September 10. lOlS 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



(ContifitutI from I'aijc i4) 

 The buUdluKB will be 160 feet wide and 1040 feet Iodb, with tile wnllc, 

 concrete lloors nnd wooden roof. 



The tubcreul08l» hospital lointcd at Azalea. N. C, Is to be enlarged. 

 Instructions have been Isaueil to the construction dlrlalon to erect build- 

 ings which It Is estimated will cost $380,100. 



Instructions have been Issued to Increase the fiicllltleg at the base hos- 

 pital located at Fort Sam Houston, Tex. The estimated cost Is J237,420. 



The bureau of Industrial housing and transportation announces that 

 the Casper Itangcr Con.structlon Company of Ilolyoke, Mass.. has been 

 awarded the contract for the caustructl«»n of 250 houses. pro%-ldlng accom- 

 modations for 422 families at Qulncy, Mass. This project Is to care for 

 employes of the Fore Klver Shipbuilding Comimny. 



To provide for the needs of the army, the construction division has 

 unilertakcn slu.e .April, 1917. a Ic.tal of 32;t operations and now has In 



prospect 153 more. The total cost of this program Is estimated \« be 

 ?1.0.S3,700,10K. 



Two government housing operations are under way on the raclllr coast. 

 One of thi'KC Is for the employes of the Navy Yard at Mare Island, Call 

 fornla, and Is to be built at Vallejo. It Is to consist of permanent dor 

 mltorles to aceonimodnte about one thousand men ; thirty small apart 

 nient houses of four apartments each, n type locally popular ; about one 

 hundred frame houses a story and a half In height, containing four, live 

 or six rooms each, and a mi'ss ball. There will also lie stores, a school 

 housi.' aniL a recreation building. 



The other development Is for the Puget Sound Navy Yard workers at 

 Bremerton, Wash. Uecausc of the bousing shortage at Bremerton, which 

 Is an Isolated community, the navy yard has bad to draw workmen from 

 Seattle. This Involves a two-hour trip morning and evening, which with 

 work proci-eillng three shifts makes maximum production an impos^lliility. 



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^ Properties of Philippine Mahogany -^ 



ork. 

 mahogany 

 report, Is printed below. 



J. Itecord on 

 ■eply from Ilcrl 

 Mead's article Is accompanied 



Editor's Note 

 Woods for Airplane Propellers." published in IIahowood Kec:oui> 

 ■ vice-president of the Indiana Quartered Oak Company, New 



The article by Samuel J. Record, in your number of Jtily 10, 

 1918, entitled "Foreign Woods for Airplane Propellers" has just 

 come to our attention. 



This article, which has doubtless been widelj' read, will work 

 serious injury to the concerns in this country, handling Philippine 

 mahogany, of whom we are one. It could not have been more 

 cleverly written to prejudice a reader, unfamiliar with the wood 

 itself, against Philippine mahogany, if it had in fact been dictated 

 by the bitterest opponent of Philippine mahogany, among the old 

 line inaluigany men. 



Mr. Kecord has compared the poorest Philippine mahogany with 

 the best African and Mexican, by carefully describing the faults 

 of the worst pieces of Philippine mahogany it would be possible 

 to find, and at th.e same time allowing the reader to believe that 

 similar poor stock is not found in African or Mexican. 



As a matter of fact, we all know that some African mahogany 

 is soft, full of fine cross breaks; some is full of wild cross grained 

 twist.v unworkable wood. Wc also know, at least all of us who 

 have actuall.v handled the three woods (as I. Q. O. Company has 

 lionet, that there is some Mexican, Honduras or oN'icaraguan, which 

 is almost as light and soft as basswood and not so strong; that 

 there is some of it so puuky that it is impossible to make a clean 

 cut across the grain with an ordinary sharp jackknife without the 

 wood gathering in front of the edge of the blade, etc., etc. 



These facts were omitted from Mr. Record's article on airplane 

 propeller stock, and rightly so. Why then, should he favor Philip- 

 liine above the others? 



Mr. Record also states that "the woods sold as Philippine ma- 

 hogany are causing propeller makers and inspectors more trouble 

 than all others combined." This very broad stati m, iit. \u- .|u:ili- 

 fies by adding "due largely to the question of i I. m iiimti.iri. " 

 We believe Mr. Record has been misinformed in nuikiii;; iliis siatc- 

 ment, as it has been repeatedly stated to us by prupcllcr iuspertors 

 familiar with all three woods, that the Philippine mahoganj- (Tan- 

 guile) being obtained from us averages superior in strength to the 

 average of either Mexican or African that they are at present 

 receiving. 



There seems to be no question as to the superiority iu smoothness 

 of grain, evenness of texture and freedom from cross grain and 

 wind breaks, of the Philippine tanguilo over the other mahoganies. 

