24 



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above common, while they nrc somewhat less 

 than common on most items. The demand 

 for this is constantly increasing, and we 

 believe tlio more it is developed the more 

 trade there will bo for it, especially with 

 firms that manufacture the stock properly. 



Referring to your inquiry in regard to di- 

 mension stock, beg to say that 1 am under 

 the impression that manufacture and grad- 

 ing have improved. The prices are not sat- 

 isfactory as yet; the demand for special cut 

 sizes has increased. 



Status in Ohio. 



We have found for the last year back that 

 hickory dimension stock has been higher in 

 price ; I cannot say that grading has been 

 improved upon; the demand has been great. 

 This is all owing to the poor winter we had 

 for lumbering a year ago in the South. Of 

 course at the present writing there is quite 

 a good deal of dimension stock, in the way 

 of spokes, rims, shafts and poles, being of- 

 fered; we feel sure this is caused by the 

 scarcity of money and tliat manufacturers 

 are going very slow in regard to their buy- 

 iugs. 



Great Improvement in West Virginia. 



We have your letter of Nov. 11. Since 

 the meeting two years ago in Cincinnati the 

 volume of business in dimension stock has 

 been growing. Some prices have almost 

 doubled or gradually increased until certain 

 classes, particularly the better and higher 

 grades, are now about what they should be. At 

 the time of the meeting two years ago the fur- 

 niture people had been buj-ing so much stock 

 from small manufacturers, who did not seem 

 to care what price they got for it, that it 

 was almost impossible to get orders for first- 

 class dimension stock at prices that would pay 

 to manufacture same. Today this volume of 

 business in high-grade dimension stock is 

 more than can be supplied, and the chair 

 manufacturers have found that the stock 

 can be furnished by first-class dimension mills 

 so much better in quality and so much more 

 evenly manufactured that they are willing to 

 pay a better price and have more permanent 

 source of supply. Within the last few months 

 chair manufacturers from the northern sec- 

 tion have come into this section for beech 

 and maple stock — material of which we have 

 plenty — with orders for large quantities, 

 where two years ago it was almost impossible 

 to get an order for a car of this stock. The 

 manufacturers have gradually made up their 

 minds that they can take turnings from mill 

 cheaper than they can have the stock shipped 

 to them and turn it themselves; and even 

 now, with the great depression in business, 

 the stock moves rapidly and is in great de- 

 mand. 



From an Alabama Pioneer in the Trade. 



We are and have been making chair and 

 furniture dimension out of oak, both in 

 squares and quartered backs, and some plain 

 oak seat frames. Since the organization of 

 this Dimension Stock Association, which was 

 the result of the Cincinnati meeting, it has 

 been our experience that manufacturers have 

 very much improved the grade of their ma- 

 terial, and owing to this, as much as any- 

 tliing else, they are getting better prices 

 by far than when the association was formed. 

 Furthermore, the consumers of dimension 

 material are wanting to buy more of it than 

 formerly, on account of getting what they 

 want properly manufactured. We are sell- 

 ing all the dimension we can make at pres- 

 ent, at what we consider fair prices for the 

 condition of the dimension market. But not 

 yet has the stock reached the prices it should 

 bring compared to the cost of lumber. We 

 see no reason why, if the makers of dimen- 

 sion will be careful in the manner of manu- 



facturing their product, and loading it out 

 to the consumer, the price of dimension should 

 not materially advance, or keep in pace at 

 least with the value of first and second lum- 

 ber, out of which the consumer has to manu- 

 facture it if he cannot buy the dimension to 

 suit him. The main features connected with 

 the making of dimension material are to 

 make it right, and to put no culls into ship- 

 ments to the consumer. 



From Michigan. 



Replying to yours of Nov. 11 in reference 

 to the dimension stock business, we find the 

 donmud good, especially so with regard to 

 (luartcred oak dimension. Prices are on a 

 higher level than in former years, but they 

 are not high enough to be called satisfac- 

 tory tor dimension stock. We find consid- 

 erable improvement over former years in 

 the manufacture of it, yet room for much 

 more. These rcmark-s have reference to fur- 

 niture and chair stock only. 



From Wisconsin. 



Large pieces of hardwood dimension lum- 

 V)er are worth more than same quantity in 

 the plank, figured on board measure. Vehicle 

 material, such as poles, shafts and rim strips 

 and wagon axles, require the best quality and 

 largest pieces and sell for prices much above 

 the value of the plank. The smaller pieces, 

 running down to 20 inches long, 1^/^x2 inches 

 in size, do not always sell at the prices they 

 should, being higher than a just division 

 will make them. Some cutters of large di- 

 mension material compute the cost of long 

 or heavy cuttings with no reference to the 

 waste and realize out of them the whole 

 cost of the operation of producing them. 

