22 WOOD-USING INDUSTRIES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



FORM, GRADE, AND SIZES OF RAW MATERIAL. 



In the foregoing tables and discussions the raw material used in 

 North Carolina has been considered, first, as to quantity and species, 

 and then as to industries. Table 6 treats of the raw material from a dif- 

 ferent standpoint, presenting the forms desired, the grades in which it is 

 purchased, and the range of sizes acceptable. For instance, by con- 

 sulting- the table it can be learned that seventy-three concerns are 

 classified under furniture. The material purchased by them is all in 

 the form of rough-sawed lumber. Forty-five of these firms purchased 

 log-run grades, while twenty-eight report buying established grades. 

 The sizes of rough lumber purchased by the furniture makers range in 

 thickness from |- to ^ 6 -, ^ or 1 inch being the size most commonly 

 used. As in other industries, the fact of the furniture manufacturers 

 buying a portion of their raw material in the form of rough-sawed 

 squares is indicated in the table by the asterisk (*). The smallest sizes 

 in lumber purchased by any of the manufacturers making up the several 

 industries can be seen from the last column of the table. This does not 

 include squares. 



That the manufacturers in North Carolina are located near the 

 source of timber supply accounts for the fact that thirteen out of the 

 twenty-one industries listed in the table secure all or some portion of 

 their raw material in log form, seventeen report using rough-sawed 

 lumber as raw material, while nine industries used billets or bolts from 

 which to manufacture their products. See Plates II and III. 



Owing to the incomplete data supplied by many of the firms reporting, 

 these statistics do not present the matter in the definite form originally 

 intended by this study. In its present shape, however, this report con- 

 tains much useful information. It should help those wishing to sell 

 their timber by acquainting them with the form in which each different 

 industry desires raw material, whether in logs, in bolts, or in rough- 

 sawed lumber. Where the raw material is rough lumber they can get 

 some idea of the sizes used and the grades which will be received, 

 whether log-run or established grades. A sawmill operator can learn 

 what industries use sawed squares. By the addition of a rip and cut- 

 off saw to his machinery he can manufacture squares from the inferior 

 lumber that would otherwise be waste. 



It will be noticed that many of the industries using rough lumber buy 

 it in log-run rather than in established grades. This custom doubtless 

 operates to the disadvantage of both the lumberman and the wood user. 

 The lumberman could saw the lower grades into squares, and, grading 

 his best lumber according to grading rules, would realize more for the 



