MAKING BOX BOARDS FROM SAWMILL WASTE 



By p. L. Buttrick^ 



One of the most important subjects before the lumber trade 

 is the disposal of "waste." In the days of low stumpage it did 

 not greatly concern the lumbermen that they threw away about 

 a third of the log in slabs, edgings and trimmings, which they 

 burned to get rid of. As we look at it today, their operations 

 lacked efficiency. Now that logs have become so much scarcer 

 and stumpage so much more valuable, to say nothing of compe- 

 tition having become so much keener, they should take an interest 

 in that mysterious thing called "efficiency." Efficiency means 

 absence of waste. Yet it is impossible to cut round logs into 

 rectangular boards without leaving a residue. This residue is 

 called in sawmill parlance "waste." 



It can, however, be used as a raw material for a number of 

 wood products not strictly classified as lumber. The more impor- 

 tant of these are: lath, shingles, staves, box boards, wood pulp, 

 and various chemical products such as turpentine and tannic acid. 

 Nevertheless, with the exception of lath, most of these products 

 are still made directly from logs or cordwood cut for the pur- 

 pose, and the waste is still largely destroyed. This has not been 

 altogether the fault of the lumberman, since it often cost so much 

 to manufacture from waste that it could not profitably be done. 

 Today increases in value and consumption of these products 

 and the rise in value of the raw material are beginning to make 

 it financially possible for those manufactured from waste to 

 compete with those from logs and cordwood. 



Efficiency demands that this be done, and it is an economic 

 gain to the public as well as to the lumbermen that it be done, 

 since the closer we utilize our timber the less we are obliged 

 to cut at a time, and so the longer it will last. 



Since the manufacture of box boards from waste is not a very 

 well known scheme of utilization, it is possible that the following 

 account, based on an experience of some months at a factory, 

 which utilizes waste exclusively, may be of interest to lumber- 

 men, foresters and conservationists. 



» Constdting Forester, New Haven, Conn. 



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