i8 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Hardwood Record J\Iail Bag. 



[Id this department it is proposed to reply 

 to such inquiries as reach this office from the 

 Hakdwood Record clientage as will be of enough 

 general Interest to wan-ant publication. Every 

 patron of the paper is invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fullest extent, and an attempt 

 will be made to answer queries pertaining to all 

 matters of interest to the hardwood trade, in 

 a succinct and intelligent manner.] 



Appreciative, 

 r , West Va., Aug. 15. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Record: We have your valued favor of 

 llie 13th relative to article published concerning 

 the Pittsburg Fuel Company, Delaware Hard- 

 wood Lumber Company, etc., and also received 

 tlie copy of your issue of May 10. We beg to 

 thank you very kindly for your attention to 

 this matter and assure you that same is ap- 

 preciated, as it has assisted us in locating to a 

 certainty a bunch of sharks that we shall al- 

 ways endeavor to steer clear of. We beg to 

 offer our commendation of your wideawake pol- 

 icy, as you have supplied us with information 

 tliat all of our commercial agencies have ovor- 

 lt)oked. Ll'.aiber CoiiPAXY. 



Cigar Box Lumber. 



Hamburg. Germany. Aug. 0. — Editor II.uid- 

 wooD Record : We would be greatly obliged if 

 you would give us the names of the firms in 

 your country manufacturing cigar boxes or deal- 

 ing in cigar box lumber or timber. Thanking you 

 in anticipation of your kindness, and always at 

 your service in return, we are, yours faithfully, 

 Company. 



The writer of the above has been furnished 

 tlie names of several producers, and if any 

 others interested w-ish to communicate with 

 the Hardwood Eecord they will be furnished 

 with his address. — Editor. 



Southern Oak. 



Milwaukee, Wis., Aug. 1-1. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Record : Kindly inform me where I can 

 get reliable information as to the quality of 

 hardwood timber in the different sections of the 

 South, if such can be secured at all. I am In- 

 terested in a tract of hardwood timber, princi- 

 pally oak, in White county, Arkansas, and wish 

 to find out what the quality of white oak in that 

 section is. Thanking you for the courtesy of a 

 reply, . 



There is no cut-and-dried rule by means 

 of which the quality of hardwood timber 

 iu the different sections of the South 

 ■ can be accurately analyzed from a distance. 

 The physics of timber depends primarily 

 upon the quality of the soil, rainfall, botany 

 of the wood, latitude or compensating alti- 

 tude. If you can supply the foregoing in- 

 formation, the value of the stumpage can be 

 closely estimated. Otherwise, the best way 

 to determine the facts would be to send a 

 competent man to analyze the proposition on 

 the ground, and report to you. There is no 

 published information that will cover these 

 points. "White and neighboring counties iu 

 Arkansas contain a considerable quantity of 

 very good oak. In this and other sections in 

 the same locality some of the oak is defec- 

 tive, chiefly from too rapid growth and from 

 wormholes. — Editor. 



Wants Birch or Maple Dimension. 



New Tore, Aug. 13. — Editor Hardwood Rec- 

 ord: We have an inquiry at present (or a car 

 of birch or maple dimension stock for shipment 

 within forty-flve to sixty days : stock to be clear 

 and free from all defects ; sizes to be exact after 



I>i(-'ces have lieen dressed ou four sides. We 

 would exceedingly appreciate hearing from you 

 as to who would likely be able to execute such 

 an order. Specifications furnished on applica- 

 lion. and if the number of pieces given therein 

 would not constitute a carload, could easily 



make up one. — Company. . 



The above inquirer has been furnished with 

 the addresses of several concerns which make 

 a specialty of this stock. Any reader wish- 

 ing to communicate with the writer, however, 

 will lie furnished the address upon applica- 

 tion to this office. — Editor. 



Wants Oak for Export. 



.New Orleans, I.a., Aug. 11. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Record : As a subscriber of your paper I 

 beg of you to favor me with some addresses of 

 reliable manufacturers of plain white oak. 1 

 am in the market for about 500,000 feet of 



strictly firsts and seconds for export. 



& Co. 



A better list of reliable mauufaeturors of 

 plain white oak could not be collated than 

 that which may be obtained by checking up 

 the advertising cards in the H.^rdwood Eec- 

 ord. There ai-e fully a hundred leading man- 

 ufacturers in this list who are reliable pro- 

 ducers of oak suitable for export. — Editor. 



Mistaken Identity. 



