14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



pate that American expectations in reganl to the general practica- 

 bility of this fuel as a motive force are going to be at once real- 

 ized. The French government has created a commission of analytical 

 methods in regard to alcohol and is publicly offering prizes for the 

 discovery of a more advantageous method rendering alcohol unfit 

 for consumption than the one now employed. Another prize is 

 offered to the person who shall discover an improved means of 

 utilizing alcohol as an illuminant. 



The consul at Berlin writes that about all the interest he sees 

 manifest in denatured alcohol for industrial purposes without pay- 

 ment of the industrial tax is the numerous requests from interested 

 Americans for names of manufacturers of apparatus in Germany 

 for the use of denatured spirits. 



The consul general at Havana says that the principal consump- 

 tion of denatured alcohol up to the present time in Cuba is in the 

 domestic household, and that the consumption in motive power is 

 as yet insignificant as there are but few motors operated by the 

 combustion of alcohol. He thinks that when the Cuban planter is 

 convinced that there is money in using alcohol for fuel he will util- 

 ize the thousands of tons of saccharose in the making of it by set- 

 ting up distilleries in connection with sugar factories. 



Tlie consul at Brussel.s, Belgium, reports that denatured alcohol 

 for fuel is not allowed there, so that there is no demand for it for 

 engines or autos. 



If the foregoing reports are a criterion of others that naturally 

 will follow from different parts of the civilized world, it is safe 

 to assume that this tactful and patronizing government of ours has 

 let its legislative gun off half-cocked. The use of denatured alco- 

 hol for the purposes alleged on the basis of which this bill was 

 gotten through Congress is a very alluring subject of experimenta- 

 tion for many a scientific gentleman, but why the government of 

 the United States should take it upon itself to jeopardize the busi- 

 ness of a large number of its foremost citizens engaged in the man- 

 ufacture of wood alcohol by such a law as it has passed *is a good 

 deal of a mystery. It is almost impossible today to find a market 

 for such methyl alcohol as is now produced as the by-product in 

 charcoal making. From the facts in the case presented it would 

 look as though the denatured methyl . alcohol jiroposition would 

 never be very much of a business for anyone. If the government 

 should set itself to work in discovering new uses for the present out- 

 put of wood alcohol it would do the country a much greater service 

 than it has in fostering an attemjit to overstock thp wood alcohol 

 market with a substitute. 



Evolution in Hardwood Inspection. 



A general sentiment prevails among hardwood manufacturers that 

 changes in a number of details in the manufacture, measurement 

 and inspection of lumber can logically be made and that the tinie 

 is propitious for the introduction of such changes. 



It is argued that hardwood lumber is now sawed a good deal 

 thicker than the trade demands yellow pine, hemlock or Pacific coast 

 woods to be cut, and further that the trade does not require lumber 

 passing for inch to be sawed from 1 1/16 to 1% inches in thickness. 

 It is also stated that approximately ninety-five per cent of all hard- 

 wood lumber is cut up into various smaller sizes before it reaches 

 its eventual use in the form of finish or furniture, and that invari- 

 abl}' the better side of the board is used for the face. Hence, it is 

 contended that in inspection it is Just to consider both sides of a 

 piece of lumber in making the grade. There is also a feeling mani- 

 fest that, inasmuch as hardwoods generally are cut up, producers 

 of furniture, finish and like products would in no wise object to an 

 occasional piece of odd length lumber. In recent years hardwoods 

 have been trinmied to regular two-foot lengths of 6, 8, 10, li, 14 and 

 16 feet. The innovation in length would mean that in place of trim- 

 ming off a bad end to the extent of 12 to 18 inches a 12-inch length 

 might be left on the board and thus effect a considerable economy 

 of material in the sawmill, lengthen the life of the forest, and still 

 render the lumber of the same or even higher value to the man who 

 cuts it uj'. 



