30 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



September 10. 1922 



Donald R. Brewster 



Expert Consultant 

 OPERATION OF LUMBER DRY KILNS 



28 Blymer Building. Cincinnati. Olilo 



TRAINING OF KILN OPERATORS A SPECIALTY 



Chair Maker Raises Question of Drying Dimension 



The next letter comes as indicated from a manufacturer of chairs, 

 who raises the grave question as to the possibility of shipping di- 

 mension stock that will prove ultimately satisfactory when such 

 stock is made from green material. 



April 3, 1922. — Editor Hardwood Recoiid: Referring to your comment 

 on the third paragraph of our letter would say that we have consid- 

 ered the matter of dimension stock a great many times and have made 

 a good many purchases, in fact, we just now bought two ears of di- 

 mension, represented to us to be exactly what we wanted, to be full size 

 and all that. From one of the cars we had to throw out practically 

 one-half because of its being undersized. It got into this condition by 

 drying out of shape. The other car had also a considerable amount of 

 poor, which we had to sort out, the material being bought as perfect. 



There are two things in connection with this matter which have 

 never been corrected; one of which we do not think can be corrected, 

 in our own case, which prevents us from buying largely dimension. 

 One of these things is the fact that, due to grade of chairs we make, 

 a complete standardization of sizes, as is desirable, is not possible and 

 for us to carry in dimension a satisfactory supply of material would 

 run our inventory to figures much beyond what we would care to have 

 it go. that is to say. if we have 2" plank in the yard, for instance, we 

 can get out of it a great many items, whereas if we had 2"x2"xl9" 

 squares we could get out of it just one item. This, however, is our 

 personal case rather than the lumber manufacturer's, and can, to 

 some extent, be gotten around by the fact that dimension lumber is 

 shipped green, cut green, anyway, and cut many tmies from portions 

 of the tree which are susceptible to very great distortion in drjing. 

 It is not an unusual experience, at all. to find the case referred to 

 above where half a car falls undersize because of change of size in 

 drying. 



If some lumber manufacturer saw fit to take his waste lumber and 

 dry It and then saw dimension from kiln dried waste we do not be- 

 lieve but what he could run his plant to capacity .'ie.') days every year 

 or, at least, until so many manufacturers did it that the market was 

 flUed. 



We have had so many .sad experiences in buying dimension, prop- 

 erly gotten out all right at the time it was sawn but which lias become 

 either distorted or defective in some other way in drying, that this 

 phase of purchasing lumber has very little attraction for us. 



What we meant by our statement was this: One of our acquaint- 

 ances manufactures baby carriages. Having designed his baby car- 

 riage he can buy stock of just such width, length and thickness so 

 that he can determine what his waste will be. For instance, it he 

 buys No. 1 common limiber. depending on whom we get it from, that 

 is. whether it is a man who chooses to ship a very high grade or one 

 who gets a very low grade, the waste of what we saw will vary perhaps 

 25 per cent. That is what we meant when we said that we would 

 like to buy a thousand feet of lumber with the guarantee that we 

 could get so many of a certain shape or piece out of it. 



Keep Track of the Minor Costs 



A lunilierman in southern New England who has made a success 

 of the portable sawmill business says that the ma,jority of the 

 portable millmen in his region do not know how to keep accounts 

 or work out their costs. As a result, such men arc not only heading 

 for failnre without knowing why, but they arc also injuring all the 

 others in the business. The fact has been emphatically demon- 

 strated of recent date. More often than not, one of these men will 

 unwittingly sell his output at less than cost and in so doing keep 

 the market down so that one who does know the actual costs can 

 barely make a living. 



Most every lumberman knows what are the actual bare costs of 

 production, such as his stumpage value, cost of cutting logs, draw- 

 ing to the mill, sawing, sticking and delivery on cars. The costs 

 he usually does not know are such as overhead, insurance, bad ac- 

 counts, etc., and if asked concerning them would probably say 

 they were of minor importance. This is just where he makes the 

 mistake that sooner or later wrecks his business. 



To illustrate this point, the lumberman in question worked up 

 two tables, one containing the major or obvious costs of a portable 

 mUl operation and the other containing those of so-called minor 

 importance. The first is taken from cost sheets as an average of 

 three mills from July 1 to December 1, 1919; the second based on 

 the total amount cut during the year. 



Major Costs per Thousand Feet 



Cutting .$3.25 



Drawing in, including swamping 4.2.5 



Sawing 6.7.5 



Piling 1.65 



Total $15.90 



Minor Costs per Thousand Feet 



Building shanties $0.40 



Bad ae«ounts 46 



Compensation insurance 50 



Maintenance of sawmill 1.50 



Fire insurance on lumber, wood and buildings .19 



Job overhead 1.10 



General overhead 4.34 



Total 8.49 



Total of both tables $24.39 



To this cost of $24.39 per thousand feet must be added the 

 stumpage, which is a variable quantity and differs for practically 

 every lot purchased; also an amount to cover deterioration, taxes, 

 shrinkage, interest on the investment and insurance upon stumpage. 

 From which it is evident that if a man is to succeed in the portable 

 mill business he cannot afford to neglect any items of cost because 

 supposedly of "minor" importance. 



Experiments Begun to Determine Most Econom- 

 ical Drying Methods 



The United States Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis- 

 consin, and the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse 

 are engaged in a series of co-operative experiments to obviate lum- 

 ber losses to the public. The amount of money wasted each year 

 through improper seasoning methods of lumber is enormous. Every 

 time a board in the lumber yard of dry kiln is warped or checked 

 through improper drying, a sum of money is extracted from the 

 pocket of the consumer sufticient to offset that loss to the manu- 

 facturer. 



The campaign for better utilization of lumber is being carried 

 on in various sections of the United States through the co-operation 

 of educational institutions or lumber companies with the Forest 

 Products Laboratory. The work in New York has been turned 

 over to the Forestry College under the direction of Prof. R. J. Hoyle 

 of the Utilization Department. 



The Blount Lumber Company at Lacona is permitting the use 

 of its plant for some of the experiments. Floyd Blount of the 

 class of 1920 is in charge of the lumber yards for the company and 

 it is through his assistance that Professor Hoyle is carrying on the 

 investigations. More than a year will be required before any con- 

 clusive data can be obtained according to the way the work is 

 plainipil. 



Yellow birch is tlie chief species of wood being used. It is be- 

 lieved that yellow birch is the coming hardwood in the lumber 

 trade in New Y'ork, hence the experiments will be correspondingly 

 valuable. This research work is intended to determine the fastest 

 drying rates consistent with the least depreciation in stock and the 

 h^ast cost in handling and the least yard space required. 



Experiments with several kinds of lumber will be started in 

 other sections of the state .is soon as Professor Hoyle is able to 

 make arrangements with lumber companies equipped with proper 

 facilities. 



