May 10, l!i21 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



53 



(.Cuntiuucd from page 23) 



grade proposition. Dinu'iision stock is lumber refined to its liiKhost 

 utility and greatest economy. Dimension stock is lumber with the 

 destructive wastes eliminated. Most dimension stock grades 

 higher than any comnuTcial grade, especially in hardwoods. It is 

 true that the great bulk of all dimension can be manufactured 

 out of low grade lumber, l.ut tlie dimension itself is ordin.nrily top 

 grades. 



-. That dimension stock is a low grade manufacturing proposi- 

 tion. This mistaken belief is so firmly fixed in the minds of the 

 production staff that, iu many cases, mental stump-pullers will be 

 useless. Nothing short of a funeral, or a flock of funerals, will 

 correct this evil. We are in possession of all the necessary data 

 to prove that the chief reason why most attempts heretofore to 

 salvage the obvious wastes of lumber operations by manufacturing 

 dimensions stock have failed is because the producer did not 

 realize that the manufacture of dimension stock is a much higher 

 and more difficult production problem than sawing logs. 



In order to get this matter vividly before you, we are submitting 

 a photograph of a lot of squares. These were manufactured by a 

 concern that stands second to no other, as producers of accurately 

 manufactured lumber. I know of no mill with better mechanical 

 equipment. Yet study this picture. Can you find a single square 

 in the lot? If you do, most likely the other end would prove to be 

 some other shape. The writer has had most unusual opportunity 

 to investigate this phase of the question, and he wishes the reader 

 to understand that this picture does not represent an unusual case. 



3. The third mistaken idea is that the curing of dimension 

 stock involves the same factors and methods as curing plank lum- 

 ber. In this connection, it is to be said that the Association of 

 Wood Using Industries has secured the assignment of a specialist 

 from the Forest Products Laboratories to give this problem the 

 same attention that has marked their handling of the problem of 

 kiln drying lumber.' 



4. The fourth mistaken idea is that the problem of properly 

 handling and grading dimension stock is not a basic condition of 

 success. Nor is this a simple problem. One of the main tasks in 

 the Program of Standardization is to determine how this stock 

 can be handled economically on grades. Many a permanent cus- 

 tomer for dimension has been killed off by receiving a car in which 

 grades, sizes and kinds were dumped, in one chaotic jumble. 



III. — Three Indispensable Requirements for Production of Dimen- 

 sion Stock 



Standardized dimension stock requires the manufacturer to put 

 new meaning into the word "accuracy." The production penalties 

 against inaccurately sawed dimension stock are very much greater 

 than those which apply to mis-sawn lumber. In most cases mis- 

 sawn dimension has little or no salvage value. Oversize, not infre- 

 quently, will be found an objection of considerable importance to 

 the wood user. It is always a serious loss to the producer. 



Years ago, when the new standards of accuracy were coming 

 into vogue, an- old-time macliinist came along and watched the 

 writer finishing a set of drawing dies. After a while he remarked, 

 "I reckon that a sixteenth of an inch would make quite a bit of 

 difference on the fit of those dies!" I reckoned so myself. Today 

 there are not a few woodworking plants who work to limits of 

 .001 at a fixed humidity. Eelative to general practice in manu 

 facturing plank lumber, a corresponding increase in accuracy is 

 called for in manufacturing dimension stock. 



The second requirement is speed. Dimension stock must be 

 handled fast. In some of the old-time dimension mills "down 

 east," which have specialized on spool bars (from which thread 

 spools are turned) for many years, it is no uncommon case for a 

 gang of nine men to saw and pile 8,000 feet of dimension squares 

 per day, as an average for the season. This includes removing the 

 edgings and waste. There is all needed experience to show that it 

 is possible to produce accurately sawed dimension stock at high 

 production speeds. 



The third requirement is economy. Attention has already been 



directed to this point in the opening paragraphs of this article. 

