28 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Evolution in Hardwood Requirements 



As is kuowu to the advertising patrons of Hakdwitod Record, this 

 publication for some years has supplied its lumber advertisers with a 

 bulletin service involving the names of the chief consumers of hard- 

 wood lumber throughout the United States, together with the names 

 of the lumber buyers and the annual requirements of each concern 

 by quantity, kind, grade and thickness of lumber, and also showing 

 their requirements for veneers, panels and dimension material. 



This roster of information has grown year by year, as it is con- 

 stantly supplemented by correction bulletins concerning new concerns, 

 the elimination of bouses that have gone out of business or that have 

 been consolidated with others, and the changes that have been intj-o- 

 duced in lumber requirements. 



Since the first of the year a clerical force has been busily engaged 

 in correcting this service to date, and the result is a bulletin of 

 changes involving more than a hundred pages that will go into the 

 mails to Record advertising patrons within a few days. 



Lumber manufacturers scarcely realize the wonderful evolution that 

 is constantly taking place, both in the personnel of various remanu- 

 facturing houses and in the hardwood requirements. It is safe to say 

 that in the matter of the change of ownership of houses employing 

 hardwoods there are changes of at least ten per cent per annum, and 

 in requirements of hardwoods the substitution of one wood for 

 another involves thousands of changes each year. These changes come 

 very rapidly, and it is only by dint of the utmost diligence that the 

 Record is able to keep its service up-to-date. 



Among the marked changes in requirements for 1911, of greatest im- 

 portance is the substitution of red gum for many other varieties of 

 wood, and next in order is a wonderful increase in the number 

 of buyers of hard maple ami red birch. Oak is among the few woods 

 that does not show a decline in demand. Oak seems to be the 

 standard for so many purposes that it not only holds its own but 

 shows a slight gain. 



This information service, as before noted, is kept absolutely up-to- 

 date by the continuous attention and a vast correspondence that is 

 conducted concerning it with wholesale consumers. It is regarded 

 as an indispensable adjunct by the sales managers of the majority 

 of hardwood concerns throughout the country. 



The information involved gives salesmen the opportunity to know 

 to a certainty the requirements of all kinds, grades and thicknesses 

 of lumber employed by these various institutions, and thus it makes 

 it possible for them to talk intelligently to the prospective customer 

 on the subject of any variety, thickness or grade of lumber that the 

 seller has to market. 



For the convenience of patrons this service is put up in a four- 

 drawer cabinet on a tabbed card system, which makes it possible for 

 the sales department to make immediate reference. These cards are 

 filed alphabetically by towns between state guide cards, and thus 

 it is possible to refer to the buyers of any particular town in any 

 state, or the buyers of any kind of wood in any and all localities. 



This service is now employed by nearly three hundred of the leading 

 hardwood manufacturing and jobbing houses of the country, and is 

 confined strictly to advertising patrons of Hardwood Record. 



A Revolution in Lumber Seasoning 



In HjU4dwoou Kkcokd of August lu, 191U, an article entitled 

 "Common Sense as Applied to the Seasoning of Lumber" was printed, 

 which has attracted wide attention. By request, this article is repro- 

 duced in this issue, and it is well worth the perusal of everyone inter- 

 ested in practical, efficient and economical production of lumber of 

 any kind. The basic simplicity of the system of preparing lumber 

 for quick seasoning appeals to the average manufacturer as weU as 

 the manifest economy promoted by the use of the system. 



The albumen, tannic acid, starches, saccharine or other matter that 

 is contained in the cellular structure of wood have no value in the 

 ultimate use to which lumber is put. These liquid or semi-liquid sub- 

 stances simply contribute to tree growth and they have to be evapo- 

 rated or expelled from the wood before it is suitable for use. In 

 other words, all the ultimate value possessed by wood is the cellulous 



or wood fibre. In ordinary practice wood fibre dries out with reason- 

 able promptness when lumber is piled in the air, but from the fact 

 that the liquid matter contained in the cells is encased in an eggshell- 

 like container, it takes a long time to dry out the cell contents. 



