HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



iilcb it coDtaiDs — resin In pine and tannin In 

 >k. In beech the heartn-ood does not begin 

 ■ form before the tree Is moderately old, and 

 •-ven then without regularity. Consequently the 

 beech tie Is composed largely of sapwood. which 

 accounts for Its lack of durability and the ease 

 with which It receives preservative substances, 

 thus rendering It possible to guard It eSectlvely 

 against decay. 



Many preseri'atlves have been employed abroad 

 for protecting beech ties, particularly In France 

 and Germany. The most efficient under all con- 

 ditions of exposure has proven to be creosote or 

 dead oil of coal tar. Concerning the length of 

 life of a properly treated beech tic the proprietor 

 of a treating plant in Germany says : 



"In the year 1S97 I undertook to deliver 50,- 

 000 beech lies Impregnated with oil of tar and 

 warranted to last fifteen years. I have only to 

 regret that the railway exchequer does not prac- 

 tice reciprocity and offers no compensation for 

 the ties which last longer than litteen years." 



Of all the European roads the liastern rail- 

 way of France has obtained the best results from 

 treated ties. It uses beech timber and injects 

 a large amount of creosote of high grade. Oak 

 ties had to be removed from Its track after fif- 

 teen years of use, while beech ties impregnated 

 with creosote lasted thirty years. Many other ' 

 instances of long service from creosoted beech 

 ties might be given. 



The United States Department of Agriculture 

 has spent considerable time in developing a cheap 

 yet eflicient method of treating certain classes 

 of timber in order to preserve them against de- 

 cay, and information on the investigations may 

 be obtained by writing to The Forester, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. This is known as the "open tank" 

 method and is well adapted to timbers which con- 

 tain a large amount of sapwood. The treat- 

 ment consists in immersing the timbers in alter- 

 nate baths of hot and cold creosote or other pre- 

 servative. The ties are placed in a tank of hot 

 creosote for a few hours, the length of time depenrt- 

 log upon tbe amount of moisture contained in the 

 timber. They are then placed in a bath of cold 

 preservative for a short period, which (completes 

 the treatment. When the wood is heated in the 

 first bath tbe air and moisture in the wood cells 

 and intercellular spaces Is expanded and some 

 of it is driven out. Upon immersion in cold pre- 

 servative the difference in temperature^causes 

 the expanded air and moisture to contract, thus 

 forming a partial vacuum which causes the 

 liquid to penetrate the wood to the desired 

 depth. The ties should be air-seasoned before 

 being subjected to treatment. This can be ac- 

 complished in a short time by piling them In 

 open piles, allowing the air to freely circulate 

 around them. Beech checks very little when 

 properly piled. 



To Prevent Lumber from Warping. 



A very Interesting little article on how to 

 prevent hardwood lumber from warping, from 

 tbe pen of C. O. Shepherd of the Emporium 

 Lumber Company, New York, appeared in a 

 recent issue of the New England Ilomestead. 

 Mr. Shepherd is a competent authority on this 

 subject and his ideas are always worth careful 

 attention. He gives It as bis experience that 

 lumber manufactured from almost any of the 

 different kinds of hardwood timber will, on 

 account of physical structure, warp more or 

 less In seasoning If not properly taken care of 

 during the drying period. If the lumber Is 

 left lying loosely in bulk several days after 

 being sawed before piling, the strain on the 

 grain of the wood on account of all sides not 

 being uniformly exposed to the air will more 

 or less twist and warp the board. This can 

 b* largely overcome by piling the lumber on 

 crosaer sticks Immediately after It Is sawed ; 

 tbe less delay there is after sawing, the 

 •tralghter and better the lumber will be. 



Lumber piles should be constructed with the 

 greatest care : each length should be piled 



separately. They should not be over eight feet 

 wide, preferably six feet, and should be placed 

 on foundation bearings running the cross way 

 of the pile, the front bearing raised so as to 

 give the lumber pitch enough to carry off rain 

 water. The greatest care should be taken to 

 keep these hearings In perfect line, so that the 

 first course of boards will lie perfectly flat and 

 rest on each bearing. 



The lumber should be piled in single courses 

 on thoroughly seasoned crosser sticks, and 

 there should be a crosser stick at least every 

 four feet of the length of the lumber. These 

 crossers should be of a uniform size, 1 inch 

 thick by 2 or 2H inches wide. The first crosser 

 should be placed directly over the foundation 

 bearings and carried up with the pile so that 

 they will lie directly one over the other. It is 

 this accurate and perpendicular alignment of 

 the crosser sticks over the bearings which, as 

 much as anything else, prevents the boards from 

 becoming crooked on the edge. During the pil- 

 ing and after the pile is completed, the top 

 boards should be kept covered so that they will 

 not be alternately exposed to the sun and 

 weather. The ends of each course of boards 

 should be drawn forward at the front end of 

 the pile so they will project slightly over the 

 edge of the crosser sticks. This prevents rain 

 from getting in on the face of the boards. 



If proper care is taken to pile the lumber on 

 solid bearings so that the pile will not sag 

 down in the middle, the proper pitch given to 

 the pile so that the timber will not catch and 

 hold the rain, there should be no trouble on 

 account of warp or twisted boards, or damage 

 from what is commonly called "stick rot." An 

 air space of at least eighteen inches should be 

 left between individual piles. Attention should 

 be paid to the prevailing wind direction, and all 

 piles should be built so that the wind will 

 blow crosswise through them. 



