LUMBER 



3534 



LUMBER 



if placed on the inside of houses kept hot in 

 the winter. Kiln-dried boards are seasoned for 

 only a few weeks. 



The Industry. In Canada, logging and lum- 

 bering are by far the most important industries, 

 next to agriculture. In the United States they 

 rank third. Not including lath, shingles, poles, 

 railroad ties, firewood, barrel hoops and other 

 special varieties of wood products, the annual 

 production of lumber in the United States is 

 about forty thousand million board feet (see 

 explanation below). In Canada the output is 

 about one-tenth as much, slightly less than that 

 of either Washington or Louisiana, or of Mis- 

 sissippi and Oregon combined. 



The principal varieties of Canadian lumber 

 are spruce, douglas fir and white pine. In the 



United States yellow pine is far in the lead, 

 with Douglas fir and oak next in importance. 

 Aside from the unusual woods, yellow poplar, 

 ash, oak and cypress are the most valuable tim- 

 bers. 



North America has about one-third of the for- 

 ests of the world. Russia contains two-thirds 

 of those in Europe and over half of those in 

 Asia, and is by far the greatest lumber exporter 

 in the world, though its annual cut is only one- 

 third that of the United States. The tropical 

 forests of South America are among the world's 

 largest. From them come rosewood and ma- 

 hogany and many marvelous woods as yet little 

 known elsewhere. 



More about lumber will be found in the arti- 

 cles on pine, oak, and other trees. 



Purchasing Lumber 



Lumber is ordinarily sold at a price per board 

 foot, which is the quantity contained in a piece 

 one foot long, one foot wide and one inch thick. 

 Thus a piece of timber 16 feet long, a foot wide 

 and an inch thick contains 16 board feet. One 

 of the same length and thickness but only 8 

 inches, or % of a foot, wide, contains 16x%xl, 

 or 10% board feet. A piece 16 feet long, 8 

 inches wide and 2 inches thick contains 16x%x2, 

 or 21% board feet. Because boards less than 



ordering boards of particular length or width 

 should state that he wants common boards, or 

 he may receive those planed on both sides, 

 which are more expensive. Finished boards are 

 frequently sold by the running foot instead of 

 the board foot. 



Shipboard is like common boarding, but cut 

 at the edges, as shown in the illustration. 



Matched boards have a tongue and a groove, 

 as in the picture. Finished flooring is of 



HOW MANY BOARD FEET IN EACH PIECE OF LUMBER' 



one inch thick are planed from one-inch boards, 

 they are usually considered to be the latter. 

 Most varieties of lumber are known by the 

 same names throughout the United States and 

 Canada. 



Timbers for framing are usually described by 

 their size (see CARPENTRY). Thus a timber 4 

 inches square is known as a four by four, com- 

 monly written 4^4- If it is sixteen feet long it 

 is called a four by four sixteen. The price per 

 foot is usually greater for timbers over 18 

 feet long. 



Boards planed on one side only are known as 

 No. 1 common, No. 2 common, etc., according 

 to their quality. They are sold in varying 

 length and width, the former usually from 10 

 to 16 feet, the latter from 6 to 12 inches. The 

 buyer usually specifies the total number of feet 

 he wishes and receives an assortment of sizes; 

 he can, however, obtain all in one size, but in 



matched boards, usually four inches wide. In 

 estimating the quantity needed, add one-fourth 

 to the number of feet of 4-inch boards required ; 

 this will equal the loss caused by the tongue 

 and groove. 



Siding is made in 

 a number of styles. 

 Clapboards, some- 

 times called beveled 

 siding, are wedge- 

 shaped; %-inch thick 

 at one edge, %-inch y^j^ 

 at the other, and from Q i j_ 



4 to 6 inches wide. ^ sh ; 



Beveled siding is the 

 best, but requires more labor. 



Shingles are from 14 to 18 inches in lenj 

 and from 4 to 7 inches in width. An 18-ii 

 shingle should not be exposed more thai 

 inches to the weather. 



