kind of lumber that works best into his 

 stock. 



The best way to find a bargain in furniture is not to hunt it 

 directly through the price list, but to seek it by way of finding the 

 lumber that fits the needs best. Se%-eral well-known and dependable 

 concerns may quote the same price on a given grade and kind. The 

 chance for a bargain here is not through efforts to beat one down in 

 jirice by playing one against the other, but it is through making a 

 study of their product to see which will work up best. If you can 

 find one of these that will give you from one to five dollars more 

 material per thousand, that is the material to buy and the effect will 

 be the same as if you actually reduced the purchase price that amount. 



The really shrewd buyer of broad parts is not given to playing one 

 quotation against another so much as he is given ro matching his 

 knowledge of values and of material against the possible ignorance of 

 some one offering to supjily it. There are millnun ignorant of the 

 actual value of their lumber. It is so well known that it has been 

 complained of time and time again at lumber conventions. Usually it 

 is the small millman who is made the goat in this matter and is blamed 

 for selling his lumber at less than its actual value. This is the man 

 whom the shrewd furniture factory buyer may single out now and 

 then as his victim. It is a scheme that can he workeil, too, provided the 

 furniture buyer is well posted in lumber and not only sets forth his 

 specifications but sends a competent inspector to the mill so that he 

 knows positively that he is going to get what he wants. The buyers 

 of wagon and implement stock have often followed this plan and found 

 it to work very nicely. The only time it works, thougn. and the only 

 way it may be worked successfully is when the bnyer really knows his 

 business and when the institution is equipped with inspectors to send 

 out and take up the stock at 4he mills. 



To buy lumber of a given grailc from smaller mills becau.se the 

 smaller millman may not know the full value of his stock is no certain 

 way to get a bargain unless there is both inspection and a certain 

 amount of supervision over the manufacturing. The timber may be 

 of the kind and quality desired but the manufacturing may be so 

 poorly done as seriously to impair the value of the stock. If a saw 

 cuts rough it makes heavy dressing to get a smooth surface, and this 

 may reduce the thickness too much. If the saw does not stand up to 

 its work well and runs snaky, there will lie thin and thick places in the 

 lumber which im|)air its value. There are many imperfections of manu- 

 facture, found in the output of those millmen who are ignorant of the 

 real values of lumber, that often amount to more than is gained in 

 the way of bargain prices through purchasing from them. 



Let us turn aside for a moment to a different phase of this lumber 

 buying business, by taking ii]i the matter of the varving grades and 

 their relative values to the furniture man. Grades in lumber like 

 grades in glue, varnish, iron, coal and other things, naturally result in 

 different prices or values ;iiid these in turn tbictuate from time to time 

 in their relation to each other, yet in the long run they are fairly even. 



Coal people, for example, figure heat unit values of different grades 

 and kinds of coal, and from this and other factors entering they make 

 the selling price, so that it matters but little what grade one buys — 

 the ultimate cost is practically the same to secure a eiven amount of 

 heat. 