Remarkable Hawaiian Hardwood. 



The Honolulu Star. on.> of the leading publica- 

 tions of the Hawaiian l.slands, devoted consider- 

 able space in a recent issue to the ohia wood 

 ties which a local lumber company has con- 

 tracted to furnish the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 

 Fe Railroad In future. It said that the contract 

 which E. O. Faulkner, head of the tie and lum- 

 ber department of the road had Just signed with 

 the Hawaiian Mahogany Company will mean the 

 exportation of 00,000,000 board feet of ohIa to 

 the mainland within the next five years. While 

 the representatives of the lumber company are 

 unwilling to state the exact price obtained for 

 their lumber under the contract. It was between 

 ?2,500,000 and $3,000,000. 



The negotiations for the sale of the ties were 

 conducted by W. W. Harris, who recently re- 

 turned from a long trip to the coast, where he 

 took the matter up with the Santa Fe officials, 

 who caused a searching analysis to be made of 

 the samples of oUla which had been sent for the 

 purpose. When this was done the hardest part 

 of the fight was over, as the ohia tie proved 

 to be remarkable In tensile strength, spike hold- 

 ing qualities and density of fiber. In the tests 

 which were made, both by the federal authori- 

 ties and by the railroad chemists In their labo- 

 ratories, the white oak tie was taken as the 

 standard. The test showed the ohia to be thirty 

 per cent superior in some respects, and naturally 

 the railroad men were greatly Interested. 



The next step was to have an expert go to 

 Hawaii to examine the resources of the company 

 which offered the ties to the market. Mr. 

 Faulkner, In company with Manager Cant of 



the Hawaiian Mahogany Lumber Company, paid 

 a two weeks" visit to the forests of Hawaii. He 

 returned expressing the utmost satisfaction with 

 what he had seen and the signing of the con- 

 tract was the result. 



According to the contract terms the local 

 company is to furnish 500,000 ties six by eight 

 Inches and eight feet In length each year for five 

 years, the same to be delivered at such coast 

 ports as shall be designated by the railroad 

 company. In addition to this they shall deliver 

 each year 500 sets of switch ties, which are 

 heavier than the regular tie and vary in length 

 from ten to twenty-two feet. These ties will 

 all be shipped through the port of Hllo and the 

 gross tonnage per year will be In excess of 

 50,000 tons. The first shipment will be made 

 early in 1908. 



R. W. Shingle, president of the mahogany 

 company, says : 



"The ohia business is only a branch of our 

 work, as our real product will be koa, but at 

 present we have a good deal to do to handle 

 this big contract. When we have cleared away 

 the ohia, as, in many places it will be cleared for 

 cane land, we will reach the koa and our work 

 will then start in real earnest. We are cutting 

 the forest down under the supervision of For- 

 ester Hosmer. The ohia trees that will make 

 two good ties, that is, that are over a foot thick, 

 are being used for this purpose. 



"We will start the shipments from Keauhou 

 and Twenty-Nine Miles, and expect early in the 

 year to have the railroad which we are building 

 to connect with the Hiio railroad at Glenwood 

 completed. Nearly two miles are already graded 

 and six miles have been cleared. The ties will 

 be handled by the Hllo railroad. The next work 

 to be done will be on the new mill in Puna, and 

 we will also build a railroad connecting with 

 the main line at I'ahoa, and running some four 

 miles Into the forest eventually. It will run 

 through the ohia forests which skirt the koa, and 

 thus enable us to reach the koa property easily. 



"Mr. Faulkner goes to complete another con- 

 tract, this time for tics of Japanese oak. From 

 there he will go to Australia to inspect forests 

 owned there by the Santa Fe, and will return to 

 America by way of Scotland." 



Before leaving for the Orient, -Mr. Faulkner 

 informed a correspondent of the Honolulu Star 

 that he was greatly surprised with the resources 

 of Hawaii in the timber line. He visited the 

 forests at Funa, at Twenty-Nine Miles and In 

 Kona district, and found that tbe supply of both 

 ohia and koa was abundant. He examined the 

 ohia and found that it has tbe necessary last- 

 ing qualities. It will be excellent material for 

 ties. It is much harder than the pine ordinarily 

 used. The koa is a very fine species of wood. 

 It will make fine material for the interior fur- 

 nishing of cars. It will no doubt very quickly 

 forge Its own way to the front with no difficulty 

 as soon as it becomes well known on the main- 

 land. 



Valuable Philippine Lumber. 

 When the World's Fair was demolished Tamm 

 Bros, of St. Louis, large glue manufacturers, 

 purchased for ?2,000 the rough wood that 

 formed a part of the rhillppine exhibit. Re- 

 cently there have been a number of fires at 

 their plaqt "ud the logs were looked upon as 

 food for the flames. It was decided to have 

 them sawn Into lumber, but most of the sawmill 

 men declined the work because of the hardness 

 of the woods. Finally the Kinsley Wrecking 

 Company accepted the contract, and the logs 

 have made 50,000 feet of lumber which has a 

 market value of from J230 to $300 a thou- 

 sand. One log, an unusually fine specimen of 

 Ivory mahogany, is valued at $500. Tbe wood 

 Is so hard that after one ripping it is necessary 

 to reset and sharpen the teeth of tbe saws. 



