24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



tiers available for distribution among the 

 contents of clicsts, but thp fliost itself iiiifjbt 

 to be insect-proof. lu niojern times the 

 householder almost invariably j>ossesses one 

 or more hardwood chests for storage purposes 

 in the attic There is, at present, a very 

 ffood demand fur chests witli ornamental trim- 

 mings. Some of them are fitted up for use 

 in hallways. Bronze trimmings set oil' a 

 eliest of this kind to good advantage. The 

 parts comjiosing (he wood structure are dove- 

 tailed and tongued to form a tight joint. 

 The moth has the ability of getting through 

 minute crevices, hence the liberal use of glue 



with the interior and exterior cut rounding. 



By having rounded corners inside there is uo 

 liability of foreign matter finding a lodging 

 place. .V li(i.\ with rounded corners can lie 

 kept cleaner. The juncture is effected with 

 the tongue an<l groove as at D. Fig. 5 ex- 

 hibits an odd ]dan. The corners are cut as 

 shown in tlie diagram and joined up. Then 

 the additiciiial piece is sawed out and camped 

 on with glue, cement and set screws. But a 

 weak point jnevails at the juncture of the 

 body boiirds. K. Therefore, after the bo.\es 

 arc used a little time, the union strained ..pen 

 at T) permits the entry iif insects. 







> ^'^t 





gUllTUP JOINT 



Ikl^ 



* 7;^/c 



C 



'" ■JOJ;jr 



and c-i-nient when putting up the joints is 

 advisable. 



The attached drawings have been made 

 from' imperfect, and perfect joints seen in 

 common use by the moth-proof hardwOod 

 chest makers of this and other countries. ' In 

 Fig. 1 is shown a crude form of joint, made 

 by putting a pointed tongue on the end of 

 the board which fits into a groove cut into 

 the contacting board at A. In almost every 

 case like this the bevelled sides opened just 

 enough to permit the passage of the enter- 

 ])ri.sing moth. Even if well connected this 

 joint seldom holds its own. Some corner 

 joints are made as in Fig. 2. This takes con- 

 siderable time and labor in grooving the joint 

 to form the lock, as at B. A joint to be 

 made like this requires special selection of 

 stock, special care in cutting and special 

 efTort in cementing and finishing. This joint 

 may be made quite moth-proof, but is not 

 popular, owing to its complicated character. 



Fig. 3 shows another plan of combating 

 insects at the joints of chest corners. A sup- 

 plementary flap joint is dropped on as shown. 

 The corners are babbitted in the usual way. 

 and in order to get a further security the end 

 is beaded as at C, and this beaded line joins 

 into the corresponding groove of the flap 

 piece. The flap piece is screwed securely to 

 the body of the box, extending about four 

 inches from either edge. Then in Fig. 4 is 

 <me of the rounded type, babbitting together 



Some of the common-tongued joints re- 

 enforced with sheet metal prove to be quite 

 effective. There are some buyers of hard- 

 wood mothproof chests who do not care for 

 metal-bound corner boxes. Hence it is neces- 

 sary to install the sheet metal sheathing in- 

 side, as in this cut. The joint F having been 

 made, and the box body completed, the cor- 

 ners inside can be protected with interior 

 metal corners or sheet metal. If metal cor- 

 ners are used complete it is essential to get 



a snug fit with screws. If the thinner sheet 

 metal is employed a closer fit can be had. 

 Fig. 7 is, the same plan reproduced with a 

 diiidile tongue joint at (3 instead of a single 

 i>ne. and with the re-enforcing sheet metal 

 nailed on the outside. The trouble is that 

 sheet metal corners are often not securely 

 tacked. There are open s))aces where the 

 insect can s<|ueeze into the box, oftentimes 

 through the joint. But if the edges of the 

 sheet metal are closely and regularly nailed 

 with tiny round-headed brass nails the edges 

 lit' the sheet metal will be very snug to the 

 surface of the wood. 



A crossed style of jointing the corners of a 

 moth-jiroof hardwood chest is shown in Fig. 

 H. ill which II designates the point of junc- 

 ture. 'I'his joint, too, is provided with ex- 

 terior coating of thin metal closely wire- 

 iiaileil til tile wiioilen surfaces of the corners. 

 So-called liiiiit u]i joints in moth-proof 

 chests are common, and all manner of styles 

 are used. Often building up is entirely un- 

 warranted. Sometimes it consists of a series 

 of thicknesses of wood, carefully planned and 

 adjusted to cff_ect what seems to be and what 

 ought to be a nujth-proof joint. The fiTst 

 tiling the maker knows, however, the pests 

 have a passage way. Fig. 9 shows one of 

 these built-up connections. The usual bab 

 liittiug occurs at .1. Then an interior and 

 perhaps an exteriiu' piece is cemented, glued 

 or closely-nailed on. A combination of many 

 separate pieces is often seen in one of these" 

 joints. Much depends upon getting the jaws 

 tight and the clamping effective. I have seen 

 very effective joints rendered useless, due to 

 poorly adjusted parts. On the other hand, 

 some of the plainest joints, bearded for a 

 drop, as in Fig. 10. at K, are made excep- 

 tionally tight and lasting, due to good set- 

 ting. It is a good plan to use special glue or 

 C3ment liberally in these joints, although very 

 good joints are often made with common 

 glue and sometimes without either cement or 

 glue. If the jiarts are cut right, and the 

 surfaces are smooth, the joints will require no 

 filling matter, and will be snug with the usual 

 fastening contrivances ]iroperly emiiloyed. 



NeWs Miscellany. 



"Cost of Production" vs. "Market Value" 



Under tlie title o( "On What Basis of Value 

 Shall Insurance Companies Pay for Burned 

 LumherV" Lumber Insurance, a paper published 

 liy the Lumber Insurers' General Agency, under- 

 writing managers of the Lumber Insurance Com- 

 Iiany of New York, the Adirondack Fire Insur- 

 ance Company and the Toledo Fire & Marine 

 Insurance Company, presents a very interesting; 

 article which is herewith reproduced for the 

 benefit of the many who are anxious to see some 

 progress made in routing the old contention that 

 remuneration for lire losses shall be based on 

 ■'cost of production" rather than ■market 

 value" ; 



There is one class of lumber risks which, it 

 is contended, has come in for peculiarly harsh 

 rreatmcnt in the adjustment of losses. From 

 time immemorial the manufacturer of lumber — 

 the man who cuts up the log — has been con- 

 fronted with the principle that in the adjust- 

 ment of a fire loss the insurance companies will 



pay only such an amoiini as it has cost to pro- 

 duce the lumber burned. 



It has been held by the old line insurance 

 eoinpanies that "cost of production" is the 

 proper basis of settlement. Here and there an 

 aggressive lumberman lias carried the opposite 

 eud of the argument to the courts and we have 

 a number of decisions confirming the contention 

 that losses must bo settled on the basis of 

 ■market value" and that the cost of produc- 

 tion may be ignored as a factor in. determining 

 the value of the property destroyed. 



Before looking into the merits of the question 

 il might be well to clearly define the exact con- 

 ditions vmdcr whicli lumlier losses are subject 

 III this particular grouud for disagreement. In 

 the settlement of a retail lumber yard loss there 

 is no room for such a contention, for here the 

 value of the lumber is clearly determined by 

 the evidence in the retailer's books as to the 

 price he has paid for the lumber burned. Al- 

 most invariably the lumber has been bought 

 from a wholesaler at a definite price per thou- 



