Putting Unused Wood to 



645 



practically useless except where they 

 can be used in mixture with poisons to 

 control grasshopper plagues. Ultimate- 

 ly they may find usefulness in some 

 areas as soil-conditioning materials to 

 improve the physical make-up of soils. 



Sawdust fresh from the log has pres- 

 ent and potential values as fuel for 

 specially designed furnaces and burn- 

 ers. Hickory, oak, maple, and birch can 

 frequently be shipped over long dis- 

 tances for use in smoking meats at 

 packing plants. 



If the sawdust is from dry wood cut 

 at factories, it has a larger range of use 

 possibilities. 



Obviously, this unused wood occurs 

 in comparatively small rivulets all 

 along the harvesting and production 

 lines. But the rivulets never run into 

 one big reservoir that can be con- 

 veniently tapped. There is tremendous 

 variation in the kind and form of the 

 residues that occur, and this diversity 

 complicates the task of utilizing them. 



The task, of course, starts in the 

 woods. More efficient harvesting meth- 

 ods are constantly being devised. New, 

 fast-working, labor-saving equipment 

 for cutting, skidding, loading, and even 

 bundling has speeded forest operations 

 to the point where it often has become 

 profitable to relog after primary log- 

 ging and to salvage much cull timber 

 for lumber and pulpwood that would 

 not pay its way with the ordinary log- 

 ging equipment. 



In ordinary logging, only the trunk 

 of the tree is taken out. Tops, branches, 

 and stumps are left behind to be burned 

 or eventually to decay. Sometimes the 

 woods operators can find markets for 

 a part of this refuse. Tops of felled 

 trees can sometimes be sold for pulp- 

 wood along with defective trees, thin- 

 nings, and the noncommercial species. 

 Some refuse can be used to make char- 

 coal where markets exist. Short logs of 

 good material can be sawed into 

 boards, squares, barrel staves, and nu- 

 merous other small products. Some 

 short lengths cut from between branch 

 whorls may be suitable for box veneer 

 and paper cores. Stumps, crotches, and 



other parts of some species provide 

 figured veneer. Forest litter finds mar- 

 kets with local nurseries as mulching 

 material. Branches can be used in such 

 items as rustic furniture and fencing. 



Everything that can be used in the 

 form of sawed and solid wood products 

 should be recovered first. Recovery for 

 pulpwood and fiber products is next in 

 order for areas near established mills. 



Sawmills, too, have undergone ex- 

 tensive changes. In the older forest 

 regions, many of the big stationary 

 sawmills have shut down and have 

 been supplanted by smaller portable 

 mills that can be moved from one lo- 

 cality to another. Previously looked 

 upon as a headache to lumbermen and 

 foresters, portable mills are undergoing 

 revolutionary development and are 

 playing an increasing role in our forest 

 economy ; they require less investment, 

 they can be moved easily, and they can 

 operate economically where timber re- 

 sources are thinner and more scattered. 

 The design and operation of small saw- 

 mills are being studied for ways in 

 which to make them more efficient. 



Sawmills vary widely in the effi- 

 ciency with which they cut up logs into 

 lumber. Some sawdust is inevitable. 

 Slabs, edgings, and trim wastes vary 

 widely in quantity, however, depend- 

 ing on the efficiency of the mill, the 

 type of logs being sawed, and the ex- 

 tent of salvage operations. The more 

 efficient mills cut lumber accurately to 

 size, reducing waste. With large logs, 

 the proportion of slab and edging offal 

 is reduced. And at some mills this slab 

 material is cut into a great variety of 

 secondary products and sold. 



Most of the markets for sawmill 

 refuse are specialized and either local 

 or regional in character. In many of 

 the larger cities, dealers handle saw- 

 dust and shavings, supplying makers 

 of floor-sweeping compounds, the fur 

 workers, metal finishers, toy makers, 

 and others that use small quantities. 

 Considerable amounts go as wood flour 

 into linoleum, explosives, and plastics. 

 Probably the largest use, however, is as 

 fuel at the sawmill to furnish power 



