32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



April 25. 1922 



Pertinent Information 



dubs and Associations 



Tonka Wood Used as Stern Tube Bearings 



A Tonka Tree 



While lignum vitae is gener- 

 ally regarded as the best wood 

 known for the bearing parts 

 in stern tubes of steam ships, 

 the tonka wood of South Amer- 

 ica is being used successfully 

 in Brazil, where true lignum 

 vitae does not grow. In the 

 early days when steam ships 

 were first built in this country 

 beech, hickory and gum woods, 

 after boiling them in oil, were 

 employed largely for this pur- 

 pose. After the introduction 

 of lignum vitae these woods 

 fell into disuse, and they are 

 not likely to be requisitioned 

 in the future, for they lack 

 the natural oil which is so es- 

 sential in all bearings. 



The tonka tree, which is 

 closely related to our black 

 locust, yields a wood that pos- 

 sesses a good deal of oil. -\t 

 the same time the wood is ex- 

 ceedingly hard, and after It is 

 thoroughly seasoned becomes 



so refractory that it is ditBcult to work it even with the best tools. The 

 Cellular structure is also very tine, but not so dase as in the case of lignum 

 vitae, which has pores or vessels measuring only about .08 millimeters in 

 diameter, while those in the tonka are from .10 to .14 millimeters, but they 

 are less numerous per unit area. The oil in the wood is formed chiefly in 

 the small thin-walled cells surrounding the vessels. The woody fibers 

 between the pores and small open cells are compactly arrangd and strongly 

 compressed radially, so as to leave no spaces between them. 



In a general way the cell elements in tonka wood are practically as dense 

 as those in lignum vitae, but the amount of oil in the former Is only about 

 7 percent, while in the latter it is often as much as 20 percent of the weight 

 of the wood. For this reason the life of lignum vitae bearing parts is greater 

 than that of tonka, but in Brazil the latter is very abundant and inex- 

 pensive, and its use will continue as It is now, in the stern tubes of all 

 the Brazilian steamers that ply up and down the Amazon river, as well as 

 in many coastwise steamers. 



The tonka tree is very common all along the Amazon river, as well as 

 in the Guianas, where it Is often referred to as guiac. which is the French 

 name for lignum vitae. .\ closely rehited species of the tonka growing 

 in Panama is called almendro and is one of the best woods on the isthmus. 

 The tonka grows also in Colombia and in Venezuela : in the latter country 

 the trees are not cut down, because they are so highly prized tor the fruit, 

 which yields the well-known tonka bean or coumarin oil of commerce, 

 which is an important product from that country. The oil in the wood is 

 in all respects similar to that in the fruit, but the amount present in the 

 wood is insuilicient to make its extraction a profitable undertaking. 



London Market Prices of American Hardwood Lumber 

 April 1,1922 



Compiled by Charles Herz, Secretary, Bencoe Lumber Co., Inc., N. Y. 



Equivalent in dol- 

 lars per 1,000 ft. 

 Price per board measure at 

 Description. 1" thickness super, ft. exchange 4.38 



Oak, quartered, Ists and 2nds 8d. to lOd. $146.00 to $182.50 



Oak, quartered. No. 1 common 5d ' 5V4d. 91.23 '• 100.38 



Oak, plain, Ists and 2nds 6V4d. " 8>4d. 118.63 " 150.56 



Oak, plain. No. 1 common t'^d. " 5y4d. 77.56 " 95.81 



Poplar. Ists and 2nds 7',4d. " 10%d. 136.88 " 191.63 



Poplar, No. 1 common 4>4d. " 5Vid. 82.13 " 100.38 



Walnut, Ists and 2nds 8V4d. " lid. 155.13 " 200.75 



Walnut, No. 1, common '. . 5d. " 6V4d. 111.25 " 118.63 



Red gum. Ists "and 2nds 5d. ■ 6d. 91.25 " 109.50 



Red gum. No. 1 common 3d. " SVid. 54.75 " 59.31 



Red gum, saps. Ists and 2nds 3d. " 3'/4d. 54.75 " 59.31 



Ash. Ists and 2nds 5Hd. " 7d. 100.38 " 127.75 



.\sh. No. 1 common 3>4d. " 4d. 63.88 " 73.00 



Evansville Club Mourns Bosse's Death 



At the regular monthly meeting of the Evansville Lumbermen's Club 

 held at the New Vendouie Hotel at Evansville. Ind.. on Tuesday night. 

