HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



planting is done witli great attention to 

 scientific detail, under the direction of For- 

 ester A. E. Sterling, formerly of the United 

 States Forest Service. This road was the 

 first to appoint such an officer. At Altoona, 

 Pa., red oak trees are being set out ; work 

 is also carried on near Mt. Union and Hol- 

 lidaysburg. The Pennsylvania road expends 

 about $4,000,000 annually for cross-ties, and 

 by its forestry and wood-preservative opera- 

 tions, expects to materially reduce this big 

 item. 



The Mexican Central uses about 1,500,000 

 ties every year, and always has standing or- 

 ders for them in various parts of the country. 

 The company purchased a shipment of 40,000 

 hardwood cross-ties brought to Vera Cruz 

 from Tasmania recently, and will make a 

 thorough test of them. It has just placed 

 a requisition for 3,000,000 hardwood ties to 

 be used in repair work throughout the repub- 

 lic. They will be procured at the head of 

 the Panuco river, in the Huasteca country, 

 and it will be a difficult task to transport 

 them. Eight large barges will be built to 

 take them from the head of the river to 

 Tampico, and a tug purchased to pull them 

 down stream, it being impossible to raft the 

 variety of wood ordered. 



Mahogany is often used by Cuban rail- 

 roads, as well as in other tropical countries, 

 but Sir William Van Home has forbidden it 

 on his line. He consiuers it almost criminal 

 to cut small mahogany trees, and there is 

 an abundance of other timVjer in Cuban for- 

 ests suitable for construction purposes. A 

 bridge on the Van Home railroad near San- 

 tiago is built entirely of mahogany, in viola- 

 tion of instructions. The contractor claimed 

 not to know that the eaoba tree, as it is 

 called in Spanish, was the mahogany which 

 the owner had tabooed, and the latter did 

 not learn that he had a mahogany bridge on 

 the line until it had been in use for several 

 months. Jique, acana, jucaro, negro and 

 other hardwoods which do not attain large 

 size and cannot be utilized for cabinet work 

 are as good as mahogany for ties, and will 

 outlast steel rails in tropical climates. On 

 the old railroad between Nuevitas and Cama- 

 guey, built in 1838, there are jique ties 

 which have been in use for fifty yosrs. Some 

 of them were removed and utilized for foime 

 posts after thirty years of service for tho 

 railroad. There is also a tramway at Mama- 

 guey with rails of jique over which cars have 

 been running for more than twenty-five 3'ears, 

 and they do not show any great amount of 

 wear. Much of the tropical hardwood is so 

 heavy that it will sink in water. 



Several experiments have been made with 

 steel ties in this country, but as yet no defi- 

 nite decisions and results have been obtained. 

 In Europe some roads employ them, but con- 

 ditions are entirely different from those sur- 

 rounding traffic in this country. However, 

 it has not been decided there that metal ties 

 are profitable, nor how durable they are in 

 comparison with wood. 



While it is scarcely probable that railroad 



companies will engage in forest planting 

 upon a scale sufficiently large to meet all 

 their requirements, it is important that they 

 plant trees in as large quantities as possible 



upon their holdings, thus aiding greatly the 

 conservation of the standing timber of the 

 country, and affording a notable object lesson 

 to other large property owners. 



Cutting Dimension Stoc% 



The Hardwood Record, from time to time, 

 receives numerous inquiries from manufac- 

 turers of dimension stock and others who 

 »ould like to enter upon this pursuit, as to 

 the most approved method of making and 

 seasoning this material. Of course, various 

 manufacturers have their own particular sys- 

 tems of doing this work, which give more or 

 less satisfaction, but in a general way it may 

 be said that for chair and furniture dimen- 

 sions running four feet and under, in squares, 

 the best kind of saw to make them on is the 

 ordinary ax-handle or slab saw, with a table 

 that the operator pushes himself. This has 

 been the experience of many expert manu- 

 facturers. The same saw is used for making 

 quartered chair backs, because it is much 

 faster and just as accurate as the short log 

 saw. 