 As to the matter of identification, there is no particular difficulty, 

 so we are informed by these inspectors, any more than there is in 

 deciding which particular kind of African mahogany is offered 

 them. « 



Actual tests of propellers made of our Philippine mahogany have 

 stood up far above the requirements called for by the department. 

 We enclose herewith, for your information, copy of report of test 

 made on two Philippine mahogany propellers. You will note the 

 last ])aragrapli states: "As far as can be determined in the labora- 

 tory, tanguile mahogany is suitable as a propeller wood and is 

 apparently i(|ual to tru? mahogany for this purpose." 



We also enclose copy of report of tests recently made, compar- 

 ing tanguile with both Mexican and African mahogany, iu strength 

 tests. You will note that the result of these tests did not leave 

 tangtiile at the foot of the list by any means. 



Mr. Record states "in their native markets, the woods are not 

 permitted to be sold as any kind of mahogany, but unfortunately, 

 this rule does not apply to the export trade." This statement is 

 a very misleading oti., .■iml one very damaging to the 



Mr. Mead's article, with the government 



this country handling Philippine mahogany. The Philippine wood 

 sold in the Philippines by the manufacturers there is the low- 

 grade stock which is unsuitable for use in the states, and this is 

 run into construction timbers, 2"x4", 2"x6", etc., and is sold there 

 for the same general jiurposo that oak, hemlock or spruce timber 

 would be sold in this country, viz.: for construction work of various 

 kinds, railroad bill stock, and all sorts of work where strength is 

 required and high quality is not. 



This statement of Mr. Record's that it is "unfortunate" that 

 Philippine mahogany is permitted to be sold as Philippine ma- 

 hogany, in this country, we think, is an exceedingly unfair one. 



Philippine mahogany is not a true mahogany botanically. That, 

 we have admitted, and stated, thousands of times. Neither is 

 African mahogany a true mahogany, botanically, nor many of the 

 mahoganies now on the market. As anyone familiar with the vari- 

 ous woods on the market here can tell you, some of the very finest 

 and highest price wood ever sold here is not true mahogany botani- 

 call.v, where some of the ver}' poorest and most punky, worthless 

 stock that has ever been delivered under the name of mahogany, 

 has been true mahogany, botanically. 



Mr. Record goes on to saj' that the principal objections to 

 Philippine mahogany are difficulty of seasoning, tendency to warp 

 and check and rather poor cabinet qualities. Then, he goes on to 

 describe some of the poorest wood that it is possible to find in the 

 Philippines, giving the reader the general impression that the wood 

 being sold to propeller makers at the present time, is of such a 

 character. This is entirely untrue. The wood being sold by us to 

 the propeller makers at the present time is of a smooth, even tex- 

 ture and firm grain. It shows no tendency to warp and check any 

 more than that shown by any other njahogany. Its seasoning 

 qualities are excellent as we can prove to you by showing yon the 

 lumber itself or as we will In- glad to jirovi- tcj yciw by letting you 

 talk to customers of i>iii--^ i n \ :> i Mm , lin. -, ,■ h.. I i . u ■! it for pat- 

 tern work, boat work, 1 1 im V , |. ; . verything 

 else that it is coneri\ .(Mr I !: ,• ■• nr. 



As stated in the lir-mn m- .ii' tin iriim, \1', 1;. .-.i-,l 's article 

 is certainly very uii.jnst to I'liilippiiio raaliogaiiy ;is a wood, and 

 also to the various reputable concerns in this country, handling it. 

 Anyone reading the article, not familiar with the wood itself, cer- 

 tainlj' would never purchase any Philippine mahogany, and we 

 think it is due us and other concerns handling the wood in this 

 country, that you correct in some strong manner, the erroneous 

 impression which undoubtedly has been caused by this cleverly 

 written article. Yours very truly, 



InDI.VX.V QlAKTEKED OaK COMPANY. 



Uerbert Mead, Jr., Vice-president. 

 NiroLA Stone & Myers Company, Cleveland, Ohio, 

 Insular Lumber Company^, Manila, P. I. 

 Robert Dollar Lumber Company, San Francisco, Cal. 

 The first government report referred to by Mr. Mead was dateil 

 June 3 of this year and was made at the Washington navy yard. 

 It follows in substance: 



The object of this test was to determine whether or not Philippine 

 mahogany Is a suitable wood for propellers. 



The propeller used is a 2-blade tractor' designed and built by the Lang 

 Propeller Company, for use on the R-G or K-O plane with the Liberty 

 engine. The propeller is made of Philippine mahogany from the Province 

 of Tanguile which Is known as tanguile mahogany. It Is similar to 



