January 25, 1919 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



39 



Forests and Shoes 



In the report by the United Stiites Forester, just published, occurs the 

 following paragraph containing some interesting facts regarding the war 

 and its requirements : 



"There might seem to be little conuoctiou between the army's require- 

 ments for shoes and the forests, but in point of fact the Immense quantity 

 of heavy leathers required for the large order of the new Pershing shoes 

 brought the country face to face with a serious shortage of tanning ma- 

 terials. Under normal business conditions the tanning industry of the 

 United States uses about 175,000 tons annually of imported tanning 

 materials. Owing to the scarcity of ships it was impossible for the 

 shipping board to provide space for such a large amount of material. 

 The Forest Service therefore undertook a study of the domestic tanning 

 industry. A canvass was made of the chestnut extract plants in the South- 

 ern Appalachians and of the bark producers in the North. It was found 

 that the supply of wood on hand at the plants was only about forty per 

 cent of the normal supply, and that the plants were producing only about 

 seventy per cent of their possible output. The reasons for this situation 

 were found to be lack of woods labor and of transportation facilities, 

 shortage of coal, shortage of labor at the plants, and delayed transporta- 

 tion of the finished products and the return of tank cars. Owing to the 

 labor situation the price of acid wood in many localities has advanced 

 from $5.50 to $10 per cord of 160 cubic feet. The amount of chestnut, 

 oak bark and other barks on hand was also. found somewhat below nor- 

 mal. As a result of the investigation measures were taken so that extract 

 plants could run at increased capacity. 



Luther Burbank's Walnut 



An article in the Pioneer Western Lumberman, San Francisco, tells 

 some remarkable things concerning a hybrid walnut produced by Luther 

 Burbank by crossing the black walnut and the California walnut. The 

 reading of the article is apt to rouse a suspicion that it is a paid adver- 

 tisement, because it insists so strongly that persons who want to plant 

 trees for future timber, or for nut growing, should purchase the nursery 

 stock from Mr. Burbank, and be sure of getting this wonderful walnut. 



But whether an advertisement or not, some of the statements made 

 are interesting, and if they are true, persons about to plant woodlots 

 would do well to look further into the merits of this hybrid tree, which 

 is called "royal walnut." According to these statements, the tree was 

 originated between thirty and forty years ago, and trees less than twenty- 

 flve years old are ninety-six feet high, and three feet in trunk diameter 

 twelve feet above the ground. Mr. Burbank declares that no other 

 American tree of his knowledge grows so rapidly. Trunks may increase 

 two inches in diameter a year. He says he has submitted samples of 

 the wood to makers of musical instruments and furniture in New York 

 and Chicago and they pronounce it hard and of close grain and fine and 

 silky texture. But nothing is said of the figure. He says the tree will 

 thrive in climates where the thermometer does not fall lower than twenty- 

 two below zero. 



The tree has wide-spreading branches and is a prolific bearer of excel- 

 lent nuts. The claim made for it as a producer of lumber is of most 

 interest to lumbermen, because there can be no question that walnut, for 

 timber, will be largely planted in this country during the next few years 

 to make up for the depletion caused by cutting walnut for gun stocks 

 during the war. If the royal walnut will produce a trunk diameter of 

 three feet in twenty-five years, or even in fifty years, it is worth investi- 

 gating. 



The California walnut, with which the black walnut was crossed, is a 

 rather inferior tree in it.s native country, and seldom exceeds a height of 

 sixty feet or a diameter of eighteen inches. The nuts are about half the 

 size of the common black walnut, but their flavor is fine. The wood is hard 

 and dense, resembles black walnut in color, and is occasionally finely 

 figured. The tree grows slowly, and is found growing naturally in cer- 

 tain parts of California only. It has long been known as suitable stock 

 on which to graft Circassian walnut now so extensively grown in California 

 and Utah. 



