HARDWOOD RECORD 



41 



ifreight cars. This, however, was but one contributing feature. 

 It will be seen that the fence is very close to the elevated tracks. 

 A remarkable vibration was noticed with the passing of every 

 ■elevated train, and it required only that a small crack be started 

 by a wagon backing into the post in order that further deteriora- 

 tion should result from this vibration. 



While the very principle of using concrete in this position reflects 

 seriously on the judgment of the architect specifying it and shows 

 that the wisdom of its use is very often subject to doubt, there 

 are other contributing causes to the failure of the posts. In 

 picture No. 4 the reinforcing used can be fairly well seen. It 

 would appear that anyone with good judgment would have specified 

 four or five steel rods of probably half an inch in diameter for 

 posts of this size. Instead four narrow strips of steel, about a 

 ■sixteenth of an inch in thickness and not more than half an inch 

 in width, were placed in the posts. This reinforcing was evidently 

 rusty before its installation. It hardly seems that any architect 

 of experience in concrete work would permit of such a decidedly 

 flimsy method of reinforcing when it is a known fact that rein- 

 forcement in concrete work supplies a large percentage of its 

 strength. 



Picture No. 2 shows very plainly the way in which the fracture 

 followed down along the reinforcing. The vertical crack is seen 

 directly behind one of the reinforcing bands. In picture 3 the way 

 in which the jiosts were fractured is plainly seen. At the bottom 

 there will be noticed a three-inch plank coming out beyond the 

 Tnain bulkhead and against which the posts were set. With the 

 long leverage above this plank it can be very clearly understood 

 ■that it would require but a slight jar against the post to fracture 

 such a rigid material as concrete. That is exactly what happened, 

 and practically every post in the fence at a distance of a couple 

 •of hundred yards is broken at the same point. Is there any doubt 

 as to how wooden posts would have performed under similar con- 

 ditions? It will also be seen from the various pictures that all 

 the posts are broken off at the top of the main bulkhead. Of 

 course with the fracture at the bottom the posts naturally leaned 

 •over against the boards, and a slight pressure at the top was all 

 that was necessary to make the second break. 



An examination of the concrete itself revealed the fact that 



its ingredients were very poorly mixed and apparently entirely 

 out of proportion. With concrete of this sort to deal with, 

 a small fracture is all that is necessary to start deterioration. 



Picture No. 1 shows one of the posts slightly bent over against 

 a telegraph pole. It is evident from this picture that very little 

 bending was necessary to fracture the post originally, as there 

 was not more than three-quarters of an inch of space originally 

 between the iron rail at the top, and the telegraph pole. The 

 fracture in the concrete post is very evident — another proof of the 

 non-resilient qualities of concrete and its uselessness for such pur- 

 poses. 



Picture No. 5 illustrates comprehensively the way in which the 

 entire fence leaned over against the bulkhead. 



A more striking contradiction of the claims made by those in- 

 terested in the advancement of the cause of concrete could not be 

 found than this series of photographs. In talking with teamsters 

 who have been driving on the roadway next to the fence, they 

 laughed at the ease with which the posts were cracked, and ex- 

 pressed their contempt for the idea of placing concrete posts in such 

 an exposed position. 



It needs no argument to show that wooden posts under these 

 conditions would have sufficient elasticity to retain their position 

 and to resist the shook received from wagons backing into them. 

 It would require a great deal more force than could be admin- 

 istered by a team backing up under ordinary conditions to crack 

 a locust, chestnut, catalpa or any other ordinary fence post of a 

 size corresponding to the size of the concrete post installed. These 

 were approximately 3"x5" and of a rather odd shape. The cost of 

 installing them, figuring in the steel work and the accessories 

 necessary to hang the fence, was considerably in excess of what 

 ordinary wooden posts would have cost under the same condi- 

 tions. 



This article is not designed to prove that concrete is a worthless 

 building material. It has been claimed by its exponents that it is 

 adapted to any use in building. It has been touted as a universal 

 substitute for wood under any and all conditions and their declara- 

 tions have gained a wide attention. However, fortunately the 

 very grossness of their exaggerations is reacting against them and 

 in no instance has it been more favorable to wood than in this case. 



" H;;rost:^^maiiOiTOi<atOT™)tra!HWK:>iOTi>it^^ 



Hardwood in the Retail Yard 





There is much more hardwood handled through the retail yard 

 DOW than there used to be, and there may be considerably more if 

 manufacturers of hardwood will study the trade and cater to it. 

 This applies not merely to the woods used for siding and outside, 

 trim, such as poplar and gum in the South and basswood in the 

 North, but to hardwood for interior trim and for planing mill 

 work. More of the latter has been used, partly because- the major- 

 ity of retail yard men have put in planing mill equipment, and 

 partly because the public is calling for hardwood. The point has 

 been reached in the retail lumber business where practically every 

 man in it finds it necessary to operate some planing mill machinery. 



While visiting a newly equipped small planing mill and stock 

 shed recently, the writer noticed that about a fourth of the planing 

 mill stock shed was given over to storing hardwoods for mill use. 

 That particular retailer was decidedly progressive and knew the 

 full possibilities of his business for he had all the hardwood sorted 

 for widths and lengths. The stock consisted mostly of oak, the 

 mill being located in the South. A northern mill would probably 

 have been stocked up on birch. The advantage in this method of 

 storing is obvious — if a board of given size is required no piles 

 need be torn down and built up again, for it can be gotten at once 

 and without trouble. Further, the lumber is kiln-dried and ready 

 for use when it is put in. 



When the retailer was asked about this feature, and if he were 

 able to buy that oak direct from the mill kiln-dried and ready for 



use, he said he could not but that he had bought the stock and 

 shipped it to a neighbor in town who owned a dry-kiln, and had it 

 dried before putting it in stock. He explained further that he 

 didn 't know where to get stock kiln-dried at the mill, and that he 

 did not feel justified in maintaining a kiln himself, as his concern 

 doe.s only a limited amount of work. His plan is to buy all the 

 material he can use already worked to shape, and simply do the 

 odd and special work in the mill, which is small compared to his 

 retail yard and the amount of retail business done. 



To properly take eare of this kind of trade, the millman making 

 oak in the South should not only be equipped to kiln-dry the 

 lumber, but he might go further and fare better by putting in a 

 machine or two so as to make oak casing and base to popular 

 patterns and get retailers to carry it in stock the same as they do 

 pine, and as they are beginning to do in birch. Then if the millman 

 wants to work some of his low-grade oak into flooring, it gives 

 him a chance to drive a trade in mixed cars to the retailer, prob- 

 ably consisting of some dry stock to be carried rough for his own 

 millwork, some dressed casing and base, and some flooring. There 

 is a good field here — a field that may not look big in individual 

 cases, but which collectively is very desirable. It is a market from 

 which the oak millman can get more trade if he will go after it 

 right. Trying right in this case ''sounds like" dry-kilns and a 

 planer at the hardwood mill, a thing that many in the trade have 

 probably been avoiding too long. 



