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Utilization of Wood Waste 



The utilization of forest, sawmill ami factory waste is a very 

 important one, and that it is attracting the attention of a great 

 many wood users is manifest. Recently an article appeared m the 

 Saturday Evening Post on this subject, written by Forrest Crissey. 

 The author evidently acquired the glittering generalities contamea 

 in his story trom an interview with H. S. Sackett, in charge of the 

 otiice of Wood Utilization, United States Forest Service, Chicago, 

 and like a good many newspaper writers who are altogether unfa- 

 miliar with their subject, succeeded in involving his story to no 

 considerable extent. The result of the publication was that Mr. 

 Sackett has been deluged with more than a thousand letters from 

 people who are interested, or believe they are interested, in the use 

 of wood. Most of the inquiries gave him only a general idea ot the 

 problems involved, and the head of this department of the 1 orest 

 Service has found it mighty difficult to answer the majority ot his 

 interrogators intelligently. 



In self-defence, Mr. Sackett issued the following circular letter: 

 Tn converting trees into usable form there is entailed a ';"-'.'»i° ""o""* 



product Is used. . .. 



This waste whether resulting from operations in, the woods at the 



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charcoal, alcohol, turpentine, resin, etc., aie pioduced. 



\t the present time in this country, in view of the enormous amount 

 of wood available and its relatively low price, the u"^. "' "",^* ere "^re a 



'•'" e'^ To^ ll'ZX'"'cntZlX l??l"Cnd?el%'i"o'me"'h^n21l^' Jor 

 ".Znet mnnets.niU hickory wason rims are reduced to flrst-class spokes 



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trimmed from (be end of a basswood box board. 



In the other field of wood waste utilization, however, wl^^e .*he form 

 and substance of the wood are changed and wood pup and distdlat on 

 ■|,rmiuets are made the outlook is often more promising In making 



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a bo ve purposes. . , 



^f i< rPili7Pd that a brief statoment of this character can give only 



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each is a totally different one. 



Among the many letters received at the office of Wood I tilization 

 pertaining to this subject, the following is printed as an example 

 of tlie few that bore any marks of real intelligence covering the 

 subject under discussioni and is from a manager of a large and 

 important lumber and veneer manufacturing house in the South. 



mills and veneer mills. . 



as the black gum. 



Will state tlmt we manufacture (piile ii good deal of gum "nd popldi 

 v,.neeVs and like the i-est of the veneer manufacturers, we have found no 



order to utilize the stock without loss. 



SO" or in widths running up to 1^ and under 1- ion„. 



We also cut veneer thinner thnn v." and have quite a large waste in 



—36— 



1/20" and 1/30" cross banding, caused very largely by tearing in the 

 drying process. The thinner veneer mentioned comes of a higher grade 

 than the thicker veneer and is used for cross banding requiring a single 

 sheet, that is, you can not put pieces together, and there is no demand 

 for small pieces. I mean 1o say, there is no demand in the cabinet trade. 

 At this point I wish to state that all the veneers that we make here 

 are for cabinet purposes and we do not make any baskets or packages. 

 Veneers made for baskets and fruit packages are m'ade by a process much 

 cheaper than we use, as it is not necessary for them to-be so accurate- 

 in the making, nor is as much attention paid to ruptured surfaces caused 

 by fast cutting. 



Another problem that comes to us is in our sawmill. Wc make quar- 

 tered oak almost exclusively and the waste that we complain about most 

 seriously with quarter-sawing is the amount of sap-wood and the amount 

 of narrow strips necessarily made, and these strips are used very largely" 

 by the flooring manufacturers, but the flooring man does not want sap 

 strips, and it is even a diflicult matter to get them to take the amount 

 of sap as prescribed by the rules of inspection. 



We have at this particular time several cars of quartered white oak 

 strips running from IV2" to 3V2" wide, absolutely clear on one face and 

 two edges, straight, lu'ight. clean stock, and we can not get an offer for 

 thi-m for more than about .$18.00 to $20.00 per M feet, and they are 

 worth that much to ns to cut up into piling sticks. There also is a large 

 percentage of these strips that are graded No. 1 common on account of 

 having a knot or defect showing through the strip, and will say that 

 there is a limited demand at from .$15. (jo to .$17.00 per M feet. These 

 prices, of course, are f. o. b. mill in Tennessee or Mississippi. 



