HARDWOOD RECORD 



i.S 



The Making of Wagon Wood Work. 



SIDE LINES TO HICKORY 



The successful manufacture of hickory 

 axles involves as an essential factor the 

 working of side lines so as to economize in 

 timber and save a quantity of good hickory 

 from going to the slab fire. The manufac- 

 ture of hickory axles exclusively involves 

 what is, in the light of the present need for 

 close economy of forest products, a prodigal 

 waste of one of the most valuable woods 

 we have. To cut the dimensions for axles 

 without something smaller to fill in is of 

 itself exceedingly wasteful, and to this we 

 have added quite an additional waste that 

 comes from being unable to see the defects 

 in a log before sawing it up. In other 

 words, many axles are culls, even though 

 they are sawn by an expert in the business, 

 and these of course must go into the waste 

 pile unless we have something smaller which 

 we can cut from them. Then, there is the 

 tree itself from which we can only get a 

 cut or two of axle lengths after which we 

 may obtain considerable good wood that 

 will be useful for various purposes. 



Now, a peculiar thing about the waste in 

 making hickory axles and the possibilities 

 of utilizing this waste in the manufacture 

 of smaller dimensions is the fact that even 

 though we have a market for small hickory 

 stock that will take care of all the waste 

 made, and there has always been a market 

 for small dimensions in hickory, many of 

 the tarly manufacturers of hickory axles 

 appear to have been ignorant of this fact, 

 and as a result there has been enough good 

 hickory wasted to make a comfortable pile 

 of wealth for a number of sawmill men. 

 What is more, there are men operating small 

 mills back in the country today which are 

 peculiarly adapted to the manufacture of 

 wagon wood woik, who are getting out hick- 

 ory axles, and are still in ignorance of the 

 fact that there is a long string of smaller 

 dimension stuff that can be worked out of 

 the waste material, which furnishes oppor- 

 tunities to make as much or more profit than 

 the manufacture of the axles themselves. It 

 is impossible to give in one article a full 

 list of this small dimension stuff, and even 

 if this were possible the location of the 

 mill a»d the requirements of the cities 

 which can be most conveniently reached 

 with the material must be taken into con- 

 sideration. 



Vehicle wood stock manufacturers, that 

 is, men who manufacture wood work for 

 light vehicles, including shafts, bows, rims, 

 buggy bodies, neck yokes, singletrees, etc., 

 are in the market for and using almost any 

 and every dimension in hickory from one 

 and one-half inches square, thirty inches 

 long, and up. They use stock cut to size, 

 and also use hickory and oak lumber from 

 which they cut the various dimensions them- 

 selves. They would as a rule prefer t" have 

 most of their standard stuff cut to dimen- 

 sion at the mill, provided it were properly 

 done. For the mill man to properly equip 



AXLE MANUFACTURING. 



himself to i to dimension tor vehicle 



wood stock people it would be necea 



to make a thorough stwh of the subject, a 



study winch makes it necessary I mill 



man to visit the planl of tin- veh i I 



stock man lie expects to 'hi business with 



and thoroughly familiarize himself, not only 



with the dimensions and quantities of each 



used but with what is made Out of 



piece ami what the requirements are as to 

 toughuess and clearness from knots ami 



other defects. When this has 1 n done ami 



the mill man learns to do the urn I. 

 should be done and demonstrates this fact 

 to the wood stock man by furnishing him 

 material as intelligently cut to dimension as 

 the wood stock man could cut it himself in 

 his own factory, there is plain sailing ahead 

 and a good opportunity to make fully as 

 much profit out of the waste material from 

 making hickory axles as nut of Hie axles 

 themselves. 



Next come the iron store people who fur- 

 nish both iron and wood supplies for wagon 

 factories, vehicle manufacturers and black- 

 smiths, and who are practically always in 

 the market for- good wagon and vehicle 

 wood stock of all kinds. In fact, some of 

 the more prominent iron stores have found 

 it necessary to erect sawmills of their own 

 to supply their needs in this respect. Among 

 the items in dimension stock used by them 

 are many that are practically identical with 

 those of the vehicle wood stock people, 

 though more frequently they buy material of 

 this kind from the wood stock people ready 

 finished. Then, there are wagon stakes in 

 a great variety of sizes from 1% inehes up, 

 in cross section, and from 3 to 7 or 8 feet 

 in length. 



