28 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Kk.soi.vkii, That the thiinks of this association be tondcied to thi> speak- 

 ers of this nieotini;. C. M. Bryan, .T. M. Tutlier and .1. D. Allen, for the 

 hospitality of lliclr words, and to .lames Boyd. .1. E, Ilhodos and A. 

 Kraetzor for the thonRhl and care given to their papers and to the great 

 fund of Information furnished. 



Whereas, The memhers of the Hardwood Mantifaetnfers' Association of 

 the I'nited Stales, who are so fortunate as to lie at this meeting, have 

 enjoyed themselves to the utmost; and 



Whbkeas, The activity and liospllallty of the Lumbermen's Club of 

 Memphis contributed in a large degree to this enjoyment ; and 



Wheheas, The committee of the I.uuilierinen's Club of Memphis has 

 been Indefatigable in Its etforts to make the occasion a successful and en 

 Joyable one ; tlierefore, be It 



Resolvko. That this association hereby express Its gratitude to (he 

 I/umbermen's Club of Memphis for :ill it has done in their behalf, 



Rk.soi.vki>, That a vote of thanks be tendered to the retiring officers and 

 executive board for Ibelr untiring efforts toward the furtherance of the 

 objects of the association: thi'ir work well shows in the great interest 

 shown at tills meeting, in its increased membership and in its substan- 

 tial bank balance. 



Wiieueas, Representative K, P, McKellar has introduced in the Ilousn 

 of Representatives Bill H-R 0771. wbicli provides and makes It com- 

 pulsory for carriers to issue through bills of lading : and 



Whereas, Representative K. D. McKellar has introduced In tlie House 

 of Representatives Bill II-R i)7,"i;J, which amends the Ilarter act to the 

 extent of making owner, manager, agi'nt or niaslei' liabli' for loss or dam- 

 age arising from faults or errors in navigation or management of vessels ; 

 and 



WHEREA.S, Our memluTs are vitally interested in seeing tliese bills en- 

 acted : therefore, be it 



Resoi-VED. That tills association in joint convention go on recorti as 

 approving these bills, and that a letter be written the speaker of the 

 House of Representatives asking for tlieir prompt consideration. 



The resolutions were adopted as a whole. 



Albert Kraetzer of Chicago gave an interesting talk on scientific 

 lumber drying: 



Scientific Seasoning of Lumber 



I'm going to talk on a subject that is as old as the "Uills" (meaning 

 Sam Hill and "Yim" Hill). Let me first draw your attention to the 

 deterioration or waste that occurs during the period that elapses between 

 the time good lumber is taken from the chains and poor lumber is taken 

 down from the pile. To the average sawmill man this is not so apparent, 

 because he is used to it. while an observant outsider may see it instinc- 

 tively. The sawmill man will try to save ten cents per thousand in the 

 cutting of his lumber: I am concerned in reducing his loss in degrade 

 during the drying period. I'm concerned in cutting down this loss from 

 $1.50 to ,10 cent.s. In 1912 over thirty liillion feet of lumber was produced. 

 Suppose only 50 cents per thousand of degrade on only ten billion feet 

 of this had been avoided : five million dollars would have been saved. 

 Let's try to save some of this for ourselves. 



Not all improvemeuts originate from the inside, but when they originate 

 from the outside they are mostly due to the desire of the originator to 

 make some money for himself thereby. Occasionally an improvement is 

 suggested by an outsid'n*. on the spur of the moment, without expectation 

 of an emolument. 



A case in point happened to me. I'or a number of years — a period I'd 

 like to forget — I was engaged more or less wiisuccessfully in trying to 

 amass a competence by the manufacture of interior trim. One day an 

 acquaintance, a music teacher, came in to have a special music rack made. 

 He had a sketch that looked like a cubist picture of the bray of a donkey, 

 and as we were very busy finishing up a slxteen-flat building, I tried my 

 best to turn him away, but he stuck. Finally I offered to get out the neces- 

 sary stiips for him. and this he met by the flatfooted assertion that he 

 could not drive a nail straight. So the easiest way to get rid of him was 

 to make his contraption. 



While this was being done he wandered around to where a couple of 

 workmen were assembling the first of sixteen rather elaborate sideboards. 

 He watched tliem for a minute or two and then called me over. "Say," 

 said he. "why don't these fellows put that thing together this way?" I 

 looked at him just as most of you would look at a stranger that presumed 

 to criticize your methods : hut I had sense euough to give him a second 

 thought, and. sure enough, what he had seen was true, and we saved over 

 a dollar apiece on fifteen sidelioards. Of roump I appreciated his sugges- 

 tion, and to show my appreciation I charged him $1.25 for his rack instead 

 of SI 00, which I think was letting him off very reasonably. 



My plant was located in a distant corner of Chicago, and our product 

 for years consisted of pine finish. The cork pine of those days was easy 

 to work: was straight and easily dried: so when our trade gradually 

 required more and more hardwoods, our troubles increased. What struck 

 me most was the crookedness of hardwood as compared with pine, and 1 

 often wondered how a sawmill could possibly produce so poor an article — 

 liow it could possil>ly lead its saws around the curves. 



Then a chance presented itself to visit a southern sawmill, and when I 

 saw the beautiful lumber that came from the chains. I said to myself. 