This grade of strips is used by some of the floor manufacturers and 

 the clear part of the strip is cut out and put into high grade flooring 

 and parquet work, and the rest of the strip is made into low grade fac- 

 tory flooring, but there does not seem to be a demand for a medium grade 

 flooring. The high class user wants a flooring absolutely clear ot all 

 defects and sap. The writer has suggested that a process of fuming or 

 coloring be used, that is. that the pieces that show part sap and part 

 heart-wood, in order to make them a uniform color, be stained, but no 

 manufacturer considers the proposition seriously, claiming that there is 

 not a demand tor it. and luun* of them care to create a demand. 



We have tried on several occasions to work .up our common strips and 

 No. 2 tommon quartered oak into furniture dimension stock, but we 

 have been unable to lind a furniture manufacturer who was willing to 

 |iay a fair pi-ice for this iii;iteiial. lie expects us to furnish him abso- 

 lutely dear stock in which there will lie absolutely no waste to him fc 

 ,wbicli he expects tu pay about a No. 1 common price, lumber that re- 

 quires cutting over 0tJVj7( clear face, and on which he has to put the 

 expense 01 cutting out the detective parts and cutting iuto workable 

 sizes and shapes. 



Ccaild we get in touch with some furniture manufacturer who was 

 willing to pay a clear price , .for clear lumber, we would very gladly re- 

 sume part of' our business, but as it is has been in the past it has been 

 a great deal of work and w<n-ry securing the business, getting it out and 

 on the market, and in tlic end' it is only a case of swapping dollars and 

 in some instances an absolute loss. 



We presume that this subject has been threshed out with .vou before 

 and vou are. no doulit. more fiimiliar with the subject than the writer, 

 and i am giving you these facts that you may know the class of infor- 

 mation that I wa'nt and if you have anytbiug at hand that would help 

 us, we would be very glad, indeed, to have it. 



The utilization of wood waste as before noted is one of para- 

 mount importance, but there is no general rule by which waste of 

 this character can be economically transformed into a merchant- 

 able commodity. A great many attempts at economy in utilization 

 of this sort prove to be extravagances, and it is only by the most 

 itiligeut and painstaking study that even a limited utilization ot 

 large quantities of waste can be made on a satisfactory basis. 



The letter from the lumber company noted above recites only 

 a few problems in waste that are encountered by one concern 

 Kvery manufacturer and remanufacturer of lumber views askance 

 his forest waste and the lumber waste pile in mill and factory, ana 

 .ieprecates many times over the apparent lack of efficiency that 

 prevails in the lumber in.lustry that does not enalde him to utilize 

 these by-products. 



The whole difficulty lies in the fact that timber is too cheap and 

 that lumber is too cheap. When a man can go into a virgin forest 

 and cut bolts for the manufacture of as crude and cheap articles 

 as clothes-pins, dowels and meat skewers, at a less cost for raw 

 material than he can employ wood waste, there is no argument 

 that will induce him to adopt the more expensive system of saving 

 the waste pile from the fire box. Close utilization of wood waste 

 will come about only when lumber is a much more expensive com- 

 modity than it is at the present time. 



The above statements are made after due thought, analysis ana 

 deliberation, and in no wise with a desire to discourage attempts 

 at wood waste utilization. A few manufacturers arc accomplish 

 ing very good results in utilizing certain forest waste, .slabs, edg- 

 ings, trimmings, etc., but in the majority of eases, as before noted, 

 these attempts at economies have proven manifest extravagances. 

 Time will come when the value of raw materia! will be high enough 

 to insure a profit in utilizing a lot of available wood that is now 

 employed only as fuel. This time may come much earlier than 

 the average man thinks, but coining it surely is, and no iutelligent 

 operator should give up his attempts to get something out of his 

 waste. 



