1412 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



should go far toward solving this difficulty. In the ex- 

 periments now under way to determine the possibilities 

 of various built-up forms for heavy structural use and 

 the efficiency of different types of joints and fastenings, 

 glued laminations are not 

 yet being used, although it 

 is not improbable that when 

 the effect of aging on the 

 strength of glue becomes 

 definitely established, glued 

 joints may find structural 

 application. 



For smaller wooden arti- 

 cles, built-up wood has im- 

 mediate application not 

 only in replacing solid ma- 

 terial but in extending the 

 utilization of small sizes 

 and low grades. Some of 

 these possibilities are for 

 wagon tongues, bolsters, 

 wheel hubs and rims, plow 

 beams, sled runners, auto- 

 moblie bodies, gun stocks, 

 agricultural implements, ath- 

 letic goods, artificial limbs, 

 hat blocks, ladder rails, 

 shoe lasts, porch columns 

 and outside doors. The 

 Laboratory has already made up as experiments 

 sets of maple bowling pins and shoe lasts, oak wheel 



IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LAMINATED BOWLING PINS THE 

 BLOCK HAVING BEEN ROUGHED OUT ON THE BAND SAW IS 

 PUT IN THE TURNING LATHE AND TURNED TO THE PROPER 

 PATTERN. AFTER A SUITABLE FINISH HAS BEEN APPLIED THE 

 PINS ARE READY FOR TEST. 



mercial practicability will undoubtedly time its wide- 

 spread or general adoption. As a manufacturing process, 

 laminated construction is in a great many cases more 

 expensive than solid-wood construction, and there is an 



element of waste in the 

 large amount of saw kerf. 

 It would appear offhand 

 that, so long as present dif- 

 ferentials in the prices of 

 thin and thick lumber and 

 in various species prevail, 

 built-up wood will have 

 great difficulty generally in 

 meeting competition. But 

 this is not altogether the 

 case and for the following 

 reasons : 



1. The drying or seasoning 

 costs are lessened by laminated 

 construction since thin lumber 

 can be much more rapidly dried 

 and with less loss than thick 

 lumber. 



2. The manufacturing loss 

 in solid wood, especially where 

 steam bending is required, as 

 in wheel rims and certain kinds 

 of furniture, promises to be 

 very greatly reduced by lami- 

 nated construction. 



3. Scrap ends and waste 

 material may often be fully utilized in built-up wood. 



4. In the manufacturing of certain articles now requiring 

 select high grades, low grades obtained at cheaper prices may 

 be substituted. 



5. Built-up wood makes possible better and more uniform 

 seasoning of stock, and this in turn, makes possible a more 

 serviceable article and tends to eliminate price competition. 



6. The location of the nation's main sources of timber supply 

 in the far West will tend to make possible the local utilization 

 of built-up wood from other species in eastern and middle 



LAMINATED BOWLING PINS READY FOR TEST. THE TEST CON- 

 SISTS OF ACTUAL SERVICE IN A BOWLING ALLEY, A RECORD 

 BEING KEPT OF THE NUMBER OF GAMES PLAYED WITH THE 

 PINS. 



rims, wagon bolsters and tongues and walnut gun stocks. 

 These articles are now made commercially from solid 

 wood, but the experiments are in laminated construc- 

 tion, with the use of waterproof casein glue in some cases 

 and blood albumin in others. The bowling pins, under 

 actual preliminary test in a local alley at Madison, gave 

 the same service as the solid pins. The testing of the 

 other laminated articles has not yet been completed. 



While the field for laminated construction of the fore- 

 going character is very extensive, the factor of com- 



AFTER 250 GAMES THESE LAMINATED HOWLING PINS ARK STILL 

 IN SERVICEABLE CONDITION, IN FACT THIS PARTICULAR SET 

 IS, TO ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES THE EQUAL OF SOLID PINS. 



western regions, at prices comparable with or even below those 

 of solid wood shipped in from distant regions. 



These conditions, it will be apparent, will have a direct 

 bearing upon the final costs of built-up wood. It is 



