BOXES AND BOX SHOOKS 253 



MANUFACTURE 



The manufacture of boxes and shooks is usually an industry separate 

 from the manufacture of lumber, although occasionally in the Southern 

 States and very often in the Western States the shook factory is one 

 department in a sawmill. It uses lumber of comparatively low grade 

 which contains more or less knots and other defects. The upper grades 

 which are free from these same defects are generally too expensive to be 

 used by the box manufacturers. 



The great problem in the industry is to cut up the lumber and remove 

 the defects or have the knots removed in the center of the board with as 

 little waste as possible and the minimum expenditure of power and labor. 

 The waste in making boxes is generally from 15 to 30 per cent or more. 

 If boxes were to be made with no knots or other defects it would result 

 in the waste of from 60 to 80 per cent. The presence of a knot in the box 

 does not interfere with its strength or usefulness provided they are 

 not along the edges or in a position where they will be reached by nails. 



Many different sizes and types of boxes are made, but they may be 

 classified as nailed, lock-cornered and wire-bound boxes. The latter has 

 come into the trade very prominently within recent years, but the nailed 

 box is still the type most prominently used and probably constitutes 

 90 per cent of the total number of wooden boxes used in this country. 



The conventional sizes of lumber manufactured by the saw-mills are 

 necessarily accepted by the box manufacturers. The thicknesses, that 

 is i, ij, ij, if, 2 in., etc., in the rough, are resawed in the box factory to 

 |, ^, and f-in. material, etc. The widths range between 3 and 12 in. 

 and more but in some factories only stock widths in even inches, such as 

 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 in. are made. The lengths of box shooks generally 

 range anywhere from 12 in. up to 18 in. or more. For these purposes 

 lumber is acceptable in almost any length from 6 ft. and up and in width 

 from 3 in. and up. The box grades (No. i and 2 box) according to the 

 White Pine Association of the Tonawandas, the No. 4 Common of the 

 Northern Pine Manufacturers' Association, the No. 4 Common of the 

 Western Pine Manufacturers' Association and the round edge or mill run 

 grade of New England white pine are specially adapted to the manu- 

 facture of boxes. The box grade (No. 4) of the North Carolina Pine 

 Association and the No. 2 Common grade of the Southern Pine Associa- 

 tion and the Georgia-Florida Sawmill Association are also specially 

 adapted for use in the manufacture of boxes. 



The details of the methods and cost of manufacture vary so greatly 