 .\pril 11. resolutions on the death of Mayor Benjamin Bosse were passed 

 after being drawn up by the committee on resolutions, composed of Wil- 

 liam B. Carleton, H. M. Lukens and Claude Wertz. Mayor Bosse was 

 president of the Globe-Bosse-World Furniture Company and was asso- 

 ciated with twenty-five or more of the leading manufacturing and business 

 concerns of Evansville. 



The club set the date of the annual summer outing for Tuesday, June 

 27. It is expected that the outing this year will be held on a steamboat 

 on the Ohio river and it will be arranged by the committee on entertain- 

 ment, composed of Gus E. Bauman, Joe Waltman and Carl Wolflin. The 

 retail lumbermen of southern Indiana living south of Terre Haute and 

 west of Corydon will take part in the outing this year as special guests 

 of the Evansville Lumbermen's Club and the Evansville Retail Lumber 

 Dealers' Association. 



Tuesday night. May 9, when plans for the ;ninu:il summer outing will be 

 completed. 



Southern Hardwood Traffic Association Announces Pubhcation 

 of Rate Chart by Hardwood Record 



The Southern Hardwood Tratfic Association announced on April 20 

 that its new chart, showing the reduced rates now applying on hardwood 

 lumber and forest products from points in the South and Southwest to 

 <iestinations in Central Freight -Association, Eastern Trunk Line and 

 Buffalo-Pittsburgh territories, will be ready for distribution within the 

 next few days. It is being printed through courtesy of Hardwood Ebcokd. 

 Chicago. 



The association also announces that the Rock Island and the Santa Fe 

 have agreed to join with the Frisco, the Missouri Pacific and the Cotton 

 Belt railroads in protecting, on shipments moving over their lines from 

 points in the Southwest to Alton, 111., the base rate which applies to St. 

 Louis. 



The association has recently reached an agreement with the Western 

 Weighing & Inspection Bureau, under the terms of which net rates on 

 rough material will be protected where a manufacturer transfers his prod- 

 uct to another manufacturer for further processing, and where a manti- 

 facturer bills the outbound shipment from the mill point in the name of 

 bis customer. Here is the language of the agreement ; 



"The original contractor may sell his product to another manufacturer, 

 tor further manufacture, and, in that case, it is understood that where 

 the original contractor can show an agreement which will protect the 

 carrier, in the reshipment of the product by the second nmnufacturer. 

 under the terms of the contract, which governs the second manufacturer, 

 as well as original contractor, that the first contractor, will, thereby, be 

 relieved of his obligation. 



"It is further understood that in evi-nt an original contractor reships. 

 for account of a broker, from the plant at which the Rough Material is 

 manufactured, outbound product which that broker, by specific advice to 

 the carrier, agrees is tor account of tie Contractor, credit for that outUound 

 shipment will accrue to the contractor." 



Southwesterners Are Optimistic as to Outlook 



With a thoroughly representative, though comparatively small, attend- 

 ance of manufacturers from Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, the South- 

 western Hardwood Manufacturers' Club scored 100 per cent with anothiT 

 of its interesting and instructive regular monthly meetings at the Lumber- 

 men's Club, New Orleans, April 12. 



The April meeting came at a time when many of the mills are closed 

 down and it was really surprising to hear from the individual delegates 

 hailing from the vast and tremendously rich southwestern hardwood area 

 that the high water season has almost every plant in the three states 

 temporarily down. Apart from this handicap in output, however, condi- 

 tions were generally agreed to be improving perceptibly, and, with the 

 springtide building season rapidly, approaching, orders increasing and the 

 hardwood business looking up generally, the manufacturers brought with 

 them to their meeting a pronounced optimism. 



The discussions dealt with a variety of subjects of timely importance 

 to the hardwood trade, with the consideration of inspection service and 

 high freight rates usurping the lion's share of attention. J. H. Townshend. 

 secretary-manager of the Southern Hardwood TraHic Association, deliv- 

 ered what was considered a vei-y encouraging address on the immediate 

 freight rate and general traffic outlook, venturing unhesitatingly some 

 exceedingly optimistic predictions for considerable reductions before long. 

 Among these was a statement to the effect that he is soon to take up the 

 (luestiou of freight rate reductions on inbound logs in the southwestern 

 territoi'y and promising the delegates unqualifiedl.^' that "you can depend 

 upon some substantial reductions on the hauling of \our logs by not later 

 than July 1 at the very latest." 



Noteworthy amcuig the resolutions pjissed by the club was one offered 



