22 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



At this time the value of cabinet woods 

 lias so increased, and their importation ■ from 

 the tropical countries into the United States 

 has become so great that this branch of 

 business bids fair to soon, if it has not al- 

 ready, take first place in the commercial 

 interests between this country and our near 

 neighbors to the south. Mahogany is now be- 

 ing brought to the states from the Pan- 

 American countries and the west coast of 

 Africa in quantities far surpassing the ideas 

 of even many well-posted li'imbermen. All 

 of this wood comes from teredo infested 

 coasts and the valuable logs constantly be- 

 ing destroyed by this pest is amazing. JLuch 

 of this waste "could be avoided by a better 

 understanding of the habits of the animal. 

 The mahogany is cut far uj) in th? mountains, 

 and is brought down the rivers in small rafts 

 and tied up near tlie nmutli of the river or 

 along the shore in tlie salt water, where they 

 frequently remain for months unnoticed, an 

 easy prey to the tere(h). As these animals have 

 been known to totally ruin mahogany and 

 cedar logs in four months the risk a tindier 

 merchant takes in thus neglecting his wood 

 will be readily seen. Logs should be exam- 

 ined frequently if the raft is moored in salt 

 water to await the arrival of a steamer to 

 transport it to the northern markets. They 

 shoulil be turned upside down in a very few 

 days after reaching salt water, for the reason 

 that the teredo will only attack it from the 

 underside or submerged ])ortion, and is killed 

 as soon as this is turned up and dries in the 

 hot sun. A close observer might examine a 

 whole raft of logs which had not been turned 

 and see no indication from the top side that 

 the teredo was devouring it. The labor and 

 expense of frequently knocking the dogs 

 loose, adjusting ropes and chains, turning 

 each log in a string of rafts and redriving 

 the dogs is an item of considerable magni- 

 tude, but it is cheaper to do this than to take 

 chances of losing nuich valuable timber. When 

 the presence of teredo is found the depth of 

 his boring can be determined by chopping 

 into the Iflg with an ax, and if it is found 

 that they have not gone in deep enough to do 

 nuich damage, further injuries can be pre- 

 vented by turning it aliout one-third over, say 

 once a week, or by rolling it out onto the 

 beach. 



Some mahogany cutters think the best jilan 

 is to stop all the rafts far enough up the 

 river to hold them in fresh water where they 

 are beyond tlie reach of teredo, but this plan 

 too has its disadvantages. ITsually it is sev- 

 eral miles up the river to a point where the 

 water is absolutely fresh,, and the ships have 

 to anchor quite a distance (rat at sea on ac- 

 count of the shallow water surrounding many 

 of the southern ports, and taking it all into 

 consideration it is usually a long distance 

 from the logs to the ship, and a vessel is 

 frequently delayed for an indefinite period 

 of time in getting a cargo of two or three 

 thousand logs aboard under these circum- 

 stances. To detain a craft of this kind is 

 quite expensive. Yet I have known ships to 

 lay at anchor longer in loading than the time 



required to complete a voyage and discharge 

 the cargo at any of our southern or eastern 

 ports. Therefore, it would seem that careful 

 attention and turning the logs frequently is 

 the better and more economical plan. They 

 can then be tied up where they will be in 

 reach of the ship by a thousand feet or more 

 of tow line and pulled alongside and hoisted 

 aboard by the steamer 's winch and tackle, 

 and the time in loading greatly reduced. 



All timbers used in and under the 'water 

 should be protected if they are to last more 

 than a year or so. For centuries the method 

 of preventing the hulls of wooden ships from 

 lieing destroyed by teredo was to cover them 

 with thin sheets of copper. Piling and tim- 

 bers driven into the sea upon which the more 

 [lermanent class of docks were erected were 

 sheathed with copper from a few inches from 



the water line to several feet below it. Nails 

 driven thickly into timbers were also resorted 

 to as a means of protection. JIuch experi- 

 menting has been done along this line, and 

 as yet no kind of paint, jiitch, coal tar, or 

 any chemical preparation applied to the sur- 

 face of the woo<l has Ijeen found that would 

 repulse them entirely. Even soaking tindicis 

 in creosote does not render them entirely ini- 

 jiervious to the attacks of teredo. It has 

 recently been demonstrated, however, that 

 naphthaline oils, when forced deep into tlie 

 pores of the wood, under lieavy pressure by 

 mechanical means, renders timber thus treateil 

 proof against the attacks of teredo, and it is 

 a relief to know that an effective preventive 

 has at last been found against the destructive 

 assaults of these pe.sts. — J. V. Hamu.tox. 



'Bi;=Products of the HardWood Es= 



tablishment. 



While it may not be generally known, 

 there has been a very sulistantial source of 

 revenue to many of the hnnber establish- 

 ments in recent years by iitilization of 

 waste materials. Eluds and pieces of hard- 

 wood lumber cut while manufacturing cer- 

 tain articles for buildings, boxes, furniture, 

 cabinets, etc.. which formerly were absolute 

 waste in many c;ises, are now turned into 

 ready cash. One reason for this change in 

 their value has resulted from the introduc- 

 tion of cement and wood combinations for 

 building purposes. Sections of cut timber, 

 some of which are practically waste pieces 



the waste heap because of being full of 

 flaws, too small in size to use, partly de- 

 cayed, knotty, warped, twisted, shrunk or 

 cracked, are now reduced to sawdust by 

 means of grinding stones, and are then 

 formed into a pulji and cast into the vari- 

 ous shapes required for conmier<'ial uses. 

 Hence the jirogress in the waste hnnber in- 

 dustry. 



Referring first to hardwood waste for 

 lighting fires we find that one of the most 

 popular methods of getting the material 

 in form for kitchen service consists in bun- 

 dling the jiieces as in Fig. 1. The plau 



from the discarded lumber pile of the mill 

 or shop, are now employed in connection 

 with cement in the making of hollow or ar- 

 tificial stone for building purposes. The 

 pieces of lumber which formerly remained 

 on the waste heap until the gatherers of 

 kindling wood took them away are nwv 

 worked over into neat packages. Vast quan- 

 tities of lumber which were con.signed to 



involves the collecting of inflividual pieces 

 of lumber from the saws. These pieces 

 have to be evenly bundled. The separate 

 pieces are secured in cylindrical form in a 

 mold, one side of which is open. The sheet 

 iron mold assists in steadying the pieces 

 while the adjusting and tying up is in prog- 

 ress. The plan requires that pieces of equal 

 length be used, hence various lengths of 



