HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



However, this process has been employed and 

 is employed successfully today in the treat- 

 ment of mahogany, oak, and walnut. Many 

 of these woods can be successfully treated in 

 this manner and thus prepared for air drying 

 and the future finishing touch of kiln drying. 

 It is safe to say that the experiment is well 

 worth trying with woods of so refractory a 

 character as are red gum and tupelo. 



For the purpose of assisting natural season- 

 ing processes a boiler of comparatively light 

 weight should be provided, as the steam pres- 

 sure need not be extremely high. This boiler 

 should have steam-tight doors at either end 

 so that loads of lumber stuck on laths on dry- 

 kiln trucks can be ran in at one end and out 

 at the other. The boiler should be capable of 

 withstanding well toward one hundred pounds 

 steam pressure, although in practical use more 

 than seventy pounds steam pressure is rarely 

 put upon the wood. One concern, in handling 

 mahogany, subjects the wood to live steam 

 for a period of thirty minutes to the inch 

 in thickness of the plank. That is, inch lum- 

 ber is steamed thirty minutes; inch and a 

 half lumber forty-five minutes; two inch lum- 

 ber sixty minutes. During this time the 

 steam is forced to the very center of the piece 



of lumber and the cellular structure is sofl 

 ened and disintegrated to an extent that the 

 plant juices readily escape and evaporate in 

 the air. Lumber thus treated will not stain 

 and will not warp, and this process would 

 to be the practical solution of the han- 

 dling of such woods as red and tupelo gum. 



In the handling of lumber under steam 

 pressure great care should be taken in se- 

 curing, by means of experiment, the exact 

 pressure and length of time that the steam 

 be applied to obtain the best possible after 

 result in the air-drying process. Special pre- 

 caution should be taken that the fiber of the 

 wood be not "pulped," in which ease it is 

 practically ruined, and the expenditure of 

 steam should not obtain to a point even in- 

 jurious to the fiber of the wood, otherwise 

 the strength of the material will be impaired. 



The cost of a steaming plant of the sort 

 outlined, for handling refractory woods, is 

 comparatively little, and assuming that the 

 process be but moderately successful, it would 

 very soon pay for itself, even in the economy 

 of time during which steamed lumber could 

 be air dried after it had been effectually 

 steamed. The system is well worth careful 

 attention and thorough experimentation. 



The Making of Wagon Wood Work. 



HOW HICKORY AXLES ARE FINISHED. 



A knowledge of how hickory axles are fin- 

 ished, of how the rough blanks are worked 

 down and fitted into vehicles is essential to 

 the sawmill man in the successful manufac- 

 ture and marketing of hickory axles. The 

 proper marketing of hickory axles is just as 

 important as their proper manufacture. In 

 fact, there are many instances on record 

 where well manufactured axles have resulted 

 in loss to the null man because he lacked a 

 thorough knowledge of where and how to 

 market them to the best advantage. 



For convenience we will class the process of 

 finishing hickory axles under three general 

 heads : the larger factories using automatic 

 lathes; smaller institutions which use planers, 

 band saws and other general woodworking 

 machinery, and a third class where all the 

 work is done by hand. 



In the large wagon manufacturing institu- 

 tions, which are the heaviest users of hickory 

 axles, they are made almost entirely by anto- 

 matic machinery. They are first cut to length 

 on the equalizer and then put into an auto- 

 matic patteru lathe that reduces the square 

 blank to the general form of the finished 

 axle, but leaves it somewhat rough and full 

 in size. Generally, the axles are put through 

 this process while still green, after which they 

 are carefully piled on strips in sheds and 

 thoroughly seasoned before using. The 

 reasons for roughing out the axles before 

 they are thoroughly seasoned are that the 

 timber works much more easily on the lathe 

 while it yet contains moisture, and because it 

 seasons up better by having as much surplus 

 wood as possible removed before beiiw 



in piles for drying. After the axles are 

 thoroughly seasoned in the shed they are 

 taken back to the factory and put through 

 the finishing process, which includes the fit- 

 ting and putting on by pressure of the thim- 

 bles. However, the details of this latter half 

 of the process of finishing is not of as much 

 importance to the sawmill man as is the first 

 half. 



