HARDWOOD RECORD 



35 



■was made even more severe by the possibilities of additional drafts 

 through the many cracks, knotholes and other openings and through 

 the poorly hung door. It would have been a fair and wise policy to 

 have provided the test conditions as nearly as possible to normal con- 

 ditions under which the paint might be tried out in actual practice. 

 A good grade of matched lumber should have been used and the house 

 made as airtight as possible. 



However, the test was made as above described and the building 

 half filled with loosely piled excelsior, fragments of broken packing 

 boxes, scraps of all kinds of light wood intended to create a severe 

 blaze. All this was saturated with gallons of kerosene and gasolene 

 and the e.xtreme combustibility of the mass was well shown by the 

 way it acted when ignited. A torch was touched to the excelsior from 

 the door and instantly a sheet of flame filled the doorway and burst 

 out from ten to fifteen feet from the building. In other words, the 

 entire mass was almost instantly in flames. 



It was apparent from the beginning that the building could not pos- 

 sibly withstand the test, and considering the tremendous heat created, 

 which drove the crowds back 200 feet at least, the resistance made 

 by the fireproofed wood was truly remarkable. The enormous tem- 



I.erature woulil certainly have demolished an all steel building con- 

 structed of materials of equal weight to those used in the wooden 

 shack probably in much less time. There surely is no sheet metal that 

 could have been used that would have withstood the heat for more 

 than five minutes, and were steel I beams or channel irons used in 

 place of the .joists, designed to give strength equal to that of the 

 wooden joists, they would certainly have twisted and buckled or even 

 melted in a short time. 



The result of the test must have been a keen disappointment to the 

 sponsors of the proposition, but they should in no wise be discour- 

 aged. It is to be hoped this will teach them a lesson that will show 

 them there is such a thing as carrying a test to a ridiculous jioint. 

 If they would carry on tests under conditions that would be as near 

 as jiossilile to actual conditions that might prevail in ordinary con- 

 flagrations in average dwellings, there is no doubt whatever that the 

 paint would prove itself fully capable of the task put to it. 



Before the fire, various fire department ofiicialH of Cincinnati 

 expressed themselves as being very enthusiastic over the proposition, 

 their enthusiasm being based on actual tests which they themselves 

 had made previously. 



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Getting the Most Out of Hickory 



A well-known hardwood yard had on hand for some time a stock 

 of hickory planks and flitches of various thicknesses. Some of it 

 had been culled out of previous shipments, some looked pretty rough 

 originally and it had become something of a dead asset with ap- 

 parently no good chance to market it as it stood, because it was 

 not an inviting lot of stufl:. A rip saw and crosscut had been in- 

 stalled in the yard for trimming and ripping to fill orders, and 

 finally, in the desire to clean up this hickory and get rid of it, the 

 idea was conceived of working it out in spare time and getting 

 out of it what they could in clear dimension stock. It took a little 

 thinking and figuring to decide what to cut but in the end there 

 was realized much more for this rough accumulation of hickory than 

 the owners had ever expected to receive from it. 



This incident illustrates fairly how to get the most out of this 

 wood. There may be times when the mill- 

 man can flitch his hickory and sell it log 

 run, but unless it is sold green, which in- 

 volves a big freight item if it is shipped any 

 distance, it is not likely to present an invit- 

 ing appearance or bring what it should. If 

 it is piled on the yard in flitches and planks 

 it is much more likely to be attacked by in- 

 sects than when cut up into dimensions, and 

 it also takes longer to season. 



Instances are reported where heavy hick- 

 ory planks were brought into the mill again 

 and worked over to dimension stock because 

 they were showing damage from worms. It 

 would have been better to work these into 

 dimensions in th§ beginning. In other 

 words, the way to get the most out of hick- 

 ory is to cut it up into clear dimension stock 

 when it is first reduced from the log. It 

 may be found advantageous to keep a few 

 planks and flitches to meet special call. 

 There is a natural temptation to make planks 

 in preference to dimension stock when the 

 mill is crowded with work, because these 

 can be produced and put out of the way in 

 less time and at less expense, but the easiest 

 way is not necessarily the best way with 

 hickory, and the best way in the end is to 

 get the most practical out of it. Generally 

 the way to get this is to reduce it to specific 

 dimensions while it is green. It will not 



only bring more money Init it will season and be ready for market 

 much sooner. 



At least twenty-five per cent of the larch timber over large areas 

 in eastern Oregon has been killed or weakened by mistletoe, and the 

 Forest Service is taking steps to combat the pest. 



Success has followed forest planting on the sandhills of Nebraska. 

 .Jack pines planted there by the government Forest Service ten years 

 ago now have a height of over fifteen feet and a diameter of four 

 inches. 



The government built more than 2,000 miles of trail and .'?,000 

 miles of telephone line on the national forests in 1914. 



WILXi HE? 



