November 25, 1915. 



V ei}OTaima5miJim!)N M»^Jiii;6TOm^ia) 



5^ Philippine Standardizing Campaign -5^ 



The Pliilippine Trade Eeview in a recent issue printed an article 

 by L. R. Stadtniiller, chief of the Division of Forest Management of 

 the Government of the Philippines. This article shows that the manu- 

 facturers of Philippine cabinet woods who are constantly showing an 

 increased importance in tlic hardwood world have come to realize the 

 necessity for making a standard product. 



Reading frequent notices in various periodicals coucerniug tlie sliipment 

 o( rhilippine lumber to the United States and other countries brings to 

 the mind ot" one interested in these things tlie question of the inspection 

 of shipments and a suitable set of rules under which the inspection and 

 grading is to be carried out. The Islands are just beginning to build 

 up foreign marlcets for the lumber manufactured here and therefore this 

 seems a most propitious time to raise this (|uestion. That impartial 

 inspections under standard grading rules would greatly benefit this new 

 and very important phase of the lumber business no one will deny. 

 Foreign buyers wish to be sure what they have ordered aiul it shipments 

 are inspected under a reliable corps of inspectors the purchasers will be 

 confident that they will get wliat they should. 



To instill this confldeuce into the foreign buyers is the first duty and 

 necessity of the Inmliermen of the Island.s. No better way of doing this 

 is possible than by llu' organization of an association of the lumbermen, 

 the association to bo I'astly liinding on all its members and to adapt a 

 set of standard grading rules titled to the needs of the rhilippine woods. 

 Then, to carry out its purpose ilie as.soeiation should employ a corps of 

 eompetcut iuspectors who will l)e at the call of any of its members and 

 who will pass upon all shipments made. 



This would do a great deal towards promoting the lumber iiusiness ot 

 llio Islands and, I believe, would do more than anything else to place 

 I'bilippine woods in their right place in the world's marltets, that is. at 

 the head of the list of interior finishing and cabiuet woods. Without the 

 proper inspection as to grades tlicre are bound to be misunderstandings 

 and rejections which are very liable to end up in no further orders. 

 Our woods, being new ones, must force their way into markets where 

 they either are not wanted because of the competition, or are unknown 

 and often without the proper representative to c.\tal their qualities and, 

 if they are of all grades and manufacture a mere glance of a prospective 

 Iiuyer will turn them down. The only way in which to overcome this 

 obstacle is to have them carry the proper inspection and certification 

 that they are what tliey are represented to be. It is a known fact that 

 in certain nmrkets the Pldlipi)iue woods are noted for their poor manu- 

 facture and diversity of grades within the shiimient causing a prospective 

 buyer to look askant at them and prompting him to offer only low prices 

 for them if he considers buying them at all. If he once knows that a 

 shipment has been inspected and graded by a reliable association he will 

 not hesitate to buy at tlie right price. 



.Vlong with inspections must go the proper grading rules. At the start 

 it will be well to adapt a simple set of rules, adding to these from time 

 10 time until a complete and satisfactory set has been formed. The 

 Bureau of Forestry has drawn up a proposed set of rules which might 

 be used merely as a basis on which to build others. This was the object 

 in drawing up the rules and at the time it was hoped that the lumber 

 business would gradually take them up and perfect them. So far very 

 little has been d<me but we are stjll hoping to some day see them taken up. 

 The rules should not be imposed upon the lumbermen but the point has 

 been reached where the latter must now take up the task and push it 

 towards its completion. I do not feel that compulsory government 

 inspectiou will accomplish the purpose — it would be so very much better 

 lo have the- lumbermen voluntarily take it up themselves and it is 

 sincerely hoped that they will do it. 



In the past there have beiMi numerous requests to hate the Bureau of 

 Forestry make inspections of shipments to foreign ports. These inspec- 

 tions have beeu made, but for various reasons have not been completely 

 satisfactory, chief of which has been due to the fact that the Bureau 

 has not been in the position to be able lo maintain a corps of inspectors 

 to do the work. 