From both these sources the demand is 

 quite extensive and then there are the 

 various manufacturers of agricultural imple- 

 ments with an almost endless line of small 

 dimension stock in hickory, oak and ash. 

 As an example in this line the International 

 Harvester Company of Chicago has ' 

 warded, in response to a brief article on I 

 subject of axles, the following list of stuff 

 for which the lumber division of their pur- 

 chasing department is in the market: 

 Lumber for Deering Works, Chicago. 



, | i , : VIENSI0N HICKOB5 ONLY. 



1 in. x 3 in. x .:. 



1 % in. x U'j in. x 31 In.? 



! -, in. x 2 in. x 35 in. 



».\ that ties item was formerly 32" 



CLBAli rOl GH DIMENSION HH'KoKY 

 WHITE oAK. 



i. x 4 in. x 39 in. 



, x 2% in. x 36 In. 



I. x I in. \ 35 in. 



•> in. x 2W in. x i 



1 :, In. x 4% in. x 53 in. 



i :i , in • 



:: in. x 3 In. x 36 In. 



Lumber for McConnick Works, Chicago. 



DIMENSION HICE 



2 ! J In, x 60 In. 

 1 



_".. in. x 42 lu. 



I', d 60 in. 

 :i In. x 



:: in. x ::2 In. 



I : fi up wide, 



e.s MOK i 



WHITE OAK. 



I ! , in. x II in 

 i >: in. x 31 

 In. x 3 Id 



In addition to this the Deering c , 



uses hickory pit mans which an . -36 



inches lone and must be n 



straight grain bi nd growth hickory, and 



for this work tie 



stock, but will not stock showing 



10l . ' ' lis •' pi |. ro- 



.l not more t hau one-quai ti tock 



-Iimu S Ilea It. \ I. el lo-i d |'i' - 



man- in [Se at tin- \l d !oi n ick Work 

 I ! ; xl %x38 inches lone;. Tin 



I I ami .". I hicko j plank. 

 It will be ol. served th 



ns will work very nicely with 

 axles, and there tire other small dimene 

 which can be found by a little digging 

 around among the class of people badii 

 above and other users of hickory. All 

 any manufacturer of hickory should !"• able 

 to find enough, both in variety and volume. 

 0$ this small dimension stock to make a 

 pretty close clean-up of all the accumulation 



of waste, cull axles, etc.. that i rue in the 



manufacture "f hickorj The 



best way to manufacture this stock is t" 

 have a separate factory whi< ■■ in 



a shed attached to the sawmill proper "i in 

 a separate building, though il should be BO 

 arranged as to reduce th< of hand- 



ling required to the lowest possible pi 

 as repeated handling of ■ rial adds 



to the cost of the finished product. The es 

 sential equipment for doing this work is a 

 Cut-off saw- and some form of rip saw. it 

 may be either a table sai( 01 "" a vol.- edger 



plane with a carriau' " Ig "ii a track. 



Where large quantities of hickorj are I 

 manufactured this could i" enlarged consid- 

 erably . imt gem rallj speaking, I 

 much inducement to put in any elaboi 

 machinery to work hickory, b tim- 



ber in the woods is 



fnctni ' • : '". v 



out of the question, besides anj pari or all 

 of this dimension stock can be manufactured 



other equi] n : ' rip saw and 



a cross cut, with an intelligent man or two 



work. In f.e 'he main 



point— to get a man trained into the work 



so that he knows not only what i- required 



in the different stock, but also leu to work 



up the material at hand to the best advun- 



man trained up to 



work, howi ver, it is a rerj 



work, and - |! 



ag with the manufactui 

 ties that 

 h while. 



\V. J. !' 



ndler of bs 