The Kraetzer process described in the article in question simply 

 means the placing of green lumber from the saw or partially dried 

 lumber in a steam cylinder container, and the application of sufficient 

 steam under pressure to ex-plode or slit the cellular encasement. 



Under ordinary drying practices the contents of wood cells dry out 

 slowly and in drying the cells warp and twist the fibre with which 

 it is intermingled. This causes warping, checking and splitting. 

 A certain portion of the cells break down and the contents are 

 released, which cause souring and staining of the wood. 



The treatment of lumber by steam under pressure practically 

 "kills" the propensity to stain, and as the cell structure is exploded, 

 the contents are released, and the lumber is then in proper shape to 

 be seasoned very promptly either in the air or by any kiln-drying 

 process. 



It is found that this preparatory way of treating lumber will 

 permit its passage through dry-kilns to a dry stage in from one-third 

 to one-half the . time consumed in the drying of untreated lumber. 

 It is found that the coloring matter of the woods is diffused only to 

 the extent of uniforming the color, that the wood does not check, 

 warp or stain, and that the shrinkage from dry kilning is prac- 

 tically nil. 



The John Schroeder Lumber Company of Milwaukee, Wis., has 

 employed this system in treating maple for its flooring factory for 

 several years, and reports that it is possible for it to treat green 

 maple by the Kraetzer process, kUn-dry it and deliver it in a thor- 

 oughly kiln-dried state to its flooring machines within thirty-six hours. 



Since the article was written "W. D. Young & Co., Bay City, Mich., 

 have installed the Kraetzer system in connection with their sawmill. 

 Maple, birch and beech lumber are delivered direct from the trimmers 

 to the preparator, steamed and immediately transferred to the dry- 

 kilns. This concern expects to deliver its maple and other hardwoods 

 from the saw to its flooring machines in forty-eight hours. 



The particular adaptability of the equipment for prompt and 

 etficient service is based largely on the patented steam-tight door 

 that can be opened and closed within a half minute's time. The 

 cylinder is ten feet six inches in diameter and seventeen and one- 

 half feet long, and will hold six thousand feet of lumber to a dry-kiln 

 truck. It has a capacity of as high as twenty-five thousand feet per 

 hour if needed. 



W. D. Young & Co. anticipate an economy in drying lumber 

 by this process that seems almost phenomenal. They figure that 

 they will be able to entirely abandon their lumber yard, and what 

 lumber does not go into flooring will be dead piled in sheds or 

 loaded on cars. Mr. Young believes that he will be able to dispense 

 with practically his entire yard crew of eighty-five men, and that 

 beyond this saving there will be a manifest one in insurance, taxes 

 and interest on investment. 



The original publication of this article in question created wide 

 interest, and The Kraetzer Company has already received orders for 

 more than a dozen of its apparatuses. Others interested in seeing a 

 demonstration of this system can reach The Kraetzer Company by 

 addressing it in care of Hardwood Record. 



It must be understood that this lumber treating process in no wise 

 take the place of dry-kilns. It simply prepares the lumber in a 

 logical way for prompt seasoning in the air or through dry-kilns. 

 Ordinary lumber that is treated by this process will dry out in fair 

 shipping shape in cross-pile within thirty days, and the time of the 

 kiln that will season lumber in a week is reduced to two or three days. 

 Some varieties of lumber can be kiln-dried in from twenty-four to 

 thirty-six hours, while others require a longer time. 



It is certainly a very interesting and almost revolutionary system, 

 but from all evidence that has been developed by the experimental 

 plant owned by Mr. Kraetzer at South Chicago, by the large amount 

 of lumber successfully handled by it at Jlilwaukee, and the initial 

 work of the apparatus at Bay City, it is believed that it is an abso- 

 lutely sane, efficient and economical system of lumber treatment. 