The jiroposed reforms contemplate the essentially fair proposition 

 of giving to the buyer all fractions of one-half foot or under as 



shown on the board rule, and adding to the next higher foot measure- 

 ment of fractions over one-half foot. This is practically the old 

 give-and-take white pine method of measurement, save that all the 

 exact half-foot measure goes to tlie buyer. Again it is argued that 

 a just system of tally consists in making the surface measurement 

 on all thicknesses of stock a basis, and multiplying this surface 

 measure by the thiciness of the stock, as in the case of 1^4, 1%, 2, 

 214, 3 inches or thicker. Some manufacturers contend that to effect 

 economy of production a slight wane on one edge of an inch board 

 that will dress out should not constitute a defect. 



T'here is nothing in these proposed amendments to hardwood inspec- 

 tion that in any wise reduces the quality of grades for the uses for 

 which they are intended, and it is specially suggested that lumber 

 sawed for wagons, carriages, implements and kindred work must be 

 inspected with a view to the adaptability of the piece for its pros- 

 pective use. 



The question of sap is also arousing considerable attention. As is 

 well known, for a good many purposes to which hardwood is placed, 

 sap is not regarded as a defect. For example, the furniture man in the 

 building of his goods pays no attention whatever to eliminating sap 

 from dresser or table tops or other articles in furniture making. The 

 piece is made ' ' in the white ' ' with sap edges on a great many strips, 

 and then the wood is toned to a uniform color by the use of stains, 

 pigments and fillers. It is contended that in the past too much 

 lumber has been placed in a lower grade than need be by the provi- 

 sion that it shall be free from sap. There are some woods in general 

 use today, notably hard maple and tupelo gum, where the sap is the 

 good end of the product. It therefore seems logical that bright sap 

 should not constitute a defect in many kinds and grades of hardwood. 

 The question of stained sap is likewise under discussion and will prob- 

 ably always continue to be so. Stained sap that will surely dress off 

 is not a defect; stained sap that will not dress off just as certainly 

 is one. It is up to the manufacturing trade to discover an inspector 

 who is sure enough to determine from external appearance whether 

 stained sap will dress off or not. It would seem that in this case 

 the buyer should be given the benefit of the doubt, and it is certainly 

 up to the manufacturer to produce lumber free from stain. 



It is logically argued that current grading specifications which 

 provide for a certain and increasing number of defects dependent 

 upon the width of a piece of lumber are unjust. It is contended 

 that the increasing defects permissible in a board should be depend- 

 ent rather upon the total area than on the width. That is, a 6-inch 

 strip 16 feet long may have the same number of defects as are 

 allowable in the grade in which a 12-inch board 8 feet long is placed. 

 There seems to be manifest justice in the argument. 



There is nothing revolutionary proposed in hardwood inspection iu 

 any section of the country; rather, the proposed changes stick very 

 closely to the custom in the trade; but there are certainly points, 

 small in themselves, which in the aggregate mean a good deal to the 

 manufacturer who recognizes the necessity of forest and sawmill 

 economy — which will doubtless be worked out to his advantage. 

 There are a good many people who set up the contention that ' ' no 

 changes should be made in hardwood inspection, ' ' but such advocates 

 of alleged conservatism have no tenable ground upon which to stand. 

 Grading on all kinds of lumber has been subject to revolution ever 

 since lumbering became a commercial pursuit. In the old days when 

 nothing but the highest class timber was felled and sawed it was 

 ]iossible to make much better grades than in succeeding periods. 

 With the present high value of stumpage and the necessity of taking 

 every mechantable tree out of the forests, grades cannot show the 

 old-time qualities in length, width or percentage of good lumber. 



Consumers and manufacturers are helping out the hardwood oper- 

 ator by amending the construction of their output to meet present 

 lumber conditions. Formerly table tops, for example, were made of 

 one or two pieces of lumber. Today every manufacturer will tell 

 you that if his hardwood lumber reached him in boards 12 to 24 

 inches wide, Ijefore making them into furniture he would rip them 

 up into strips, as he has learned that he can make better furniture 

 from narrow, kiln-dried stock glued up than from wide boards which 

 are prone to check and warp. Today buyers generally -nill not pay 

 for wide lumber, as they have no use for it, except a few excep- 

 tional instances where it still seems to be a necessity, as in the man- 

 ufacture of automobile sides, wagon boxes, etc. 



