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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



April 25. 191 



muMMimMuiMuJ 



A. B. THIELENS ADDRESSES THE MEETING 



Mr. Shravesande then introduced A. B. Thielens, chair- 

 man of the vehicle and wood stock committee. Mr. 

 Thielens said that ninety-one contractors, not including 

 furniture manufacturers, are now working on army wag- 

 ons and parts and that 1 03 members of the furniture 

 industry are engaged in this work besides. Many prob- 

 lems confront the man taking on this work and they will 

 require a very great amount of study and careful atten- 

 tion. According to Mr. Thielens, the wagon manufac- 

 turers are now maintaining a production of sixty to eighty 

 per cent of normal output of farm wagons. 



On the question of seasoning of stocks Mr. Thielens 

 said that in the production of the completed vehicle, an 

 investment of about eight months is required, but in man- 

 ufacturing spare parts this should be reduced by about 

 sixty days. He said that wagonmakers formerly used all 

 air-dried material, stuff that had been air dried for two or 

 three years. Lately, however, for the purpose of reducing 

 investment, dry kiln operation has been carefully looked 

 into. He maintains that there is no secret about the suc- 

 cessful drying of green hickory or oak, although hickory 

 is more easily handled than oak, and stated that the nor- 

 mal calculation provides for one month of drying for 

 each inch of thickness. He maintained that the human 

 factor in kiln drying is most important. He said that 

 more lumber or wood stock is now being used in army 

 wagons than during the same period of farm wagon 

 production. 



Reviewing the work so far carried on in wagon pro- 

 duction, Mr. Thielens said that during the first six months 

 of war work, dimension lumber coming from small mills 

 was used in the main. It then became necessary to look 

 to the bigger producers, who, however, are not ready as 

 yet to produce dimension stock. He expressed the hope, 

 however, that they will eventually get to this subject, 

 but in the meantime manufacturers of wagons and parts 

 will have to buy plank. 



According to Mr. Thielens, the furniture people in their 

 spare part production will require the following amounts 

 of lumber inclusive of twenty-five per cent footage for 

 waste: 



4/4 1 ,400,000 feet 



5/4 1,250,000 feet 



8/4 850,000 feet 



10/4 765,000 feet 



12/4 15,500,000 feet 



16/4 4,035,000 feet 



AU Three of U» WUl Be Benefited if 



Total 23,800,000 feet 



In speaking of efforts to speed up production of war 

 products and to bring the lumber producers in closer har- 

 mony with wagon manufacturers to this end, Mr. Thielens 

 said: 



"Now, the first step in that plan has been taken by 

 a request to the Price Fixing Board in Washington to 

 determine whether or not these prices (he refers to prices 

 recommended by the wood stock committee) on green 



You Mention HARDWOOD RECORD 



