HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



FIG. 



ish in magnitude to- 

 ward the center or 

 pith. 



Figure 3 repre- 

 sents a photomicro- 

 graph of a compres- 

 sion failure which 

 was evidently caused 

 by improper lian- 

 dling. The injury is 

 so slight, however, 

 that in the specimen 

 from which the en- 

 largement was made (fig. 4 — at right) no indication of the existence 

 of compression failures would normally be observed by the unaided 

 eye, and it was only througli the sudden and otherwise typical failure 

 in cross-bending (fig. 4 — at left) that this ease was discovered. 



Compression failures in various degrees of magnitude liave been 

 found in material from the outer portion of logs from several other 

 species. " Brittleness, " sometin-es reported as occurring in ma- 

 hogany veneer, may be due to severe bruises inflicted in bringing 

 the material to the mill. 



In certain industries wood is subjected to conditions or treatment 



A— COMPUKSSION FAILURE IN HICKORY BUGGY SPOKE 

 OCCURIXG AT COMPRESSION FAILURE. 



B — TYI'KM 



IlIMvVK 



which maj' result in 

 compression failures 

 during manufacture. 

 In driving buggy 

 spokes, for instance, 

 the impact of the 

 blows delivered after 

 tlie spokes have 

 reached a bearing 

 is occasionally great 

 enough to injure the 

 material. Most fail- 

 ures found in hick- 

 ory spokes can be attributed cither to this cause or to rougli han- 

 dling of the logs. Figure 5— a — shows a buggy spoke containing 

 a compression failure and b our- whicli has later broken alom^ the 

 jilano of a similar injury. 



While the occurrence of compression failures is probably not very 

 common, a special effort should be made to eliminate all material of 

 this eliaracter where shock-resisting ability is of importance. A 

 knowledge of these failures and their causes may prove of value in 

 reducing the number of such injuries and in detecting injuries in 

 places where they would be most serious. 



\V;; ^Wi<a^IML)5t:/61!!tiTOa^lWL)tt:^^^ 



L 



y^^'J5^ * 



The Lead Pencil Supply 



Lead pencils are not coming 

 from Germany and Austria now. 

 and before long somebody will 

 be trying to corner the article 

 and raise the price. It has been 

 found pretty difficult to obtain 

 statistics on the lead pencil busi- 

 ness, both domestic and foreign. 

 The makers of pencils of paper 

 instead of wood have persistently 

 refused to tell their output. It 

 is believed, however, that they do 

 not cut any great figure in the 

 pencil business. The total num- 

 ber of wooden pencils made or 

 used in this country is not defin- 

 itely known. 



The wood used is principally 

 red cedar from the southern 

 states, but some incense cedar 

 is beginning to reach market 

 from California, while a number 

 of other woods, including white 

 pine and basswood, are employed 

 in making cheap pencils. Some 

 of the cedar is worked into fin- 

 ished pencils in this country, 

 other is sent to Germany and 

 Austria for manufacture. The 

 foreign business is suspended. 

 The wood can not go from Amer- 

 ica to those countries, nor can the 

 finished pencils come back. Euro- 

 pean pencil makers have been 

 drawing supplies of African 

 cedar from the eastern equatorial regions of tliat country; but no 

 wood from that quarter can riow reach the Austrian and German 

 pencil makers. They have no home woods that aa-e suitable. The 

 far-seeing Germans and Austrians took steps years ago to provide 

 a home supply by planting large quantities of southern red cedar 



FIG. 3. PHOTOMICROGRAPH OF COMPRESSION FAILURE 

 FOUND IN PIECE TAKEN FROM OUTER PART OF CHESTNUT LOG. 

 F.ULURE CAUSED BY ROUGH HANDLING. (SEE ARTICLE ON 

 OPPOSITE P.\GE.) 



seed from Tennessee. The trees 

 have grown at a satisfactory rate, 

 Ijut the wood has proved to be a 

 keen disappointment to the pencil 

 makers. It is not soft and brittle 

 like the cedar of the South, but 

 contains hard streaks and is 

 tough. It is not available for 

 pencils, except those of the cheap 

 sorts, such as are made in the Un- 

 ited States of pine and basswood. 

 Eed cedar and hickory are two 

 valuable American woods which 

 have not done well when planted 

 in Europe. 



There is no danger of a pencil 

 famine in the United States on 

 account of the cutting off of the 

 foreign supply. There are some 

 first rate pencU makers in this 

 country. Supplies of certain 

 familiar brands may faU, but no 

 person need do without good pen- 

 cils on account of the trouble on 

 the other side of the sea. 



Some of the best graphite 

 mines are in foreign countries, 

 and that supply will be interfered 

 with. Graphite as weU as wood 

 is required in making lead pencils. 

 Formerly graphite was obtained 

 wliolly by mining the mineral, 

 which was originally a vein of 

 coal, but has been pressed and 

 heated during long geological 

 periods of time. .But native graphite has lost some of its importance 

 since the discovery that a substitute can be made by passing electric 

 currents through anthracite coal. Large quantities of this material 

 are manufactured at Niagara Falls. Some of the best native graph- 

 ite mines are in Austria. 



