22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



May 10, 1921 



Standardization of Dimension Stock 



*By William A. Babbitt, 



chairman of the Committee of Standardization, Association of Wood Using Industries 



//. Some Problems for the Lumbermen to Solve 



Tho first jjuper on the subject of Standardization of Dimension 

 Stock for Wood Using Industries endeavored to set fortli t!ie pre- 

 liminary steps necessary to be talcen before the standardization 

 project could be properly launched. 



After showing that the origin of the present movement goes 

 back to the efforts of wood users to establish a sound basis for cost 

 accounting, (which basis will always be one of the principal 

 benefits of standardization), figures were quoted showing the great 

 importance of standardization from the viewpoint of lumber con- 

 servation. The paper then proceeded to indicate and briefly dis- 

 cuss some of the more obvious reasons which prevented the general 

 turn of wood using industries from lumber to dimension; and 

 which prevented lumbermen from widely undertaking so obvious 

 and effectual a method of salvaging waste and getting a better 

 return for low grade lumber. 



Not a Discussion of Production Technique 



It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss manufacturers' 

 problems involved in the production of Standardized Dimension. 

 We wish to present certain outstanding features of the Standardi- 

 zation Program which particularly concern the lumbering interests. 

 This paper is an effort to view and attack this problem from the 

 right angle of approach. 



I. — Importance of Appreciating Consumers' Viewpoint 



One might easily and safely hazard the opinion that the lumber- 

 man who is not willing to take the time and trouble to get the 

 woodusers' point of view had better stay out of the Dimension 

 Program altogether. In fact, the writer believes that in no other 

 way can a lumberman get a proper sense of the importance of 

 small things in present day lumbering more easily and accurately 

 than to look at his business from a woodusers' standpoint. The 

 wooduser is daily brought face to face with these "small things" 

 in lumber. He knows how tremendously they affect his whole 

 production problem. These "small things" the lumberman is apt 

 to overlook, but the wooduser cannot do so. 

 A Case in Point 



We will assume, for the sake of illustration, that a lumberman 

 has gone into the production of dimension for some large manufac- 

 turer of turned wood products. This customer wants his stock 

 sawed in steps of one-eighth of an inch, throughout a certain range 

 of sizes. Such a specification might strike a lumberman as unrea- 

 sonable, especially if his customer should refuse oversize squares. 

 Let us say that the customer wants 1" x 1" squares, while the lum- 

 berman only has 1%" x 1%" squares. Why be fussy about so small 

 a matter as %" oversize? 



But the customer is not unreasonable, and he can easily show 

 tho reasonableness of his position. Did you ever figure the differ- 

 ence in volume between an 1" x 1" square and a square that is %" 

 larger? Probably not. But the manufacturer of turned wood 

 products knows — or ought to know — that if a certain job requires 

 five thousand feet b.m. of 1" x 1" squares, he will have to pay for 

 6,250 feet, providing he listens to the lumberman who wants him 

 to buy for this job, s()uares only one-eighth of an inch oversize. 



One thousand two hundred and fifty feet of this stock will be 



Editok's Note : This i^ the sc<:ond of three papers on the problems 

 involved in the stan4ardization of dimension stoch^, the first of which was 

 published in ITaudwood Recokd April 25. ilap we call your attention to 

 the introductory paragraph, and the statement that the^e papers deal only 

 with ijencral features of the problem, and not with technical details? 

 From time to tinie, and from many different but authoritative sources, Mr. 

 Babbitt expects to present studies that go into every practical detail of 

 the problem. 



thrown into shavings, at an extra cost of $125 for material, PLUS 

 the cost of manufacturing that 1,300 feet of lumber into shavings, 

 PLUS the cost of slow-cd production, due to the excessive turn-off, 

 on account of unnecessary oversize. ' This Vs" oversize square is 

 25 per cent larger than the required square. It would be very 

 conservative to state that this %" oversize, in this case, would 

 add at least 50 per cent to the cost of raw material for the job. 

 The point is that the woodusers' attitude is not always stupid or 

 unreasonable. Sometimes there is a very valuable grain of sense 

 and gleam of intelligence therein. 



The Reverse Side of the Illustration 



The reverse side is naturally the lumbermen's side. Let us sup- 

 pose the lumberman had said to his customer: "I haven't the one 

 inch squares, but I will give you the inch and one-eighth at the 

 same price, as there is very little difference." The customer 

 accepts. How does the lumberman come out? He sells his inch 

 and one-eighth squares at a discount of over 20 per cent, assuming 

 that he was selling both sizes on a $100 per M base. 



Further, this illustration sheds new light on the importance of 

 proper equipment for sawing. The writer's somewhat extensive 

 observation would tend to confirm the opinion frequently expressed 

 that most dimension outfits are equipped with saws that produce 

 one inch squares from stock which with proper saws would pro- 

 duce inch and one-eighth squares. In which case 200 board feet 

 or more are converted into saw dust for every thousand feet of 

 merchantable dimension stock produced- — board feet which ought 

 to be sold for real.mrfney. On an average dimension mill run of 

 7,500 feet a day, some 1,500 feet of merchantable stock daily 

 "goes up the flue." The point is that the question of saw kerf is 

 mueli more important in manufacturing dimension stock than in 

 manufacturing plank. It is as many times more important, as the 

 average number of rippings per board. 



Could there be any school of economy for lumbermen more sug- 

 gestive and profitable than to operate a dimension mill with per- 

 sistent and intelligent reference to saw kerf and net footage in 

 terms of dimension stock? 



The writer has ventured to extend his illustration to this great 

 length in order to bring home the vital point that is is all-impor- 

 tant for lumberman to see this dimension problem from the view 

 point of their customer. Furthermore, we wish to make plain that 

 there is no step in the Dimension Program which is not character- 

 ized by similar mutual advantages. 



Dimension Stock a Specialty 



One of the vivid and still fascinating memories of my childhood 

 is the visit of the family doctor of — well a good many years ago. 

 What a wonderful medicine case he carried! The very smell had 

 healing virtue. And what wonderful cures he compounded! Ten 

 to fifteen drugs for a tumbler of dosage were common, along with 

 half a dozen kinds of pills. In desperate cases he loaded his shot 

 with nearly his whole line. So we grew up strong and husky. 



But now doctors are becoming specialists. They have to be. 

 And incidentally they find it more profitable — or at all events, it 

 costs their patients more. 



There seems to be certain similarity with regard to dimension 

 stock. To succeed, one must specialize. It would be a big under- 

 taking for one mill to cover the standard specifications for, let 

 us say, farm wagons. Very few mills would safely undertake to 

 stock the line of specifications which have been submitted by the 

 National Association of Wood Turners. Careful students see little 

 chance for the mill who imitates the "shotgun dosage" practice 