 The cost of unnecessary kerf, of careless layout of cuttings, of 

 unnecessary oversize, of mis-sawing and of oiis-handling are enor- 

 mously greater than corresponding faults in commercial lumber. 



Furthermore, to handle dimension economically for botli the pro- 

 ducer and tlie consumer, it will probably be necessary to go to some 

 expense to separate grades and lengths and sizes, and to bind 

 these in secure, separate bundles. All these precautions and care- 

 ful methods cost money and must be paid for, with a reasonable 

 profit, by the buyer. But dimension stock is worth more to the buyer 

 than clear lumber in the plank in nearly all classes and grades. If 

 it is the duty and privilege of the lumber associations to educate 

 and encourage their members to manufacture dimension stock, 

 which is as good and as standard as wheat or gold, it is equally 

 the duty of the Associations of the Wood Using Industries to 

 educate their members to the economic value to them of stand- 

 ardized dimension stock, so that their buyers will recognize and 

 pay the higher values that lumber in this form represents, as com- 

 pared with commercial lumber. 



The Wood Users' Problems 



The wood users have liad the opportunity of reading this dis- 

 cussion from a lumberman's point of view. Tlie purpose of the 

 next paper is to discuss the same problems from the wood user's 

 viewpoint. It will then be the privilege of the lumberman to 

 reciprocate. 



Lumber Trade Customs 



Editor's Note: The decision which follows is published through 

 the courtesy of the American Wlwlesale Lumber Association, and is 

 the result of a judgment rendered by the Arbitration Department of 



Unit (issociation. These decisions will appear regtdarly. 



Terms to Wholesalers 



THE FACTS — The Buyer, a wholesaler, placed an order by mail specifying 

 thereon "Usual Terms." The Seller acknowledged receipt, specifying terras 

 as follows : 



"Terms : Net 60 days, or 2 per cent cash discount on net amount after 

 rUxiucting freight charges for payment as follows : 30 per cent net amount 

 15 ilays from date of invoice, linal settlement 5 days after arrival of car." 



No objoction was made by the Buyer and shipments were accepted as 

 invoiced, under the terms of the acknowledgment. The Buyer failed to 

 settle until several months after arrival of cars, but offered to pay interest 

 for all extra time taken after the net due date. 



THE DISPUTE — The Buyer contended that the 60 days "tree time" 

 should date frora time of arrival, and the Seller, that same should date 

 from date of shipment. Each based his contention on trade custom with 

 respect to "Usual Terms" to wholesalers and the consequent construction 

 that should be placed on the indetinite expression "Net 60 days" used in 

 the terms specified in the acknowledgment. 



THE DECISION — The terms of settlement specified in a contract must 

 be considered as much a part thereof as is the price and any attempt od 

 the part of the Purchaser to lessen the cost liy deferring the time of 

 payment beyond the agreed date Is no more justified than it would be to 

 reduce the agreed price. 



In this case the Buyer was a wholesaler and agreed to settle according to 

 usual terms granted to wholesalers and, according to trade ethics and cus- 

 tom, there Is a difference between the terms to wholesalers and those to 

 retailers. Therefore, and upon the evidence submitted, it is held that the 

 shipments in question were due net 60 days from dates of shipments and 

 Buyer should therefore pay interest for all time taken after expiration of 

 said dates. 



Memphis Club Entertains Nine 



The Southern League Memphis baseball team were the special guests 

 of the Lumbermen's Club of Memphis at the regular semi-monthly meeting 

 of the latter at the Iliitcl Ciayoso, Saturday, April 30. 



S. B. Anderson. Anderson-Tully Company, and W. H. Dick, Tallahatchie 

 Lumber Company, were designated to represent the club at the annual o( 

 tlie Mississippi Valley Association at New Orleans May 2. Funds were 

 voted to pay their expenses. 



Arthur Bruce, of E. L. Bruce & Compan.v, Memphis and Little Rock, was 

 elected a member. 