Glen Havex, Mich., .^ug. 13. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Record : I notice In your report of the 

 Michigan Hardwood Manufacturers' Association 

 meeting held at Mackinac, Aug. S. you credit me 

 with some remarks ou the subject of rules which 

 were made by the gentleman who sat beside me. 

 [Probably M. E. Collins.] I am perfectly willing 

 to stand by my own utterances, but in this case 

 1 hardly agree with the remarks as made, and 



wish you would make proper correction. Yours 

 very truly, D. H. Day. 



The H.\RDW00D Eecord regrets this con- 

 fusion in regard to the author of the little 

 speech on rules given at the recent Mackinac 

 meeting. Singularly, both shorthand report- 

 ers who made the report, through mistaken 

 identity, credited the speech to Mr. Day. — 

 Editor. 



Accused of Larceny. 



Cadillac, Mich.. -Vug. 10. — Editor ILirdwood 

 Record : I note on page 28 of your last Issue 

 that you appear to be infringing on the ideas 

 established by our people in the use of narrow 

 flooring for stair steps. However, this may be 

 of benefit to someone and therefore you are at 

 perfect liberty to exploit it all you care to. There 

 is another idea advanced on page 28, and that 

 is the narrow steep emergency stairs. If a per- 

 son is sober enough to start right he will prob- 

 ably get to the bottom without any trouble, but 

 we note he is cautioned in this article to keep 

 his right foot forward. These little things ap- 

 pear simple t'o a casual observer, at the same 

 time they are quite often very important in a 

 large manufacturing institution and I believe 

 that little things of this kind are very readable 

 for your patrons. — Henry Ballou, Manager 

 Cobbs & Mitchell, Inc. 



The Eecord will have to confess that it 

 purloined the idea of the use of short, nar- 

 row maple flooring strips for stair treads 

 from the writer of the above letter. Mr. Bal- 

 lon has tried out this system of building 

 stairs for many years, with the greatest 

 success. While confessing, it might as well 

 be stated that the idea of the recessed stair 

 treads, which was illustrated in the same arti- 

 cle, was taken from the practice of the Ber- 

 key «Ss Gay Furniture Company of Grand 

 Eapids, Mich., which has several of these 

 staircases in its factory. — Editor. 



Some Problems of Veneer Making. 



Every branch of the woodworking industry 

 has its problems, no matter how many of 

 them may have been solved. At times there 

 are more than at others, but it seems there 

 is never an entire absence of troublous ques- 

 tions. In the early stages of an industry 

 there arc of course many problems that need 

 solution. In the manufacture of veneer 

 topics that are getting considerable atten- 

 tion just now are the disposing of narrow 

 stock; the cutting of uniform widths in 

 quarter sawing and w-orking out some ra- 

 tional basis on which veneer can be cut and 

 kept in stock against possible needs. 



The matter of narrow stock received quite 

 a little discussion at the recent meeting of the 

 Tcueer manufacturers in which it was brought 

 out that some users of veneer do not care for 

 stock unless it is 12 inches and up in width. 

 Below 12 inches they count it practically 

 worthless, for it costs as much to join and 

 work it up as it does to buy more stock of 

 the desired width. This is all very well for 

 the user, but not for the manufacturers, and 

 the grade committee having charge of the 

 specifications made it a point to include 

 widths from 6 to 24 inches in standard stock, 

 making that above these widths special, while 



that below 6 inches, of course, is practically 

 worthless. 



Taking the veneer panel, or the built-up 

 lumber proposition as a whole, in comparison 

 with hardwood lumber manufacture, it is 

 easy to deduce logically that the point where 

 the panel man gains in competition with the 

 lumberman is in wide stock. Of the widths 

 that come within the range of ordinary cut- 

 tings in sawmills, the sawmill man can fur- 

 nish panels of solid stock cheaper than the 

 veneer man can furnish the same panels of 

 three-ply stock. Especially is this true if 

 the panel is to be made both face and back 

 of the same kind of wood. If, for example, 

 the panel is to be made of oak % of an inch 

 thick, with iV-inch stock on front and back 

 of oak, it does not matter how cheap a 

 wood is used for the center, the cost of the 

 veneer panel exceeds that of the same panel 

 made of solid oak, provided the range of 

 width stays within the general run of lumber 

 stock at the mills. Veneer men do not al- 

 ways get more for such panels, but they 

 should, since the cost is heavier in compari- 

 son than to make lumber. Where very thin 

 veneer of extremely rare and expensive wood 

 is used for face stock only, it is more prac- 



