24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



of other commodities, like iron, beef, cotton, etc., it is another 

 way of saying that money is cheaper; its buying power has been 

 reduced, and its value is expressed in a smaller number of units 

 of the various articles of commerce. Looked at from this stand- 

 point, it is easy to realize that when quartered oak which has 

 been 'selUng at $70 moves up to $75, the individual handler who 

 bought at a favorable price may profit, but the trade as a whole will 



probably not, if the advance is part of the general upward movement 

 of prices. 



As stated above, it would be an impossible and intolerable condition 

 for values in other lines to advance and lumber prices to remain 

 stationary, and this is not likely to happen. For lumber to be 

 involved in such a general movement, however, does not necessarily 

 mean great prosperity. G. D. C, Jr. 



The Principal Shuttlewoods 



The commercial range of dogwood and persimmon very nearly 

 coincide, though the botanical range of dogwood extends beyond 

 the borders of persimmon on all sides except the eastern, and 

 there both reach the Atlantic ocean. The supplies which go to 

 the shuttle factories come from North Carolina, Tennessee and 

 Arkansas, and in smaller quantities from the country immediately 

 north and south of those three states. Tennessee appears from 

 available statistics to be the largest producer of those woods for 

 shuttles. Last year the output there was 1,705,000 feet, board 

 measure, of dogwood, worth $22 a thousand at the factory which 

 makes the rough 

 blocks. The output 

 of persimmon was 

 665,000 feet, worth 

 $27 a thousand at 

 the block mills. Sta- 

 tistics of the produc- 

 tion of those woods 

 for the whole coun- 

 try are not suffi- 

 ciently complete for 

 determining what 

 the total output is, 

 ibut probably one- 

 fifth of all comes 

 from Tennessee. In 

 North Carolina, which 

 is probably second 

 i n quantity, the 

 yearly production is 

 about 600,000 feet 

 of dogwood, costing 

 $15 a thousand, and 

 150,000 feet of per- 

 simmon at $20. 



Persimmon is lum- 

 bered like most other 

 woods, the trees be- 

 ing large enough to 



make logs of good shape. Dogwood, on the other hand, is taken from 

 the forest in another way. The trees are small, and a dogwood saw- 

 log is never seen. The sliuttle material is measured by the cord, and 

 in reducing to board feet, the ratio of two cords to one thousand feet 

 is considered an average. 



In some instances dogwood is procured by men who make it a 

 business to cut the stock in the woods and deliver it to the 

 purchasers, but that is not the usual procedure. It is cut almost 

 entirely by negroes in the South who secure a tree here and there 

 as they occur in the woods. The negoes have learned that a stick 

 of dogwood large enough for a shuttleblock has a value, and when 

 they run across such a stick in course of their peregrinations 

 about the country, they cut it and carry it home. The next time 

 they drive to the village with a load of farm produce, they throw 

 the dogwood stick into the wagon and take it along. They are 

 always able to sell it at a fair price to some dealer who knows its 

 value. It is seldom that a whole wagon load of such sticks goes 

 to the village at a time. When the village dealer has a sufficient 



THE MUST N(.ii;Tiii;i;r,Y guhvi; of persimmhn .\i:ai; .m;\v iia\ i:n. (jij.n.v. 



quantity for a consignment, he ships his dogwood to the block mill. 

 The cutting in this manner extends as far south as Florida, and 

 some very good dogwood grows in the compact sandy soils of the 

 northern part of that state. The wood attains sufficient size for 

 shuttles and some of it is cut, as far west as Texas, and northward 

 and eastward to Missouri, Kentucky, West. Virginia and Virginia. 

 The claim that persimmon is the better of the two woods for 

 shuttles does not seem to be borne out by the fact that, so far as 

 available statistics show, there is more dogwood than persimmon 

 worked into shuttles, although dogwood is more difficult to procure on 



account of its 

 smaller size. 



Tlie search for 

 shuttlewoods has 

 been little less active 

 5n this country than 

 the search for suita- 

 ble lead pencil 

 woods. Numerous 

 tests have been made 

 of woods from all 

 parts of the country 

 which have been 

 thought to be prom- 

 ising material. The 

 requirements are ex- 

 acting, and nothing 

 short of actual trial 

 will determine 

 whether a certain 

 wood will answer. 

 There are harder, 

 heavier and stronger 

 woods than either 

 dogwood or persim- 

 mon, but some essen- 

 tial property is lack- 

 ing in nearly every 

 one of them. Some 

 are too soft, and wear out quickly; others are brittle and break in 

 a short time, still others split, and splinters develop which render the 

 shuttle useless. 



Two thousand hours of actual work is one of the tests which 

 a shuttle must stand. If it does that, it will pass, but few are 

 the woods which will do it. The treatment is rough. The shuttles 

 are worked in pairs. They are thrown back and forth by machin- 

 ery, by sharp blows from pieces of hickory wood called "picker- 

 sticks." The best shuttlewood in the world, as far as known, is 

 Turkish boxwood, but that is too costly for use by shuttlemakers. 

 After years of experimenting, dogwood and persimmon have been 

 declared to be the best material obtainable for this purpose. 



The sap-wood only is used. Dogwood has little heart-wood, and 

 consequently there is little waste, except that which is cut away 

 in shaping tBe shuttle. It amounts to more than one-half of the 

 rough stick. With persimmon the case is different. The heart- 

 wood amounts to a considerable part of the tree, particularly if the 

 tree is large, and formerly the heart-wood was thrown away by 