Chinese Varnish Made of Sumac 

 The lacquer work for which the Japanese are famous is made of th« say 

 drawn from a species of sumac and dried in the air. Its principal use U 

 on metals, and its usual color is black, although it may be had in other 

 colors. The account of a Chinese varnish, which follows, is from the 

 London Timber Trades Journal: 



Varnish manufacturers and users are more or less familiar with 

 Chinese wood oil or nut oil, but there is another oil in China from which 

 is derived an odd varnish that, it is said, is kept a secret and controlled 

 by only a few Chinese. The varnish is known as Ningpo, and Is said to 

 be made from the sap of a tree called the varnish tree, known botanically 

 as Rhua vemiclfera. One of the peculiar features of this Ningpo varnish 

 is that It is said it will not dry in fine, clear weather, but dries best in 

 moist, damp weather, under which conditions it will harden in two hours. 

 When using this varnish when the weather is dry a series of damp cloths 

 are hung in the room to accelerate the drying of the varnish. This is odd 

 in that it differs from the usual varnish and the methods followed for 

 drying it. There is a suggestion, too, that varnish of this odd type would 

 be excellent for boats and outside work where there is exposure to weather, 

 for it It hardens under the influence of water It should be water-reslstln£. 



All Three of Us Will Be Benefited if 



Woods Used in Making Violin Bows 



The general reader know.s very little about the violin bow or the making 

 of it. The expert violinist tells us that the same is true of the professional 

 bow maker. The quality and value of a bow can be determined best by the 

 expert violinist who understands thoroughly the technique of both the 

 bow and violin. There is a great difference between a bow commonly used 

 liy the fiddler and the favorite bow of the recognized master of the violin. 

 I'.ow makers with many years of experience may turn out hundreds of 

 ordinary bows to one possessing the properties sought by the best players. 

 It is true that a bow may be considered to possess the requisite charac- 

 teristics by one player and not by another, but the fact remains that only 

 .'i very small percentage of those turned out annually are high-class bows. 



The character and quality of a bow are naturally dependent very largely 

 upon the workmanship, but the kind of wood used is perhaps the chief 

 factor determining the value of a bow, and the object of these notes is 

 simply to outline briefly the woods that have been employed and to describe 

 the kind now most commonly used in bow making. A number of our native 

 woods have been tested, but only a few of tbem have been found satis- 

 factory for making only the cheaper grades of bows. Beech, maple, dog- 

 wood, persimmon, holly, yellow poplar and red gum are among those which 

 have been used, but they all lack certain essential characteristics of a 

 good bow wood. Thus far bow makers have not been able to make high- 

 class bows from any of our native woods. Snakewood, satin wood and 

 boxwood from tropical .\merica have been used to a certain extent ; snake- 

 wood makes a fancy bow, but it lacks the qualities of the true Pernambuco, 

 which appears to be the only satisfactory wood for this purpose, and a 

 brief reference to this little-known tree and the wood may prove to be of 

 interest to the general reader. 



The name Pernambuco i.s a little confusing, because it is applied in the 

 trade to a number of related trees growing in Brazil. Several different 

 woods were originally shipped into Europe under this name long before 

 the trees producing them were described botanically. The first consign- 

 ments were shipped from various parts of Brazil and the wood was desig- 

 nated in the trade as Brazil wood. This word was later corrupted to 

 brasil, brasillete, braslletto, etc., which are names given also to other dye- 

 yielding woods in different parts of tropical America. 



After the dyewood industry in Brazil had attained considerable com- 

 mercial importance in the early part of the eighteenth century the gov- 

 ernment formed a royal monopoly. The exportation of the wood except 

 on account of the government was strictly prohibited under severe penal- 

 ties. Government agents were instructed to gather all the wood avail- 

 able and bring it to Pernambuco for shipment to Europe. It then came 

 to be called Pernambuco wood, which name was soon corrupted to Fer- 



We Want 

 to Buy 



"POPLAR" 



1" Firsts and Seconds, 

 Selects and Saps. Any quantity. 



Can use stock 30 days or 

 longer on sticks 



J.V.STIMSON&CO. 



OWENSBORO, KY. 



You Mention HARDWOOD RECORD 