When the logs have been cut up into 

 flitches of whatever thickness is being made, 

 the flitches are turned down singly and put 

 through the slab saw in the same manner. 

 For pieces longer than four feet, the sliort 

 log mill with friction-feed is used, although 

 it is a decidedly slower process than the 

 hand-feed slab saw. Also in cases of emer- 

 gency in making quartered backs, this short 

 log mill can be used. A skillful operator of 

 the slab saw can far excel the man on the 

 short log saw in the amount of stuff he will 

 turn out in a day in squares or quartered 

 backs. 



After cutting up three-quarter-inch lumber 

 into backs, pass it over to a hand-feed edger, 

 in order to get all the widths in the backs 

 without waste. Also cut off the squares on 

 a hand-feed cut-off saw to get the clear stuff 

 out of them. In cutting up inch dimension 

 stock out of boards, the best method is the 



use of a swing cut-off saw and a power-feed 

 rip saw. 



To season green oak squares and backs, 

 pile the backs in a circle, lapping ends on 

 ends, and the squares crossing each other, 

 leaving a space of one-half to one inch be- 

 tween the squares. If they are so piled, and 

 dried in the sun, there should be no trouble 

 with checking, and by employing a careful 

 operator on the rip and cut-off saws, there 

 should be no difficulty in getting thickness 

 right — with the result that the product which 

 is sent out to customers is absolutely right in 

 every respect. Loaders will have to cull out 

 very little stock in making up a shipment, 

 the most of it having been done right at the 

 saw, when the lumber was green. 



Many manufacturers of dimension stock 

 brand this phase of the lumber business as 

 decidedly ' ' unsatisfactory, ' ' and they can- 

 not understand the reason for a great variety 

 of the "kicks" regarding shipments that are 

 forthcoming. The great trouble, perhaps, is 

 that their method of making and grading is 

 a careless one. Dimension stock manufacture 

 is something that is worth while experiment- 

 ing with carefully if undertaken at all, or at 

 least it is worth while to follow methods 

 recommended by those who have triumphantly 

 passed the experimental stage. When it is 

 put upon the market in a poorly-made, ill- 

 seasoned condition, it is no wonder that con- 

 sumers reject it in large quantities, or at 

 least refuse to pay what the manufacturer 

 considers a reasonable price ; while if it is 

 true to sizes and free from defects, buyers 

 contend that they are only too willing to pay 

 a top price, knowing that they are getting 

 goods which will exactly fulfill their require- 

 ments, at less than straight lumber cost. 



The Manufacture of Veneers. 



Veneer making is by no means a new art, 

 but not so very many years ago it was done 

 entirely by hand, making the process au ex- 

 ceedingly tedious and expensive one. Today 

 machines, so perfect in adjustment that the 

 veneer does not vary a hair 's breadth through- 

 out its entire length, are employed, and they 

 liave not only revolutionized the process but 

 have in many ways altered the status of the 

 entire lumber and furniture trades. A fine 

 hardwood log can now be employed ■ to far 

 greater advantage than formerly, because it 

 will furnish many layers of good material ; 

 while the resultant product instead of being 

 an inferior or "sham" article, is really in 

 many ways superior to the old-fashioned solid 

 hardwood furniture or doors, in that it is 

 easier to handle, will not warp or crack so 

 readily, and shows a finer figure, both as 

 regards grain and finish. Again, were it 



not for modern processes people in moderate 

 circumstances would be obliged to do with- 

 out fine cabinet articles of every description. 

 As it is now ornamental furniture and hand- 

 some woodwork appear in nearly every mod- 

 ern home. 



How' veneer is made is a matter of con- 

 jecture and mystery to the average person, 

 if he troubles himself about it at all, and it 

 is indeed an interesting process. For fine 

 work only the very best Of mahogany, oak, 

 walnut or birch logs are selected. A large, 

 liandsomely-grained tree is worth a good deal 

 of money, since it can be made into many 

 thousand feet of fine veneer. 



The stages through which trees pass from 

 the day they are felled in -the forest until 

 placed upon the market as part of the output 

 of some great factory are indeed many and 

 varied. After being trimmed and cut into 



