232 SELLINGLUMBER 



Utilization of Southern Pine 

 Mill and Woods Waste 



By Howard F. Weiss 



Director, Government Forest Products 

 Laboratory 

 Madison, Wis. 



To make something from nothing is impossible. There are 

 some who feel that the practical utilization of Southern pine 

 waste is on a par with this statement. While the problem of 

 successfully using such waste is a complex one, nevertheless, it is 

 felt that much can be done towards its solution. Encouragement 

 comes when we realize that the average length of a board in final 

 place is about four feet. Furthermore, the problem is of such 

 enormous magnitude that a strenuous effort to successfully solve 

 it must be made. From some measurements of the amount of 

 waste in Southern pine operations, it appears that only 31 per cent 

 of the standing forest is marketed as lumber. One thousand feet 

 board measure of lumber represents eighty-three cubic feet of wood, 

 Per Cent an d to produce this eighty-three cubic feet it is necessary to destroy 



? f Tre f 268 cubic feet. Now. then, this 31 per cent of the standing timber 

 Is Saved . . . .,, 



has to pay all costs for promotion, protection, taxes, logging, mill- 

 ing, depreciation, the salaries of you salesmen and, in addition, 

 a profit to the owner. I believe you will admit that this is a 

 tremendous burden to ask lumber to carry by itself, and it is this 

 factor which is largely responsible for many of the difficulties the 

 lumber industry has been and is having. Then again, there is little 

 likelihood that any of these cost items will come down. In fact, 

 the tendency is for them to advance. Furthermore, the price of 

 lumber cannot rise appreciably above past levels because of com- 

 petition with other materials. The problem, therefore, which the 

 manufacturers of Southern pine lumber have to face is a most 

 difficult one, and any method which will distribute the burden 

 of over-head and operating costs over more than 31 per cent of 

 the standing forest is worthy of most serious consideration. 



It is gratifying that much progress in the utilization of waste 

 has been made and several of the lumbermen in this Association 

 are now successfully working their waste into commercial products 