 All these mills cut out of the waste is clear 

 gain to them, less the handling. If they 



did not cut small dimensions, the cuttings 

 friim axles, poles, shafts would have to be 

 burnt up. Small hickory reaches me often 

 cut from narrow edgings otherwise useless, 

 being too narrow for small spokes. Spokes 

 sell for a lower price than most any kind of 

 dimensions, and require lots of work to get 

 out. The change from wood spring bars to 

 steel hangers on buggies has taken from the 

 hickory dimension over 1,000,000 pieces, av- 

 eraging 28x2x1 i/i, which formerly were cut 

 and furnished to the gear manufacturers. 

 The steel-plated vehicle reach and malleable 

 iron head block will throw about 1,500,000 to 

 2,000,000 hickory small pieces b.ack on the 

 dimension mills, yet the price of small di- 

 mension is high. In furniture small dimen- 

 sion the price is low and in short wagon fel- 

 loes made of oak the price is and always 

 has been entirely too low, as there is a great 

 waste in cutting short felloes. laimbcr wagon 

 material of oak, large pieces, mostly clear, with 

 waste in seasoning large, have sold too low, 

 and advancing prices are more in line with 

 the increa.scd costs of timber, etc., but small 

 hickory dimension sells higher than it should. 

 Furniture dimension is too low^, but long 

 hickory strips are about the right price. 



Satisfactory Report from Tennessee. 



We still make a specialty of dimension 

 stock piece work. Stock of necessity has to be 

 manufactured for the purpose for which it 

 is intended to be used, and has to be prop- 

 erly handled and contracted for, or it is no 

 good. Cull stock should be left at home 

 for firewood, as it is expensive to load fire- 

 wood in cars and pay freight for the pur- 

 pose of giving it to the buyer, who generally 

 gets more of it than he wants. We get sat- 

 isfactory prices, which make us continue to 

 push that ]iart of our business, and at a profit. 



Simplification of HardWood 

 Inspection Rules, 



That capable instructor in forestry and 

 lumbering, Dr. C. A. Schenck of the forestry 

 department of the Biltmorc Estate, Biltmore, 

 N. C, is nothing if not enterprising. He 

 sends the H.'^rdwood Record a four-page cir- 

 cular in which the general rules of hardwood 

 inspection authorized by the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association to go into effect 

 December 1, are analyzed in the simplest pos- 

 sible form. 



This analysis which Dr. Schenck has made 

 embraces in brief general instructions cover- 

 ing defects, and specific inspection rules for 

 poplar, chestnut and oak, which are the prin- 

 cipal lumber products of the section in which 

 he is operating. The presentation of the 

 rules is concise and intelligible. Dr. Schenck 

 explains that he has rewritten them largely 

 for the benefit of the hands employed in his 

 mills, as it seems to him necessary that not 

 merely inspectors shall know them, but every 

 mill hand as well, that every one having any- 

 thing to do with the manufacture and grad- 

 ing of lumber may have a fair idea of grades 

 and the resultant value of the boards which 

 he assists in making. He believes that this 

 general education will prevent waste and ob- 

 tain for the owner of a mill the maximum 

 possible benefit. 



Tills condensation is certainly a valuable 

 addition to inspection literature, and it is so 



sliort that it should easily be memorized by 

 every inspector. The document is herewith 

 attached: 



DEFECTS. 



One knot (sound or unsound) ot IVi Inches 

 diameter is one standard defect. 



Two knots not exceeding in extent or damage 

 one l^^-inch knot arc one standard defect. 



Worm holes not exceeding in extent or dam 

 age one l^^-inoh knot are one standard defect 



One knot hole not exi-eeding in extent or dam 

 age one lV4inch knot is one standard defect 



One straight split as long in inches as thi 

 board measures square feet is one standard 

 detect. 



One split G inches long in boards 8 inches 

 wide and wider is, however, no defect. 



Wane Vl. inch wide, as deep as one-fourth ol 

 the thickness, as long as one-sixth of the length 

 is no defect. 



Wane wider or deeper or longer than abovt 

 is one standard defect. 



POPLAR. 



Fas — Smallest width 6 inches, shortest lengtt 

 S feet. 



Narrow boards : 



Hoards (! and 7 inches wide must be wlthoul 

 sap and without defects. 



Boards -S and inches wide may have 1 inct 

 of sap. 



Wide boards : 



Surface of 11 to 14 feet allows of .3 inche? 

 sap and one defect. 



Surface of 15 to 20 feet allows of 5 inches 

 sap and one defect, or allows of .3 inches sai 

 and two defects, or allows of no sap and thrci 

 defects. 



klk 