Every mill man contemplating the manu- 

 facture of axles should take note of the fact 

 that as a rule the men who are most s 

 on inspections are those manufacturers who 

 work their axles on automatic lathes and the 

 iron store men who buy and inspect on the 

 theory that they must cater to this trade. 

 This is explained on the ground that in using 

 automatic lathes the timber must be absolutely 

 free from knots, because a hard hickory knot 

 will damage a lathe and even small knots will 

 not work to advantage on an automatic lathe. 



As an example of just what figure the dif- 

 ference in inspection cuts in the marketing of 

 axles, one instance will suffice. A small saw- 

 mill operator who had built up quite a local 

 reputation for making good wagon axles 

 shipped a carload into the open market, where 

 thej fill into the hands of the iron store in- 

 speetor. "When the returns came in on that car 

 of axles they showed that about one-fourth 

 of the stock had passed as first-class, while 

 three-fourths had been taken on a cull grade 

 with an allowance of five cents a stick. That 

 ear did not net as much clear money 8 

 ordinary car of common square-edged oak 

 . Timber or crossing plank should bring. 

 Xaturally the mill man was disappoint.'!, for 



he had given personal attention to the sort- 

 ing out of these axles and felt positive that 

 there were very few sticks in the lot that would 

 not make good serviceable wagon axles. He 

 took them to the city and sold them to a ' 



it manufacturer at a sacrifice, which, 



ver, gave him better returns than the first 

 n port offered. The trouble with those 

 was that they were not properly sorted and 

 marketed. They should have been made into 

 three grades — strictly clear stock without any 

 stringent regards to toughness to go to the 

 large manufacturers; tough stock with a few 

 small sound knots and cracks and wane that 

 would work out, to go to wagon factories 

 which use band saws or other woodworking 

 machinery, and tough stock, with knots, wane 

 and cracks, no matter how large, which wotdd 

 still make good axles, for the country hand 

 shops. 



"Wagon factories which use some machinery 

 but do not do a large enough business to jus- 

 tify a full complement of automatic ma- 

 chinery, and also agricultural implement 

 houses which use a limited number of axles in 

 other work, have more opportunity to select 

 and handle axle timber so as to get rid of 

 certain defects in the process of working. 

 Usually the axles in a place of this kind are 

 put through a surfacer that faces one side. 

 Then they are taken to the hand joiner, H 

 one edge is jointed square with the side, after 

 which they go back to the planer for sizing 

 down on the two remaining rough faces to 

 the exact dimension required. Then they are 

 turned over to the band sawyer, who marks 

 them off by patterns and cuts the shape in 

 square form and gives the proper tapering 

 and pitch, cuts out the pole hole and shi 

 the stick up generally so far as is possible with . 

 a small band saw, after which it goes to the 

 hand-work loom and the balance of the work 

 is done by hand. This process leaves room for 

 a band sawyer to work out numerous defects 

 that may occur in the sticks and still leave 

 a good clear axle. In fact, there is fully as 

 much room to work out defects in a plan of 

 this kind as where all the work is done by 

 hand, and the classification of axles really 

 should be the same here as for hand work, 

 were it not for the fact that the small shops 

 in the country have peculiarities of their own 

 that frequently make it possible to use ma- 

 terial that would not be accepted in a fac- 

 tory. 



There is no need to describe the process of 

 finishing an axle by hand, but the 

 tion was made for the sake of pointing out 

 the fact that hand shops can and do use - 

 that would not pass muster in a city fat 

 The majority of the work of the country haud 

 shop is in the line of repairs, and for work 



lis kind the chief essential is strength. 



If the timber has strength, knots, crooks and 



do not cut much figure. The 



, , i j a maker if he undo 



.ill so work his timber as to 



9 come where they will do no harm. Be- 

 tween the hounds and the center, so the very 



