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Fir Wood Distillation 



Editor's Note 



The rapid advance in w.iod distlllntlim fm- loumurciiil puiposPB Indltatis that much of the forest and mill 

 waste will bo utilized in tlu' inar lulure by that means. The followlui; article Is descriptive of methods and 

 products successfuliv liandled on tlie racitle cuast, where two or threi- wihhIs thus far meet the demand. There 

 Is no apparent ri'ason why tlii' Held may not hr I'nlarRi'd to include unmy wools in various ports of the country. 

 The article was prepared for Haiii)W(h>d Uei-ohu liy Huron II. Sniltli. assistant euralor. Division of DendroloBy, 

 I'ield Museum of Natural llistorv. Thicaiio. who personally invesilKatecl the distillation work on the Pacific coast. 



The iirobleiu of waste in a sawmill remains a large one despite 

 the many improvements and inventions of today. The refuse 

 burner or clump pile has long been a source of dissatisfaction to 

 the manufacturer, and he has progressively saved odds and ends 

 from the flames. Lath, shingles, edgings, made-up boards from 

 ground wood, alcohol, and wood-pulp are some of the numerous 

 by-products that have been 

 saved. 



With all the saving of waste, 

 the manufacturer has still had 

 to pocket a very small profit 

 or indeed a deficit in the 

 square timber that came from 

 the very heart of the log. Usu- 

 ally these pieces are so full of 

 knots as to place them in a 

 grade lower than the cost of 

 mantjfacture. 



A good solution to this prob- 

 lem has taken place on the Pa- 

 cific coast at Linnton, near 

 Portland, Ore., in the estab- 

 lishment of the Oregon Wood 

 Distilling Company. This heart 

 piece of timber is the very 

 thing it wants because it is so 

 full of pitch. Destructive wood 

 distillation seems to have found 

 its proper place in utilizing 

 sawmill waste there. In the 

 East, wood distilling plants 

 have been cutting their own 

 trees and using timber that 

 might well have been manufac- 

 tured into lumber. Destructive 

 wood distillation is not so well 

 developed in the United States 

 as it is abroad, particularly in 

 the Scandinavian peninsula; 

 but with our great supply of 

 waste wood it seems reasonable 

 to suppose that wood distillates 

 may rival coal tar products in 

 variety and usefulness. 



The Oregon Wood Distilling 

 Company is a pioneer on the 

 coast and is manufacturing a 

 goodly number of products and 

 acquiring a good market. In all, they number some twentv-four 

 different products, but the company markets, at present, only 

 about a third of that number. 



Since the company possesses all the niaehiuery of wood disiilla- 

 tion, it also distills balsam from the western balsams or firs. 

 This it buys from farmers and gathers at $17.50 a barrel, and it is 

 obtained by tapping the trees as for maple sap, except that in this 

 case it is a hit or miss proposition. If a ring-shake or seam is 

 tapped, a single tree may flow a barrel, if not, only a bucketful 

 may be obtained. The balsam thus secured is really superior to 

 Canada balsam, and, purified, is marketed as Canada balsam. The 

 bulk of this product, however, is distilled and yields a turpentine 



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HATTE 



of the first (|uality — the finest in the world. It is of the "laevo- 

 rotatory " type in contrast to the "dextro-rotatory" type, and is 

 sold for medicinal prescri|itions, in which market it readily brings 

 $2.50 a gallon. The violet odor peculiar to turpentine is absent 

 from it, being replaced by the fragrance of the freshly cut tree. 

 The turpentine thus obtained is so clear as to be almost a blue 

 white. The residue of this dis- 

 tillation process is fir resin, 

 which is a solid and is highly 

 ]irized in making varnishes and 

 .-izing for paper, etc. It is 

 elastic and flexible, not brittle 

 as so many resins are. 



The main work of this plant, 

 however, is the manufacture of 

 distillates of Douglas fir. The 

 plant is quite near the sawmill 

 of Clark & Wilson, and the 

 heartwood of the fir is all light- 

 ered down to it on the Willa- 

 mette river. 



The heartwood of Douglas fir 

 is unsuited for regular clear 

 lumber because of its seams, 

 cracks, dotiness and pitch. All 

 such wood is reduced to 4 by 6 

 inch blocks and hoisted into 

 retorts, about eight cords to a 

 retort. Distillation is then 

 started by intense heat. After 

 it has progressed a certain time 

 the gas of distillation is turned 

 into the furnaces for fuel. The 

 first thing to come over the re- 

 tort is steam turpentine of 

 about .87 degrees specific grav- 

 ity. This is used as a painters' 

 medium and is yielded in quan- 

 tities of from one-half to four 

 gallons per cord, depending on 

 the amount of pitch in the 

 wood. Following this a black 

 substance is driven over, which, 

 when separated out, is a tar 

 of an excellent quality suited 

 to medicinal purposes. The last 

 part of all to come over from 

 the retort direct is fir oil, a 

 heavy oil of .96 degrees specific gravity, which contains a large 

 percentage of "turpineol. " "Turpineol" was analyzed out by 

 Professor Benson of the University of Washington, at Seattle, 

 and is a highly useful product in medicinal uses and in the arts. 

 The destructive distillation combination that has remained in 

 the retort, is transferred to the still and there separated into 

 its various products and degrees of density. At a temperature 

 below and up to 150 degrees centigrade light oils are driven oflf. 

 These are a mixture of turpentine, methyl alcohols and very small 

 portions of other things. This product is sold as number 2 tur- 

 pentine or preferably used in combination with a later product 

 for a trade product. The tar oil of this distillation could be 



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