HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



More About the Low-Grade Problem 



The editor of the Eecokd is in receipt of the following com- 

 munication from a leading manufacturer of oak flooring in the 

 northern part of the country: 



We have read with considerable interest the item in your 

 paper of April 23 entitied : "Tlie Low-grSde Problem." We 

 note tliat the Jeraanci for iow-grade hardwood lumber is de- 

 creasing. This would natuiaily be expected under the pres- 

 ent grading rules and is as it should be. No. 2 Common in 

 hardwood as graded today is an unproiitable grade for manu- 

 facturers of hardwood flooring even, and as far as No. 3 

 Common is concerned it is absolutely worthless as graded 

 now for even hardwood flooring, and would ruin any manu- 

 facturing concern in a short time, were they to attempt to 

 work it into flooring. 



A careful perusal of the grade rules has convinced us that 

 if a manufacturer of liardwood lumber were to ship a car- 

 load of No. 3 Common out of which could be got pieces big 

 <'nough for a toothpick to the extent of 25 per cent, they 

 would be obliged to take it, and, in fact, the hardwood in- 

 spection bureaus would say that it was as good as they were 

 entitled to. This seems to us to be wrong and extremely 

 foolish. There should be four grades of common at least. 

 The No. 2 Common grade should be raised somewhat and 

 the better quality of the No. 3 grade and the poorer quality 

 of the No. 2 grade put together, the lower grade to contain 

 ail of the balance which would be fit for cheap sheathing 

 purposes. We are satisfied that if this were done the manu- 

 facturers of hardwood lumber would have a great deal less 

 lo groan about. 



The suggestions embraced in the foregoing communication might 

 assist somewhat in the marketing of the lower grades of oak, not 

 only in the flooring manufacturing trade but the furniture trade 

 as Tvell, but still it would not satisfactorily solve the entire low- 

 grade problem. The freight on oak lumber which the manufacturer 

 writing this letter pays from his principal sources of supply 

 approximates $12 a thousand feet. Lumber from the coarse logs 

 would show him a little more than fifty per cent of usable material. 

 In other words, he is paying a freight of $24 a thousand on the 

 lumber of low grade he actually uses besides the cutting cost. No 

 matter how the grades are split up it would not be a practical 

 proposition to make oak flooring in his city with anything like 

 economy. As a matter of fact he would not buy the third or fourth 

 grade of common he suggests, and probably would fight pretty shy 

 of the second grade. He would buy the first grade, and possibly 

 a little of the second, which would stiU leave a tail end of coarse 

 grade on the manufacturer's hands that is too good for crating 

 and stiU unsalable. The Record reiterates that practical lumber 

 conservation means the establishment of well-organized cutting-up 

 factories at points so located that lumber from a large number of 

 miUs could be grouped at a low cost and this low-grade stock cut into 

 sizes ready for the furniture, interior finish, flooring, and other 

 manufacturers to mill. If this were done modification in the present 

 system of hardwood manufacture could be indulged in. This coarse 

 grade lumber could be delivered at the eutting-up plant simply bark- 

 edged and untrimmed, thus giving the institution the benefit of all 

 the cuttings there were in the plank. 



As before noted in the Eecord, experiments have been made in a 

 tentative sort of fashion for cutting dimension material at points of 

 production, and they have not generally proven successful. There 

 are manifold reasons why this result has obtained. Dimension pro- 

 ducers have attempted to make this material out of stock of too low 

 a grade in the aggregate. High-class dimension cannot be satisfac- 

 torily made out of stick-rotted lumber, No. 3 Common and poorer, 

 or from slabs. The general quality of such a product is not accept- 

 able for good work, but a vast quantity of suitable dimension stock 

 can be made with the aid of a short-log sawmiU out of forest refuse 

 and out of the low grade of No. 1 and poorer, with an aggregate 

 clear cutting of close to fifty per cent. 



A big cutting-up plant like the one suggested, located for example 

 at Memphis, Teun., could undeniably secure the cooperation and 

 financial support of at least a dozen manufacturers, and could also 

 secure the financial backing of an equal number of leading furni- 

 ture, interior finish and flooring makers. This plant should have a 



dry kiln capacity to take care of 100,000 feet of lumber a day, and 

 by securing the cooperation of leading users of this material could 

 work on a variety of sizes that would cut even the lower grades 

 with comparatively little waste. It would be only by securing a 

 variety of sizes (as is well known in the box trade) that a cutting-up 

 plant of this magnitude could be made a profitable enterprise. 

 There is no sane user of lumber in his manufacturing line that will 

 not concede that high-class dimension .stock, cut to full sizes of 

 good material and thoroughly kiln dried, is not worth more in his 

 factory than firsts and seconds. In a plant of this sort it is per- 

 fectly logical to make and deliver both solid and veneered glued-up 

 table tops, dresser tops and the like in the full sizes required for 

 the finished article. 



Here certainly is an opportunity for disposing of a considerable 

 portion of the present overstock of low-grade oak, black and white 

 ash, gum and sundry other woods. The investment in an institution 

 of this sort would be small as compared to that of the average saw- 

 mill with its backing of stumpage, or that of the big furniture 

 plant. 



It is highly impractical to attempt to transfer the skilled furni- 

 ture artizans of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Penn- 

 sylvania and New York to the actual sources of hardwood supply. 

 These skilled laborers have their own homes and have alliances at 

 these renianufaeturing points that they cannot leave, but it is per- 

 fectly logical to secure enough competent labor to handle a big cut- 

 ting-up plant successfully at Memphis or in any of the many towns of 

 one-tenth that size throughout the hardwood region. 



The machinery involved for seasoning and cutting up hardwood 

 lumber is but a small fraction of the total employed in furniture, 

 interior finish and flooring manufacture, and there is no just reason 

 why profitable enterprises cannot be established for the making of 

 first-class dimension material near the points of hardwood production. 



The Coming National Association Meeting 



The annual meeting of the National Hardwood Lumber Associa- 

 tion will be held at the Seelbach Hotel, Louisville, Ky., on Thursday 

 and Friday, June 9 and 10. 



In the news section of this issue of the Becoed the general plan 

 of entertainment that will be tendered the visiting lumbermen is 

 outlined, together with considerable information concerning what 

 the Uve Louisville Lumbermen 's Club proposes to do for its guests. 



It is expected that this meeting will call out a large attendance 

 of hardwood lumbermen both within and without the ranks of the 

 National Association. There are a good many issues of paramount 

 interest to the trade at the present time, which it is expected this 

 organization will take up and legislate upon. 



Undeniably an effort will be made to insure the attendance at 

 this meeting of every hardwood manufacturer and wholesaler pos- 

 sible. With the allurements of Louisville as a convention city and 

 the importance of the meeting, this expectation should surely be 

 realized. • 



Wisconsin Hardwood Conditions 



The secretary of the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood Manufac- 

 turers' Association reports that a canvass of forty-nine hardwood 

 concerns in the organization shows that nine have no orders on 

 hand; two have no stock in shipping condition; three are sold out, 

 and thirty-five have orders on hand amounting to a total of seven 

 hundred and fifty-four cars. The situation is about the same, rela- 

 tivel.v, with the hemlock producers of the state. 



Publicity Engineering 



A short time ago a wealthy luniborniaii stated to the editor of 

 the Hardwood Becobd that he had been in the lumber business for 

 fifty years and had yet to spend his first dollar for advertising 

 purposes. 



A "publicity engineer," which is the pet title of the alleged 

 expert advertising man, stated to the Record a few days ago that the 



