HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



the Celebes, and many more. They have little to sell as yet, conse- 

 quently are not in the market for our lumber, furniture and other 

 similar products; but the markets in those enormously fertile islands 

 are beginning to open. Civilization is taking hold. The natives are 

 either going to work or they are disappearing and progressive popula- 

 tions are taking their place. 



They will buy from us as soon as they have anything with which 

 to buy, provided we offer them what they want, and on terms which 

 they can meet. They will want structural timber, building lumber, 



and all kinds of manufactured forest products. While our exports 

 are holding to the trade which they already have in that field, they 

 should push for more. The opportunities are increasing and will 

 continue to increase. A firm foothold obtained at the start is half 

 the battle. No business rivals have advantages to compare with those 

 of America, so far as the manufacture of forest products are con- 

 cerned ; and along some lines, we possess great advantages over all 

 others in supplying building lumber and structural timber of the 

 best grades and largest sizes. 



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Electricity in the Sawmill 



Electric transmission in the modern hardwood sawmill should save 

 power. This, however, is only part of the saving: It saves space. 

 It lessens danger by eliminating the entangling lines of shafting, 

 gear and belts, and it makes it easy to set the machinery wherever 

 it will serve its purpose best. It should also help reduce the upkeep 

 cost by eliminating the great network of shafting and belts. It 

 used to be that the item of cost of installation stood conspicuously 

 in the way of the use of electric transmission in the sawmill. We 

 have reached the point now where this item of cost does not look so 

 big when weighed against the cost of shafting, belting and gears. 

 Leather has become so high that a big leather belt for a drive makes 

 a weighty item in cost itself. Then comes the installation of framing, 

 bridge trees and journal boxes until the electric equipment does not 

 loom up big as a cost proposition like it seemed to at one time. 



One of the advantages of electric transmission that is readily ap- 

 preciated by any one responsible for the upkeep of the sawmill 

 equipment is in the elimination of heavy gears involved in right 

 angle drives and in dispensing with complicated belts. Electric 

 In-ansmission does not necessarily eliminate belting entirely, but it 

 does simplify the problem and it eliminates that dangerous entangling 

 network of these things. It simplifies the problem of maintenance 

 as well as that of setting the machinery where it will do the most 

 good. 



There is plenty of argument in favor of electric transmission 

 inside the sawmill proper, for the machinery equipment ordinarily 

 used there, including edgers, trimmers, etc. When it comes to addi- 

 tions to dimension stock plants, planin? mill equipment and other 

 special equipment that should long since have been made a stronger 

 feature of every hardwood sawmill of any magnitude, electric trans- 

 mission is practically the only correct answer. Before the advent 

 of electric transmission it was necessary to extend long lines of 

 shafting and belts, and attach other equipment on the side as an 

 addition to the sawmill plant, or else it was required to erect an 

 entirely new power plant at one side. 



With electric transmission one can from one central plant dis- 

 tribute current for driving equipment at any distance. This makes 

 it easy to put the necessary distance between the plants to reduce 

 the fire hazard and the insurance cost. 



Among some of the big yellow pine mills in the South, electric 

 transmission has resulted in the equipping of a separate central 

 power plant apart from all the mill buildings proper. There all 

 fuel can be concentrated and all power produced that is needed in 

 any of the surrounding buildings. 



The hardwood sawmills may never find it advisable to go to the 

 elaborate extremes in distributing and equipping plants that has 

 been indulged in by the pine mills, but there is certainly room for 

 great improvement in the efficiency and economy of hardwood saw- 

 milling, through the use of electric motors and electric transmission. 



There has not been a better time for a general overhauling of saw- 

 mill equipment than right now. It is while business is slow that the 

 forehanded man prepares f<5r the busy times to come and studies 

 and plans for improvements that will make for a higher order of 

 efficiency. There is perhaps no line of improvement which offers 

 greater possibilities than electric transmission. It is unnecessary to 

 go into any elaborate technical details or figures of comparison here. 



All the data one may require in that line can be obtained readily 

 from the electrical machinery people, who have made an extensive 

 study of the subject and are prepared at all times to furnish figures 

 and technical information. 



The important thing for the sawmill man seeking improved ways 

 and greater efficiency is to take hold of the subject, get in touch 

 with the people who supply this equipment and find out for himself 

 what possibilities it holds. Incidentally it may be mentioned that 

 one of the things the average millman will find out is that when he 

 once takes up electric transmission he wiU stick to it, and he will 

 find it so much easier to install and operate machinery for making 

 dimension stock and other special items that he will be encouraged 

 to do more of this and to utilize his timber to better advantage. 



A New Substitution 



A correspondent of an English trade paper advocates the substitu- 

 tion of mahogany gunstocks for black walnut, on the ground that 

 the former is cheaper and is as good. At present the gunstock prob- 

 lem is pretty serious in England, and the correspondent criticizes the 

 government for sticking to walnut merely because it has long been 

 the custom to equip guns with walnut stocks. 



The fact is, the employment of walnut is not a matter of fashion 

 but is due to qualities which make it extremely serviceable. Mahog- 

 any is an excellent wood, and probably its principal drawback when 

 made into gunstocks is its weight and low elasticity. It is about seven 

 pounds per cubic foot heavier than black walnut; but to compensate 

 for excessive weight, it is about forty per cent stronger than walnut. 

 Taking advantage of its greater strength, smaller stocks might be 

 made to answer, and by doing this, a mahogany gunstock should be 

 no heavier than one of walnut. 



Weight and strength are only two of the factors entering into the 

 gunstock question. The principal one is the elasticity of the wood, 

 and it is here that, weight for weight, black walnut is unquestionably 

 superior to mahogany. Elasticity is important in taking up the jolt 

 caused by the discharge of the gun, and it saves the soldier 's shoul- 

 der. That may not be of as great importance with the modem mili- 

 tary rifle as with the old fashioned musket whose "kick" was stun- 

 ning; but the recoil of the modern rifle needs an elastic stock to take 

 up the shock. JIahogany will do it fairly well, but not well enough 

 to justify its substitution for walnut. Weight for weight, the elas- 

 ticity of black walnut is twenty-five per cent greater than that of 

 American mahogany. It is probable that some of the African mahog- 

 anies would make a different showing. Some of them, particularly 

 okume mahogany, are much lighter than black walnut, but figures to 

 show their elasticity are not available. 



The claim that Cuban or Santo Domingo mahogany is cheaper in 

 the English market than American black walniit is surprising. It is 

 generally supposed that walnut is from twenty to fifty dollars cheaper 

 per thousand feet. 



Aside from elasticity and weight, the comparison of walnut and 

 mahogany does not show great differences in the qualities required 

 in gunstock material. Both are of dark color and are not easily 

 stained. They are not inclined to warp, check, shrink, or swell when 

 they have been well seasoned. They take high polish and are 

 liandfome. 