 "Alta : I've discovered something. This isn't the kind of lumber I've been 

 getting I'll just wait 1111 they bc-gin to i-aw the crooked stuff." Ri.t thev 



kept on sawing the same beautifully manufactured boards. Then I inter- 

 viewed the sawyer. I complimented him on the excellence of his product 

 and asked him, "When are you going to saw some crooked stuff? I am 

 curious to see how you do it." He was a big burly guy wltli large com- 

 petent hands, and when he stopped his carriage and looked al me in that 

 lone of voice I was Instantly reminded that 1 had pressing business else- 

 where. So I wandered out to the yard. There I saw the kind of lumber 

 I had been getting, coming down from the pile. Just tlien the yard 

 foreman hove in sight and I tackled him. Said I, "Mr. Smith, where do 

 .vou keep your straight lumber?" I just knew from his looks that he 

 wondered who had left the gate open. "I mean the kind that is coming 

 off the chains now." The same expression that had been on the sawyer's 

 face came over his, but as he was a ratlier small man I stood my ground. 

 "This is some of it," he said, and added l)elllgerently, "what's the mattei' 

 with it?" Dubiously I walked away from him. Was I seeing things? Or 

 was he so obtuse that he could not see the enormous deterioration the 

 lumber had suffered in its progress from the chains to the dry state? 

 Honestly, he hadn't noticed it. Nobody connected with the institution had 

 particularly noticed it. It seemed to be taken for granted, at least, that 

 this big loss could not be avoided, or rather they did not seem to know- 

 there was a loss. They didn't even want to waste time enough to talk 

 about it ; on the contrar.v, they tallced me into buying a carload or two, 

 and so I dismissed the subject. 



Some time later I had occasion to make some bent oak pieces for cover- 

 ing the caps of a lot of iron columns in a certain building. Nearly all of 

 us have a "man Friday" around the place, and my man Friday got this 

 Job. The stuff was '/i"x4" oak, bent to a 7" radius. (The pieces were 

 ripped from a green plank procured from a neighboring shipyard.)' He 

 made a small steam box and steamed these pieces — in loose steam, of 

 course — and then bent them around forms. , This 'was all comparatively 

 new to me and I watched the operation like a hawk. 



Overnight these bent pieces had dried and had set in the bent shape. 

 (Please remember the word set, for 1 shall refer to it again.) The pieces 

 were dry. they were set in their new shapes — very obstinately so — were 

 of a rich color, and the working qualities were so much better than on 

 ordinary oak that I marveled. Then a number of similar cases came to 

 mind, and in every one the factor of set entered. The bent plow handle, 

 the bent fop of the walking stick, the bent shafts of the buggy, the bent 

 portions of certain spindly chairs, the scythe handle, and a host of others. 



They all exhibited this factor of .set. which in the case of the plow 

 handle resisted even constant exposure to the weather. In every case the 

 bent part held its shape — held it tenaciously. 



Then I had an inspiration (I'm taken that way quite often, and they 

 are not induced, either,) Why wouldn't the same stuff handled in the 

 same way but bent straight have the same characteristics? "Sure," said 

 Friday. And then began a most interesting series of experiments. I 

 soon found that steaming in loose steam did not reach the center of inch 

 lumber quickly enough ; so why not try steam under pressure. Well, I'll 

 not weary you with a recital of trials and tribulations. Suffice it to say 

 that after several months I was doing stunts that were surprising, and in 

 every case the lumber was "set" — straight and holding its shape. 



So now on to AVashington for a patent on the greatest discovery of the 

 age ! I had the world by the neck ! Mind you, this was ten years ago — 

 and the world's neck is still free. 



Well, in Washington they were very polite, very nice and, oh ! so 

 sorry ; and tliey shoved a patent on the process of steaming lumber under 

 pressure, under my nose, that was dated 1859. 1859 ! Thirty years 

 before I was born ! Have you ever had a favorite mother-in-law die on 

 you? I felt as though ail three of mine had died! 



.\nd again a host of instances came to my notice. George D. Emery 

 of Boston had been steaming ordinary mahogan,v under pressure twenty- 

 five years before and selling it to the Pullman company as emery wood. 

 Today a prominent manufacturer of fancy woods is delivering dry mahog- 

 any in six hours from the saw. 



Onl.v a few weeks ago a practical veneer manufacturer and scientist, a 

 Russian, told the National Veneer & Panel Manufacturers' Association 

 about this process as applied to veneer logs, and stated that it had been 

 in use for over thirty years in Finland. So-and-so had used the process 

 in sucli and such a year, and so-and-so at such and such a time, etc., 

 ad nmiHeum, 



Well, after all. I could continue to use it in my business, and I worked 

 up quite a local fame for it. Anyway, I could handle any kind of lumber, 

 no matter how green, and materially straighten out the crooked. In short, 

 kiln-drying (roubles no longer existed for me. My product stood the gaff 

 under all sorts of conditions ; heat or cold, wet or dry. It was all the 

 same to it. 



A famous five and ten cent store concern has m.v material in over a 

 hundred stores: from New York to Kansas Cit.v. and from Duluth to 

 Frankfort, and I'll defy anyone to find a trace of shrinkage. Kiln-dried 

 oak in sevent.v-two hours? Kiln-dried birch in thirty-six hours! Kiln- 

 dried poplar in twenty-four hours I Easy as falling off a log. 



One day a recollection of the sawmill came, and with it the thought, 

 "If this is so huge a success on lumber that is at least partially air-dried 

 and has already suffered its deterioration, why not treat lumber fresh 

 from the saw before this degrade lias occurred, and air-dry it?" 



Why not? 



I exporimented in a small way on what greon materinl I could get in 



