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Philippine Lumber Industry 



By means of oiEeial reports, newspaper and trade journal write- 

 ups, and stories told by returning travelers, the forest resources of 

 the Philippines have been given a rather large amount of publicity 

 <luring the past few years. The latest pamphlet on the subject was 

 issued by tlie government at Washington, and the material was 

 collected for the Department of Comnieice by John R. Arnold. It 

 deals with tlie lumber industry, and only incidentally with forest 

 conditions. 



The production of lumber in the islands is gradually increasing, 

 liut the rate is pretty slow. The cut in 190" was 28,643,320 feet, and 

 in 1913 it was 112,360,000. The increase has not varied much from 

 year to year, and the latest total is about equal to the annual lumber 

 cut in the state of Connecticut. It is estimated that about 1,000,000,- 

 000 feet could be cut yearly in the Philippines without lessening the 

 supply. That would be cutting no more than the yearly growth. 



More than ninety-nine per cent of Philippine timber is owned by 

 the government; conseijuently there is little opportunity for private 

 purchases. Concessions must be obtained. The license may run 

 many years or for one year only. 



The islands have about 2,500 kinds of trees, which are five times 

 as many as the United States possesses; but the number cut for 

 himber in the Philippines does not exceed 400. 

 Sizes of Lumber 



The lumber output includes both boards and dimension stuff, but 

 usually over sixty per cent, and in the case of some plants as much 

 as ninety per cent, consists of the former, mostly 1-inch material. In 

 general the large operators, who seek to maintain stocks, get out 

 chiefly boards; the smaller licensees, who work almost wholly on 

 orders, deal more extensively in dimension stuff. The proportion of 

 boards used is local building is smaller than in the United States. 



Comparatively little of the output is finished at the mills, sawed, 

 the proportion in most cases apparently not exceeding ten per cent; 

 most of this is finished before drying. Most of the finished lumber 

 is for interior fittings and furniture. Kilns are comparatively rare. 

 Air-drying usually takes two to four months. One concern guaran- 

 tees the latter period in the case of export stock, and the method is 

 geuerally stated to be satisfactory for present purposes, though there 

 appears to be some reason for believing that the development of the 

 industry has been and is being somewhat hindered by the inadequacy 

 of the seasoning process employed. The Philippine government was 

 not long ago obliged to make special arrangements to insure a 

 reasonable supply of properly seasoned lumber for its own use at 

 short notice, and it seems certain that the development of a suc- 

 cessful export trade will ultimately dejjend in part oa the introduc- 

 tion of improvements in this particular. 



Skilled and Unskilled Labor 



Experience has shown that native labor is fairly good when no 

 special skill is required, but the sawmills are obliged to bring skilled 

 workmen from the United States under two- and three-year contracts. 

 Existing conditions do not raise much hope that the present genera- 

 tion of natives can be depended on for skilled labor. The Filipinos 

 are fairly reliable for work in the forest when they are well treated. 

 A period of ten or twelve years of training under American bosses is 

 not time enough to make a skilled workman of a native, according to 

 the opinion given by some operators who have .tried it. 

 KiXDS OF Machinery in Use 



Most of the sawmills used in the Philippines are stationary (except 

 for one or two small plants in isolated localities). The native woods 

 are hard to saw, and the general opinion is that the power required 

 for the purpose makes the use of portable mills as a rule impractica- 

 ble. One German importer of machinery, however, is of the opinion 

 that European portable mills can be adapted to local conditions, 

 and that a demand for them is likely to arise. So far as there is 

 any justice in the complaint that American machinery is not solid 

 enough, it is obvious that its disadvantage as compared with foreign 

 machinery is particularly great in the ca^e of portable mills for 



dealing with the hard native woods. At present the weight of 

 opinion is decidedly in favor of stationary mills. 



There is plenty of water power available in the Philippines, but 

 very little is in use. Fuel is very plentiful and cheap. 



The kinds of sawmill woodworking machinery most in demand are 

 circular saws, band saws, resaws, matchers, edgers, mortises, tenoners, 

 jig saws and lathes. Most of the sawmill machinery used in the 

 Philippines is of American manufacture, though it is said there are 

 mills of every sort anrl kind from the old hand-operated 

 to the modern band mill. 



The Closest Utilization 



If someone were to ask you what line of industry has the closest 

 utilization of lumber — that is, the closest clean-up and the smallest 

 percentage of waste— could you answer the question? It is prompted 

 here by the fact that the writer has found an industry in which 

 it is claimed every bit of the lumber is used, down to pieces half- 

 inch square and six inches long. This industry is the making of 

 column openings, colonades, and grilles. The lumber used is mainly 

 oak and birch, but with some other hardwoods and some pine. 



In making column openings, a good grade of inch lumber is used. 

 The pedestals, frames and panels arc made from part of the stock, 

 and these must be cleared. Then come the frame for the panels, the 

 base and casing, the columns, and carvings if any are used. The 

 columns are made generally without a lathe. In one factorj- the 

 columns were made of staves carefully run on a sticker so that 

 when finished they did not have to go to the lathe. Some are made 

 smooth round, some of oval staves, giving a reeded effect to the 

 column; and others have fluted effects. The oak for the work is 

 very carefully dried, and generally the column staves are run with 

 grooves in the edge and a slip tongue is used to join them together. 

 Glue is poured into the groove, and the slip tongues are meantime 

 immersed in a vat or pan of glue, taken right out, and run into the 

 grooved openings. As soon as the glue sets the column is ready to 

 clean off and fit into the frame. 



The trimmings from the pedestals, frames, casing, and columns 

 are utilized in making the fret work or grilles for overhead. The 

 strips an inch square or a little larger are grooved on a special 

 saw. They are then ripped to a uniform width, after which they are 

 woven together in the grilles. Sometimes the weaving is in the 

 form of a diamond and at other times in squares, and the one-time 

 grooving with a saw is all the work it takes, because the strips 

 are cut the right width to reverse and mesh into each other and 

 thus weave into the overhead grille without further manipulation 

 other than trimming the ends. The ripsaw on which they are cut 

 to width is carefully filed and does its work so smoothly that they 

 require no sanding. In fact, they seem to finish better than if they 

 were sanded and polished. 



The strips that are too small for this work are run into rods 

 about a quarter or three-eights of an inch in diameter for making 

 the rod and ball work that is used on some of the grilles. Then, 

 there are the balls that go on the rods. These are usually bought 

 separately from people making a specialty of them. It is only a 

 matter of fitting them on the rods. There is no waste, except the 

 shavings, sawdust, and small trimmings from cutting the grilles 

 to pattern. 



The carvings and ornamental work are no longer of wood except 

 on rare occasions. They are generally made of composition, which 

 is furnished much cheaper. Some machine carving and moulding is 

 used, but this too is bought from people making a specialty of it. 

 There is now and then a little hand carving for some unusual job, 

 but this end of the business is a very small item. T. J. C. 



One good way to reduce the amount you have to pay the railroads 

 in getting your lumber to market is to use dry kilns. This is not a 

 new idea nor is this the first time the statement has been made, 

 but the advice is good and there is still plenty of room for its use. 



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