To meet this situation, to start the work going and to fill a long 

 felt need, the Bureau is now planning on training up a number of 

 Filipinos who will be able to do this Inspection work. Tliese men will 

 be placed at the disposal of the lumlier interests whenever they so desire, 

 either to make inspections of sales to the Insular (iovernmcnt or of 

 shipments abroad, the expenses of these men to l)e liorne liy the particular 

 coiupiiny wbeu and whili' it u.si-s them. For the purposi' of training 

 Hie proi)er number of men llie Bureau wishes to bring from the United 

 Slates two or more meu skilled iu this line of work aud Just here is 

 where the lumbermen ari' iu the position to help out iu a scheme by 

 which they derive llie greatest benefit. We have hopes that they will do 

 Iheir liest iu furthering this pbui, but it shuul<l lie thoroughly understood 

 Irom tlie start that tliis id^a is purely for their benefit aud gain and that 

 there is uo idea of making the inspeelious compulsory. We liave enough 

 eonlideuce in the |)Ian to lielii've that once it is well established the 



lumbermen will of their own accord make the inspections a permanent 

 and regular institution which will stand on its own merits alone. 



The question of inspection under proper grading rules is a very 

 important one. A great deal can be said on the topic as I have by no 

 means exhausted it but it is my desire only to start those interested in 

 it to think about putting it into effect. The people most vitally affected 

 by it are the lumber manufacturers ot these Islands and it is to them 

 that I wish to appeal. Right now Just when our woods are Ijeginning 

 to find their way abroad is the time to introduce them properly and to 

 give them their chance to gain the permanent foothold and recognition 

 to which they are entitled. By helping the Bureau of I'"oreslry to get a 

 body of trained inspectors the lumbermen will be doing themselves a 

 very great favor and considerably advancing their own interests, and by 

 later on carrying out this idea independently they will do one of the 

 best things posisble for the lumber interests of the Islands. 



Conservation in the Planing Mill 



Planer work, in many instances, is taking on some characteristics 

 these days. that differ somewhat from the practices of a few years 

 ago. For one thing there is a decided tendency to reduce the volume 

 of cut and lay stress on the quality of finish. There still are, of 

 course, many instances of planers having to do a heavy volume of 

 Nvork in dressing rough lumlier. In factories that use lumber bought 

 iu the rough, that nmy \ary considerably in thickness, and even in 

 mills where lumber is sawed and dressed before shipping, there 

 is still a good part of the old burden of alternate light and heavy 

 cuts iu planing, because of the variation in thickness caused by 

 rough cutting aud other things. 



Yet, for all that, there is a decided tendency to make it easier 

 on the planer, so far as bulk of work, or rather depth of cut, is 

 concerned, aud to reform the sawing so that hiinber wUl be well 

 manufactured in the sawmill and require very little cutting away 

 by the planer to smooth it up. This is carried to even a finer point 

 among box and various other factories that do resawing. They get 

 the manipulation down so fine tliat the big surfacing planers are 

 not expected to take oif much more of a cut than was formerly 

 taken off by the panel jdancrs after stock had first been run through 

 a roughing or receiving planer. And not only that, but in the 

 case of flooring machines there is much closer mani])ulation, es- 

 pecially in rijipiug to widths. 



The stock of flooring is generally ripped very closely as to width, 

 so that the matcher heads do very light cutting as compared to 

 the work frecpiently put on them in days gone by. This has come 

 about, not through any idea origiually of making the work of plan- 

 ing easier, but it has been inspired by economy and a widespread 

 desire to save a lot of timber that heretofore has been going to 

 waste in sawdust and shavings. 



What these changed conditions may liave to do with the future of 

 jilauer work is an iuterestiug matter at this time. It should assist 

 materially in the efforts to get smoother work for the machines and 

 a higher order of finish generally. It is pretty generally conceded 

 that a planer with a light cut will leave a smoother finish than one 

 making a heavy cut; also the knives usually retain their edge longer. 

 Therefore, given a planer operating on carefully manufactured stock, 

 in which the cut is very light, one should be able to get better 

 results and have the machine run longer and use less power. 



Another point we may get from it is that of some change in the 

 construction of machines themselves that would lighten the power 

 requirements and lessen the cost somewhat. It would not require the 

 same pressure, strain and power generally to feed smooth, well-manu- 

 factured lumber on which the knives have to take only a light cut, 

 that is necessary iu rough, poorly mauufactured lumber that runs 

 thick and thin and washboard marks on it. So, as the closer manipu- 

 lation in sawing and ripping continues and becomes more wide- 

 spread, it should carry with it some change in the cliaracteristics of 

 planer work. It should take some of the heaviness out of it, both 

 out of machines aud power requirements, aud enable the planing mill 

 man to get a higher degree of ^vork mure easily than formerly. 



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