flaMwoM RocoM 



Published In the Interest of Hardw^ood Lumber. American Hardwood Forests, Wood Veneer Industry, Hard'wood Flooring. 

 Hardwood Interior Finish, Wood Chemicals, Saw Mill and Wood-worKing Machinery. 



Vol. XXII. 



CHICAGO. AUGUST 10. 1906. 



No. 8. 



Published on the 10th and 25th of each month by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson. President 



Frank W. Tuttle. Sec-Treas. 



OFFICES 

 Sixin Floor Ellsworth Bldg., 355 Dearborn St Chicago, 



Telephones; Harrison 4960 Automatic 5659 



I.. U.S.A. 



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General Market Conditions. 



There is no new feature to recount in the prevailing situation 

 in hardwood lumber. In the chief trade centers, owing to thp vaca- 

 tion period, there has been a decided diminution in the placing of 

 orders, but this is not at all unexpected, and manufacturers and 

 dealers are surprised at the really excellent volume they have had 

 considering the season of the year. 



The furniture sales season is just over, and, as recounted else- 

 where, the volume of business has shown up fully twenty-five per 

 cent in excess of a year ago. This surely means an extraordinary 

 demand for all classes of furniture wood for the rest of the year. 

 Only a glance at the building permits issued in all the chief com- 

 mercial centers is necessary to demonstrate that the demand for all 

 varieties of hardwood utilized in interior finish is going to bo strong 

 for months to come. The flooring trade is keeping up in wonder- 

 fully good shape, with a demand that is taxing the capacity of all 

 the old established flooring factories. A continued demand for oak, 

 maple, beech and birch in four-four stock is therefore assured. 



Specifically, plain oak is still the strong feature of the market, 

 the demand being fully up to the supply, and in plain white much in 

 ■ •xcess thereof. Poplar is becoming scarcer and scarcer as the days 

 roll by, and there seems to be no prospect of early tides in the 

 mountain streams. It will therefore transpire that there will be 

 no new stock of poplar in shipjiing condition from the river mills 

 until late next spring. As the situation now stands the railroad 

 operators in poplar are at their wits' end to supply enough lumber 

 to take care of the trade. Cottonwood still remains in short supply 

 and is being sold close up to the saw in all grades. The poplar and 

 Cottonwood condition is such that basswood is being sold very freely 

 at good values. 



The call for chestnut iu all grades is still beyond the possibilities 

 of output, and the same may be said of all the minor southern woods. 

 The demand for hickory is probably ten times as much as manufac- 

 turers are able to supply, and every possible substitute is being 

 experimented with, the idea being to replace hickory with some wood 

 that will even partially take its place. 



Northern hardwoods are doing a little better, but still birch. 



gray elm and majile are sold at a ])rice considerably lower than their 

 real value. Black a.sh and rock elm are sold ahead of the saw. 



Tlie demand and range of distribution of red gum is increasing 

 by leaps and bounds. People who never before employed this wood 

 are now making experimental purchases of quantities of the stock, while 

 manufacturers who have hitherto employed it to a considerable extent 

 are increasing the quantity of their purchases. The demand on 

 cypress stock has been so great that it has been sold uj) clo.ser 

 to green lumber than ever before in the history of the trade. Tupelo 

 gum seems to be coming into favor in a good many localities, and 

 the increased production of this wood would indicate that it will 

 soon become a standard commodity in many lines of factor}- use. 

 There is a manifestly increased call for mahogany, but values 

 still range remarkably low for this aristocrat of woods. There 

 seems to be an increasing domestic call for black walnut and cherry, 

 which is made up of a multitude of small orders, and in the aggre- 

 gate there may be said to be a renaissance in the demand for these 

 two magnificent cabinet woods. 



There is an increased call for veneers and laminated woods. 

 While this important part of the lunilier industry is still in embryonic 

 state, there is wonderfid promise for the future of the industry. 



Lumber in Railroad Construction. 



It is said that railway ties of wood have not been used as in- 

 telligently iu this country as they might since it has been demon- 

 strated that where American lines get approximately nine years ' serv- 

 ice from a tie, English roads get twenty-one years, and this, too, in 

 spite of the fact that the atmosphere of Great Britain is much more 

 humid than that of America. The reason for this is stated to 

 be the fact that a large majority of wooden ties used in Great 

 Britain are creosoted, about 2% gallons being used per tie. A large 

 tie-plate is used under the rail, and between tie-plate and sleeper soft 

 felt is interposed as an added protection. The tie-plate, or, as it is 

 knowp to the English, the chair, is secured to the tie Dy spikes made 

 of close grain fibrous iron, sometimes by iron bolts or by trenails. 



The Germans have demonstrated by long experiment that the 

 u.sefulness of a beech railroad tie may be prolonged from eight to 

 ten years by a preservative process in which creosote oil is used. 

 The method employed in Germany is expensive in the United States, 

 owing to the high price of the oil, which is a by-product of gas 

 plants, formerly discarded as waste. A certain company, how- 

 ever, discovered that it had a specific value and made a long-time 

 contract with gas-making companies for the entire output. This cre- 

 osote oil and its prices are regulated by a monopoly. 



The steel tie has been advocated as a substitute for wood, ano 

 has been experimented with extensively, but there are objections to 

 the steel tie which make its use impracticable. It does not last as 

 long as the wood tie when the latter is properly treated; it has not 

 the resiliency of a wood tie, and does not act as a cushion to coun- 

 teract the repeated shocks of a train in motion ; also the steel tie 

 represents a greater outlay in first cost. 



From reports received by the Forest Service from 750 railroad 

 companies, having an aggregate trackage of 278,l!f!:i miles, or ninety- 

 five per cent of the total in the United States, the consumption of 

 railway ties by steam railways is estimated to be more than 8-1,000,- 

 000 ties annually, which represent 3,000,000,000 feet of lumber, 

 board measure. To this may be added the no inconsiderable quantity 



