February 2B, 1921 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



Manufacturers 



SOUTHERN HARDWOODS 



Ash 



Poplar 



Red Gum 



Mixed Oak 

 Elm 



Sap Gum 



Soft Maple 



Tupelo 



CUMMER LUMBER COMPANY 



SALES OFFICE: 



280 MADISON AVENUE 



NEW YORK, N. Y. 



MAIN OFFICE 



JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 



realizing that poor kiln operation may, in a very short time, cause a 

 loss several times -what a good operator would cost for a whole year, 

 the "safe and sure" plant makes it a point to find or develop a 

 trained man to run its dry kilns. 



All along the line — in the yard, in the kiln, in the factory — the 

 intelligent "safe and sure" policy will constantly pay big profits in 

 the seasoning and kiln drying of lumber. These profits will result 

 first, from a reduction of investment in yard, lumber and kilns; 

 second, from decrease of time in drying; third, from smaller losses 

 of stock in the kilns; fourth, from obtaining a steady and dependable 

 supply of raw material for the factory, and fifth, from eliminating 

 loss of stock and labor in the factory due to casehardening, checking, 

 warping and honeycombing. If your plant is already in the "safe 

 and sure" class you are even now benefiting from these profits. 

 But if there is any reason to suspect that you may still be in either 

 the "Hit-or-Miss" or the "Foolproof" class, I earnestly suggest 

 that you give the matter of good kilns and good kiln operation your 

 immediate and careful attention in order that you, too, may benefit 

 from the profits which result from adopting the "Safe and Sure" 

 plan. 



But 10 Per Cent Kiln Dry Right 



My acquaintance with hundreds of plants leads me to estimate 

 that at least 50 per cent of all kiln operations belong to the "fool- 

 proof" class. At least another 40 per cent belong to the "hit-or- 

 miss" class. Only the small remainder — not more than 10 per cent — 

 deserve to be classified in the "safe and sure" class. However, I 

 do not mean to criticize the first two classes. They can hardly be 

 blamed for their lack of an understanding of good kiln drying be- 

 cause modern kiln drying practice, as we know it today, has been 

 developed only in the past few years. 



As a matter of fact, the need for more careful and scientific 

 methods has become apparent only since hardwood lumber has be- 

 come scarce and high-priced. Not many years ago when plenty of 

 thoroughly air-seasoned hardwood stock could be had at a small 



fraction of present prices, it may have been more economical to- 

 waste part of the stock in poor kiln drying, rather than to go to the 

 expense and trouble of reducing that waste by better kilns andi 

 better practice. 



Fortunately now that it does pay to eliminate such waste, you will 

 be encouraged to know that it can be done, and oftentimes at sur- 

 prisingly small cost, particularly to those plants that already have 

 kilns. For good results, it is by no means necessary to scrap the old 

 kilns and build new ones. Even where it would be advisable to do 

 this eventually, it should often be possible to postpone the building 

 of new kilns until building costs go down, by simple alterations in. 

 present kilns. In any case I would advise you to consider the pos- 

 sibilities of alterations very carefully before deciding to invest ini 

 entirely new kilns and equipment. Remember that, after all, the 

 operator is more important than the kiln, and bend your efforts first 

 toward securing a competent operator and then do what you can to 

 provide him a good kiln. 



To sum up, then, good kiln drying requires first of all a kiln in 

 which temperature and humidity can be varied and controlled and 

 in which the circulation of air will give uniform drying results in all 

 parts of the kiln. In addition the kiln should be provided with 

 means for steaming the lumber. Having such a kiln to work with 

 the operator should understand the principles of drying lumber and 

 keep careful records of kiln operation; he should test the moisture 

 in his stock and govern his drying conditions accordingly; he should 

 test for casehardening and steam the stock when necessary to relieve 

 casehardening; finally, he should bring his stock out of the kiln with 

 moisture content evenly balanced and neither too high nor too- 

 low, free from casehardening and ready for use. 



In this short talk on kiln drying, I have only been able to hit a 



few of the high spots and have had to purposely omit all but a 



mere mention of many important points. I realize fully that what 



I have said will probably not enable any of you to return to your 



(Continued on page 30) 



