'Mnf 10. ISl.'i 



The Development of Cedar 



The iniiniliiritv of ccdiir olicts is growing, iiuii oinif-oquontly the 

 demands of Uie niiiniifaeturing trade for this material are expanding. 

 AlUiough many of the chests which arc being put on the market are 

 made of mahogany, lined nitli ^-inch red cedar, even this means that 

 a lot of the lumber is being used, for every furniture and depart- 

 ment store is selling I'ednr ciicsts. 



It is also worthy of remark that a good many old houses of the 

 better rlass wore built witli closet* which were lined with cedar, 

 while the shelves were of the some niatcriiil. It might lie possible 

 for the concerns which are specializing in cedar to make a few sug- 

 gestions along this line to architects and owners, some of whom may 

 have the erroneous impression that cedar, like walnut, is too limited 

 in supply to l>e furnished for this purpose. 



Cedar undoubtedly ha.» qualities which make it a very valuable 

 wood for certJiin special uses. 



Cleaning Up the Plant 



One of the reasons why a great many lumber and woodworking 

 plants fail to make as much money as they are entitled to is the 

 lack of concentrated eflfort to get aU the value out of the by-product. 

 In other words, they make their main product well, and give it all 

 the attention necessary, but when it comes to getting the worth of 

 the material which is left over, there is nothing doing. 



A correspondent of Hardwood Eecord was recently in a lumber 

 yard where poplar bevel siding is manufactured on a large scale. 

 The machines are all individually motor-driven, central station current 

 being used, which means that the sawdust and shavings cannot be 

 burned, but must be disposed of otherwise. The ^ame applies to the 

 oflfal from the machines. 



The head of the plant said that he makes something en every 

 kind of material produced. He has an annual contract which takes 

 care of the shavings and dust. The price is satisfactory and goes a 

 long way toward paying the monthly power bill. The narrow rippings 

 are manufactured into lath. The wider stock is piled separately and 

 sold to the planing mills for moldings. The short stuff which can- 

 not be worked up is all carefully piled and finds a ready market as 

 kindling wood. These sound like small things, but as a matter of 

 fact the income from these various sources is sufficient to pay divi 

 dends on a considerable capital. 



The Complete Sawmill 



It is an interesting fact that many lumber manufacturers have 

 found it worth while to put in equipment which will enabie them to 

 deliver stock other than in a rough, partially dried condition. This 

 is not to say that everybody is getting into the dimension business, 

 but owing to the demand of many consumers for lumber dressed and 

 dried, sawmill operators, in considerable numbers, save installing dry 

 kilns and planing mills. 



In cities where there are numerous wholesale yards, it is usually 

 found that one of the lumber concerns has been wise enough to put 

 in saws and planers for this and similar work, and in addition to 

 putting its own stock in the best possible shape for the consumer 

 it gets a lot of custom work which nearly pays for the operation of 

 the plant. 



Looking at the sawmill proposition again, think how many plants 

 have been added to by the introduction of flooring manufacturing. 

 The tendency all along the line seems to have been in the direction 

 of carrying the process a little further than formerly and making 

 products which the consumer can use with the necessity for the least 

 possible additional treatment on his part. 



Some of these tendencies may be wrong. For instance, the lum- 

 berman who jumps into the flooring business may be tackling a 

 harder proposition than he imagines. But, whether this is the 

 case or not, it is worth while observing the way things are going. 



Is the Commission Man to Blame? 

 A good many lumbermen have taken a whack recently at the 

 commission man, who is said to have been responsible for many of 

 ^18— 



the ills that tho business seems to be heir to. It is declared that he 

 18 always on the siilo of tho buyer and, being interested chiefly in 

 getting ordeis, and not at all in tho profit of the manufacturer, he 

 exerts himself to bear the market, and, following tho line of least 

 resistance, always suggests to the buyer that he can get tlie stock 

 cheaper than somebody else has quoted it. And then he proceeds to 

 make good by holding out tlie order at the roduceil price to con- 

 cerns which happen to need business, finally landing one which doesn't 

 want to carry tho sto<'k over to the inventory. 



But is it true that the commission man is the one responsible for 

 starvation prices in the hardwood business? If a lumber buyer were 

 to decide to deal direct, could he and would he not follow the same 

 processf He is naturally and inevitably a "bear," and it is bis 

 business to buy in the cheapest market. If he oiTcreil his business to 

 a large number of mills, "shop|)ing" in the same way that the com- 

 mission man is accused of doing, would ho not find the same response 

 — some one willing to trade lumber for coin of the realm, with the 

 discount in favor of the latter? 



This is probably the case. The criticism, therefore, instead of 

 being directed at the man who is selling the lumber, and who, to 

 that extent, at least, is performing a service, should be aimed at the 

 lumbermen themselves, who haven 't enough backbone to ask what 

 they know their stock to be worth. 



An Argument for Motors 



In a certain large plant devoted to the manufacture of a furniture 

 specialty, power is generated in a steam plant and is mechanically 

 transmitted by shafting and belts to the individual machines. At the 

 same time, the concern has one large machine, used for performing 

 the double operation of planing and grooving, which is driven by a 

 seventy-five horsepower motor, the current being supplied by the 

 local central station. 



This double arrangement of power facilities was made because it 

 was found that the engines were so heavily loaded by the machines 

 already in use that to take care of the big fellow which is motor- 

 driven would have necessitated an enlargement of the power plant. 

 The manufacturer came to the sensible conclusion that he could do 

 *io better than use ;in individiKil motor for it, leaving things in statu 

 quo as far as the remainder of tlie plant is concerned. 



Another interesting feature about the same plant is the fact that 

 two different products are made. One is manufactured in one end 

 of the factory and the other at the farther end, the dry kilns being 

 in between. Owing to the distance between the two, and the con- 

 sequent loss of power which would be involved otherwise two engines 

 are used, one located close to the first and the other near the second 

 department. Tho shafting is therefore less extended and trans- 

 mission losses are much smaller than they would be if only one engine 

 were employed. 



Knowing the Stock 



Though to some consumers lumber is simply lumber, this is not 

 true o^ a great many others, whose requirements are out of the 

 ordinary. To sell this trade, therefore, means that the lumberman 

 must know the special characteristics of the material he is trying to 

 sell. He ought to be familiar with them on general principles, but 

 Jie must be if he is to talk to the buyer whose needs are not altogether 

 typical. 



Oak grown in the North is different from southern oak in many 

 respects, and the same is true of ash. These differences are under- 

 Stood in a general way, but they are not explained in sufficient detail 

 to the road salesmen, who are the ones most interested in their 

 application. If they are to sell lumber satisfactorily to the house 

 and to the consumer, they must be able to prescribe accurately for 

 a given use, through knowledge of the exact qualities and character- 

 istics of their lumber, as to texture, toughness, porousness, strength, 

 bending capacity, etc. This is just as important as knowing age, 

 lengths and widths. 



