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Experience Talks on Woodworking 



As belting is one of the most expensive items that the mill owner 

 has to contend with, it naturally comes in for considerable thought. 

 The following points have been found valuable and may be of interest 

 to some readers of Hardwood Record: 



If possible use an endless belt. It runs better, is easier on the 

 machine and saves a great deal of time over the laced belt. A good 

 cabinet glue is as good to use on the joint as almost any belt cement, 

 and is easier to pry open when the belt needs tightening. 



Don't run the flesh side of the belt next to the puUey. If the 

 flesh side gives as good service as the tanned side, the tanner would 

 have no need of devoting so much time and care to getting a good 

 face on the belt. Don't use old varnish (and, one might say, some 

 belt dressings that are now on the market) to get your belt to pull. 

 After a few applications the belt will become hard and slick on the 

 face, and there is nothing to do but dope it up again, and before 

 long it will begin to crock. Experience has shown that an occa- 

 • sional application of. either ncatsf oot oil or a cheap grade of castor 

 oil will make the belt pull better and keep more life in the leather, 

 which, of course, will make the belt last longer. Always be sure 

 to remove any dust or shavings from the face of the belt before 

 using the oil. 



Usually the man who uses temperature recording instruments in his 

 drykiln, and looks after them closely, knows more about lumber dry- 

 ing than the man who does not, and he gets better results out of his 

 work. 



Certainly oak is oak, but wood workers would frequently get bet- 

 ter results if they kept in mind the fact that quarter-sawed oak and 

 plain oak should not be dried on the same truck, or on the same 

 pile, because it requires more time for the quarter-sawed stock to 

 thoroughly dry. 



Gravity conveyors are replacing some of the truck and wagon 

 hauling done from cars to yards and from yards into factories. This 

 is a modification of the well-known roller system of the sawmill. 

 Here light rollers are used in sectional frames with ball bearings, 

 and the entire equipment made light enough to handle and set up 

 readily. With the ball bearings, just a little incline will carry lum- 

 ber by gravity, and even on alevel a slight push will send a board 

 a hundred feet or more. 



Trucks are important items in dry-kiln work as well as heat, 

 moisture and ventilation, and these items often deserve more atten- 

 tion than they get. 



The right kind of lumber drying for cabinet work calls for time, 

 patience and steam, as well as good design in kilns, and with plenty 

 of these almost any kiln can be made to give fairly satisfactory 



Sometimes we hear of difficulties with lumber because it is too 

 dry. It is, however, a rare occurrence to have cabinet work, or any 

 other work, go bad because of excessive dryness in lumber, and it is 

 perhaps safe to say that ninety-nine per cent of the trouble in this 

 respect comes from lumber that is not thoroughly dry. 



pith rays, as the wood shrinks, finds relief by splitting radially 

 from the center along the pith rays. 



When a log is sawed into four quarters by passing the saw twice 

 through the center at right angles, the outer annual rings shrink the 

 most, so that the two flat surfaces of each quarter of the log cease 

 to be strictly at right angles to one another. In tangent-sawed 

 timber, however, the same shrinkage causes the center plank to con- 

 tract in thickness at its edge, while planks cut from the outside will 

 shrink in breadth, their edges curving away from the center of the 

 tree. 



In some of the small woodworking plants having no dry-kilns, one 

 may frequently observe pieces that have been blocked out and in this 

 way given a chance to season before finishing. A few months ago 

 there was seen quite a pile of chair arms, roughed from 3-inch 

 green oak planks. The room was quite warm and within twenty-four 

 hours nearly every piece was so badly checked that it was impossible 

 to use them, and they were taken to the fire box. 



The lumber should be squared as soon as cut, and even halved or 

 quartered, for the rate of drying depends much upon the shape and 

 size of the piece. The lumber should then be piled between sticks 

 in the seasoning yard, so as to be protected as much as possible from 

 the sun and rain, but with air circulating freely on all sides of the 

 pile. Bad ventilation is sure to cause rot. At the same time ex- 

 posure to high winds is likely to cause unequal drying. One of the 

 most fertile causes of decay at the lumber camp is the leaving of logs 

 to sink into soft ground where they are felled, often in the imme- 

 diate neighborhood of rotting stumpage or dead twigs. 



Lumber should be stacked, or at least skidded a foot off the 

 ground, "as soon as possible, and be protected by a roof. Experience 

 is against the stacking of planks vertically, or at any angle as this only 

 produces unequal drying, but planks may be stacked flat or on edge. 



Authorities give the following on the question of time required 

 for seasoning oak in a shed. Pieces 24-inches square, 26 months; 

 20-inches square, 22 months; 16-inches square, 18 months; 12-inches 

 square, 14 months; Sinches square, 10 months; 4-inches square, 6 

 months. Many will not agree to these figures for time, but prefer 

 air-drying oak to cover a period of from one to three years, de- 

 pending on the thickness of the lumber. 



Air-seasoning is ideal, but expensive for the reason that the manu- 

 facturer is compelled to carry an enormous stock of lumber ahead all 

 the time. Modern kilns will dry green lumber, right from the log, 

 within a surprisingly short time. Any one can purchase all the lum- 

 ber needed for ordinary requirements ready kUn-dried, and in so 

 doing solve many of the perplexing problems which arise where air- 

 dried or green lumber is used. 



An inquiry recently requested information on air seasoning, say- 

 ing: "Many small woodworking plants have no dry-kilns am, 

 would appreciate something along this line." 



Seasoning is ordinarily understood to mean drying, but in addi- 

 tion to the evaporation of water it implies other changes, such at the 

 drying out or partial decomposition of the albuminous substances 

 in the wood, rendering it more permeable and less fermentable. The 

 strength of many woods is nearly doubled by seasoning. The longi- 

 tudinal fibers of the wood, being bound together by the radiating 



Better have a poor plant under a good foreman than a good plant 

 under a poor foreman. 



A place for everything, and everything back to its place after 

 using, should be the rule in every planing mill plant. More time is 

 lost in the average mill hunting up tools that have been mislaid or 

 dropped into the shavings than the value of the tool. Who has not 

 seen an hour spent and several machines stopped because a wrench 

 had not been kept where it belonged? Often shavings have to be 

 cleared away, and a topsy-turvy time results. Then by accident a 

 man may put his hand up on a girt and at the same time upon the 

 lost wrench. This misplacement cost one company no less than $10.00, 

 and the mechanic knows the price of a wrench. 



Some managers don't get on well because they take up something 

 else before the thing in hand is finished. 



"Make a profit" is easy advice, but to get right down to bed 

 rock knowledge as to exactly what profit the mill or factory makes 

 requires systematic methods and ceaseless vigilance. 



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