HARDWOOD RECORD 



I ..rest resoiirces of the United States and liow they comijare with those 

 ■ •1 nther countries. 



How far can the United States count on supplies from abroad. 



I'ho world divided into exportiilB and importing countries. 



.V proportlonatel.v largo space is devoted to a discussion of the fore.-it 

 resources of the countries of northern Europe where tree growing and 

 manufacture into linishod products are highly developed. 



A Wood Exhibit 



'I'hose who intend to e.xport lumber to foreign countries will be 

 [placed in a better position to .iudge for themselves many points which 

 will enter into the trade if they can make a personal study of the 

 various woods with which theirs must compete. There is a scarcity 

 of popular information along that line, and yet such information is 

 more needed at this time than ever in the past. 



.\ personal visit by the American e.xiiorter or prospective exporter 

 lo the timbered regions and wood-using factories of foreign countries, 

 and there see for liimself, would be the ideal mode of procedure; but 

 that is not practiiable. Time and the cost stand in the way of many 

 who need better information concerning foreign timbers with which 

 they must compete if they extend their business beyond the seas. It is 

 possible, however, for many to study foreign conunercial woods without 

 leaving the United States. Boards of trade, or similar bodies in large 

 cities, often have collections of such timber. The largest collection of 

 foreign woods in America is in Chicago, and hundreds of lumbermen 

 are frequent visitors there and it will pay them well to make a study 

 of this material, particularly that from countries which arc our com- 

 petitors in world trade. The collection is at tlie Field Museum of 

 Natural History, and is open to the inspection by the public seven 

 days in the week. 



The nucleus of tlie Field Museum collection of woods consists of 

 tlie various foreign exhibits at the World's Fair at Chicago in 189.3. 

 Tliey were donated to the museum and have remained ever since, and 



numerous additions have been made from all parts of the world. The 

 total number of foreign woods now in the museum is nearly 6,000, 

 and no other collection in America can compare with it. 



The Most Import.\nt 



The most important of these foreign woods, from the importer's 

 stan<lpoint, do not much exceed one hundred in number. It is prac- 

 ticable, therefore, for a man to examine them in a short time and learn 

 in a general way the kind of lumber that wiU contend for the market 

 with his when he seeks business in any particular foreign country. In 

 most instances, the names alone, from books or otherwise, give a poor 

 idea of what the woods are, because the names have no meaning in 

 Knglish. The best plan is to make their acquaintance from personal 

 examination. The woods on exhibition are arranged by countries, 

 among which are the following: 



Russia, fine collection and well arranged. The best showing is of 

 softwoods. 



The Philippines, practically all are hardwoods. 



I'-ormosa. both iiardwoods and softwoods, io large numbers. 



Japan, a remarkable showing of plain and figured woods which must 

 be met in competition by exports to the Orient. 



.Taliore, many hardwoods of fine color. 



Ivorea. excellent in quality. 



lirltish India, vast resources of hardwoods suitable for agricultural 

 implements and furniture. 



-Vustralia, line samples of hardwoods, mostly eucalyptus, but some soft- 



Itra/.il, these woods consist of both hard and soft. 



I'araguay. many samples, but not many that will olTer serious coni- 

 poiition with timbers from the United States. 

 Colombia, chiefly bard, heavy woods. 

 Culana, cabinet and licavy structural timbers. 

 Venezuela, woods similar to those of Guiana, 

 .lamaica, timber in abundance, but only a few with figure or attractive 



. Vi,^>g;:«iaxyAi«v;>!!t:> M y^ose^^ 



Wood in Vehicle Work 



Wood in auto work is coming back but not in the way that might 

 be expected. There seems to be no come-back to the wooden body of 

 the average passenger car, for this phase of the work has gone into 

 the tin pan and the sheet metal business apparently to stay. Therefore 

 the auto business is still disappointing to those lumbermen who once 

 liad a splendid trade in wide poplar and other woods entering the body 

 of passenger cars. 



Xotwithstanding this, however, the amount of woodwork used in 

 the auto trade has increased wonderfully of late and gives promise 

 of still larger increase. This is mainly because of the extensive 

 adaption of the auto for truck and wagon work. The lighter types of 

 auto truck often involve considerable wood work in bed construction 

 and they bring an enlarged caU for auto spokes. 



^iif-.V;p- are one of the big items in auto wood work now and they 



ill item that seems to be growing in importance. Not only 



. :iis, but trucks and service wagons are a big factor and 



. . MiiUiijuting considerably to the matter of spokes. It is these, too, 



hiili are the important factor in the demand for auto work generally. 



'finite a share of this wood work, more of it perhaps than the trade 



-iues, does not go direct to auto manufacturers but is made in 



k smiths' shops. Take the Ford machines, for example. So far the 



I |ieople have not made any truck bodies. People buy the machines 



:iua have the bodies made in some local shop. Hundreds of these 



are being made all around us and they generally include a fair 



share of wood work. In the truck end of the auto business there is 



ill- found anything from heavy brewery trucks to the bakery wagon. 



iieavier trucks are inclined to run toward metal parts where 



ible and do not use such a great proportion of wood work as 



nie lighter ones. It is the light trucks and wagons with enclosed 



light bodies that are bringing wood work into the auto business 



again, and at the present time they seem to be calling for as much 



lumber as was formerly used in auto bodies themselves. This should 



furnish some call for wide poplar and it certainly furnishes a market 

 for spokes and dimension stock in both hickory and oak. 



The outlook for the demand to supply orders for the fall cutting 

 season in wagon wood work appears better than some in the trade 

 would have us believe. There are some who argue that no more 

 than twenty-five percent of the farm wgons are sold annually now 

 as compared to the number sold some years ago. This may apply to 

 last year and the year before, but it is no sign that it wiU apply to 

 this fall or next year. Usually a good crop year means heavy buying 

 of farm wagons, and certainly the crop quantity this year should 

 encourage a liberal buying of farm wagons. 



There seems to be a mistaken idea that the automobile and the motor 

 truck are replacing the farm wagon extensively and thus cutting 

 down the trade there. What does it matter to the spoke manufacturer, 

 for example, whether the farmer buys a wagon drawn by horses or a 

 wagon that is self propelled? It calls for just as many wheels and 

 spokes and when we include both the motors and the wagons required 

 today they should call for more in the way of wagon wood work than 

 has ever been required before. 



The fall and winter demand for vehicle wood work should be of an 

 unusually large volume, and there is no excuse for the complaint that 

 this trade is not what it used to be and never will be good again. Some 

 of the millmen who heretofore cut wagon and vehicle dimension stock 

 now simply cut their oak and hickory into flitehes and planks and 

 sell it in this form to the wagon makers and blacksmiths who rip it up 

 into dimensions required for their work. There are institutions which 

 buy material in plank and flitch form and work it into spokes. It 

 is a bit strange that this should be done in this age when the general 

 tendency is toward cutting more stufE to specific dimension right in 

 the wood, but it is a fact just the same that, to many people, flitches 

 and planks are a bigger item in wagon and vehicle wood work than in 

 davs sone bv. 



