BY-PRODUCT MILLS IN THE HARDWOOD INDUSTRY 



By p. L. Buttrick 

 Consulting Forester, New Haven, Conn. 



Following is a brief account of a rather new form of waste utiliza- 

 tion which is being developed in hardwood lumber mills. The notes 

 for this article were collected in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky 

 in the winter of 1915. 



Among the largest users of hardwood lumber are the furniture 

 manufacturers. Their requirements as to shapes and sizes of materials 

 used are quite different from those of the general construction trade, 

 since they can, to a much larger degree, utilize pieces of small size and 

 irregular dimensions. Examples of stock for furniture are bolts for 

 chair rungs, table legs, etc., usually in the form of short-length pieces 

 with square ends, known in the trade as "squares." Rungs and legs 

 can be turned out of miscellaneous stock on lathes, and short boards 

 can be used for chair seats, backs, table tops, desk panels, etc. These 

 are used solid or for veneer cores or stock, as the case may be. 

 Hitherto they have largely purchased lumber of standard sizes and 

 cut it down to suit their own purposes. Of late, however, certain 

 enterprising hardwood firms have realized the possibility of making 

 much of this small-sized furniture stock out of slabs and edgings, 

 planing-mill ends, etc., and have installed equipment for this purpose 

 generally along with their mills, and furniture firms are beginning 

 to use this material more and more. These mills are variously called 

 '■'dimension mills," "by-product mills," and the like. 



The equipment of a typical plant of this kind in the southern Appala- 

 chians and adapted to the needs of a single band mill, cutting from 

 30 M to 40 M per day, is about as follows : 1 carriage bolter ; 1 circular 

 lip saw; 1 gang bolter (Garland) ; 2 automatic cut-off saws, to which 

 ghould be added a lath bolter and machine. The floor space covered 

 is about 50 square feet. 



Such a plant operated in "conjunction with a mill cutting 35 M 

 should be able to produce 3,000 board feet of dimension stock and 

 5,000 pieces of lath in ten hours. 



The machinery for such a mill would cost about $5,000 ; buildings 

 and drying shed, etc., $1,500 to $2,000 more. 



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