HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



trade, without discrimination, it is a moral certainty that he is 

 not going to make much money out of the lumber. 



The plan involves study of the stock on the yard just as closely 

 as it requires study of the requirements of the purchaser and the 

 experience of the concern with each customer. Frequent inven- 

 tories and careful analysis of the trend of trade as disclosed by 

 the stock-sheets help immensely in suggesting along what lines 



effort should be concentrated. As one lumberman said not long 

 ago, "Unless you do something of that kind, your salesmen will 

 insist on deluging you with orders for {he things you haven't 

 got." Watching the yard and selecting the probable buyers for 

 each class of liunber you have on hand — instead of for just any 

 lumber at all — will conserve sales effort and assure profits. 



G. D. C, Jr. 



H ;g^:>gt:aia5viS:;:o;y:>^At^^l)\:>^;iayatigtTO:;i^^ 



The Handle Trade 



WITH THE HANDLE MANUTACTUEERS 



Good men are essential in all lines of wood work, but it has always 

 seemed to me that in the handle industry, especially the broom handle 

 line, the hardest of all positions to fill and keep filled is that of 

 inspector. Lathe operators are hard to get also, but if you have one 

 good operator you can get along with mere feeders on the rest of 

 the lathes, and let the good man take care of and keep up the other 

 lathes. Not so with the inspection room. There the inspector is 

 practically alone at his rack, and it is impossible for any one else 

 to keep track of him and correct his mistakes, without a system of 

 double inspection, which is out of the question. One would naturally 

 suppose that a man who had made brooms for a number of years, 

 and was familiar with the use of the different grades of handles, 

 would be the proper man for this jiosition, but such is not the case. 



The most unsatisfactory man «liom I ever tried out at the inspec- 

 tion rack was an old broom maker. The dilBculty lies in the tact 

 that most broom men, while they will insist that the grades of 

 handles must be perfect, will take the No. 1 handles, that allow of a 

 slight defect that will be covered up by the broom and the label, 

 and use them, instead of the extra handles, on their best grade of 

 brooms. They do the same with the No. 2 grade, as some of them 

 can be covered up also. In fact the average broom man, when mak- 

 ing brooms, will look only at defects that cannot be covered up. 

 Yfet when he buys these handles they must be perfectly graded. Xow 

 if this man accepts a position as inspector in a handle factory he 

 would want to grade the handles as they are really used, and if he 

 did the manufacturer would not be able to sell them, unless on the 

 basis of a lower grade. xV first-class handle grader will not only 

 watch his stock for little defects, but will also test every handle for 

 strength and will straighten every one that is the least bit crooked — 

 and that means practically all of them, as it seems almost impossible 

 to rip up lumber, either dry or green, that it will not spring some 

 afterwards, and the lathes will follow the curve of the square. This 

 means that the handle, when finished, will show a slight curve. It 

 is the duty of a good inspector to get this curve out and to see that 

 the bundler ties the handles up in such a way that they will remain 

 straight. 



To be a good inspector a man should first serve a few years in 

 the factory and know just how the handles are made, and then he 

 should work at the bundler 's rack for a year or so. By close watch- 

 ing of the different grades of handles that are being bundled he 

 will gradually become acquainted with what the different grades 

 mean and what should go into them, and will soon be able to help 

 his inspector a great deal by throwing back such defective handles 

 as may slip by. No man is perfect, and handles will get into the 

 wrong grades, even with the best inspectors on the job. 



The inspector must be a man who is cool-headed and quick to 

 decide, for when he has from a thousand to fifteen hundred handles 

 passing through his hands every hour and must look at every handle 

 he has no time to deliberate but must decide the instant he touches 

 a handle what gi-ade it is to go into. In fact he should be so trained 

 that his hands will throw the handles into the proper tills while he 

 is looking at the next one. His is one of the most responsible posi- 

 tions in the factory, as his is the chance to make or break the 

 owner. The handles must go out properly graded or the office will 

 hear of it very soon from the broom men. If he grades too closely 



with the low grades then there will be too many culls, and the profit 



will suffer. I have known of eases where the inspector was practically 



lietneen the devil and the deep sea; the sales manager demanded 



that he give low grades to help the sales while the superintendent 



Avould demand that he make more of the high grades and not so 



many culls. 



The wisest thing that a factory owner can do is to secure a good 



inspector; be sure that he imderstands his calling, and then give 



him a free hand. He has enough troubles of his own without being 



told how he ought to grade the handles, possibly by those whose 



chief interest is to make a big showing regardless of final results. 



There is no doubt in my mind, and it has been proven by years of 



exjierienee, that it pays best to do honest grading, and keep the 



grades up to the standard you have set. Then your trade will know 



just what to expect and will know that every order for a certain 



grade of handles will be filled with just exactly the same stock as 



former orders. This is really the good will of the handle business, 



and the whole thing rests with the inspector at his sorting rack. 

 w * * 



Handle machinery, both of the broom handle and of the hickory 

 handle line, is run at high speed, and too often the smaller manu- 

 facturer attempts to save money by using as low a grade of oil and 

 grease as he can buy. This is a great mistake. In the first place 

 a great deal more oil of the cheaper kind is required than of the 

 better grade, and in the long run the cheaper costs the most. The 

 cheaper oU also is the cause of hot bearings and sprung shafts. 

 When machinery runs at as high a speed as it does in the wood- 

 working lines it is to the handle man's advantage to help it all he 

 can by reducing the friction of the bearings by proper oiling. 



Two years ago I mentioned in the Hakdwood Record that we were 

 trying out two patent loose pulleys to take the place of the common 

 kind that had been causing so much trouble. Now I would advise 

 every factory owner and superintendent who has been having trouble 

 of this kind, and they all do, to do as we have done — throw away the 

 common loose pulleys and install the best patent pulley for this 

 purpose that he can get. They cost quite a bit in the start, but 

 save considerable in the long run. Our pulleys have been running 

 for nearly two years. They are oiled once a month and have never 

 caused us any trouble. We are replacing every loose pulley in oi0 

 factory with the better kind. 



* * * 



Sometimes the owner of a factory seems to forget that his employes 

 are just as human as he, and expects them to do work that he him- 

 self is not able or willing to do. The golden rule is a good one to 

 follow in factory work. Besides, it pays a good dividend, and that is 

 what we are all working for. If a man needs censure, give it to 

 him, but when you find one of your employes who is devoting himself 

 to your interest and working to make you a profit, don't think that 

 it is beneath your dignity to notice him and give him a little praise. 

 He is as good a man as you are, and while I do not exactly approve 

 of making intimate friends with our employes, yet I don 't think that 

 to ignore them is the right thing to do. Don't expect a man to spend 

 every minute of the day at his own particular job, and never look 

 up or speak to one of his fellow employes. If you have a factory 



