80 BULLETIN" 909, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Many sawmills find it profitable to cut low-grade lumber into furni- 

 ture dimension stock. Many furniture factories, however, object to 

 using dimension stock because the quality is not good enough, or the 

 sizes ate not exactly suited to their needs. They prefer to buy the 

 lumber and cut their stock sizes from that. It is, of course, more ex- 

 pensive to ship the lumber than the dimension sizes cut from it. 

 (Sawmills should be able to saw the stock sizes more cheaply than the 

 factory can ; but if there is considerable waste in the use of dimension 

 stock it is more profitable to buy the lumber. The sawmills can often 

 recut their low-grade walnut lumber into a special grade of stock for 

 furniture, and therefore it is not necessary for the factories to handle 

 so much waste material. This is also more economical for the fac- 

 tories than cutting clear stock from very defective lumber. A large 

 surplus of very low-grade stock and of small clear pieces accumu- 

 lated from the manufacture of walnut war material is now in 

 the hands of the large walnut operators. This stock is absorbed very 

 slowly. Since only small dimension pieces can be made from this 

 stock, markets for this material are very limited, and a great deal 

 of it goes into the waste pile and is used for fuel. 



The more extensive use of walnut instead of the various woods 

 now substituted for it in making the small solid parts of walnut 

 furniture would effect a closer utilization of the wood. These small 

 pieces should be sawed from low-grade stock, of which there is usu- 

 ally a surplus in the hands of lumber manufacturers. 



The small demand for low-grade walnut veneer makes the waste 

 m veneer manufacture greater than it would otherwise be. This 

 low-grade veneer is suitable for backings and drawer bottoms, but 

 factories prefer large sheets from a lower-priced wood, because there 

 is less trouble in cutting out the required sizes. Under present 

 conditions a large part of the sapwood and defective veneer must be 

 used for fuel. 



MARKETING WALNUT TIMBER. 



Owners of standing walnut timber generally dispose of their trees 

 through a log buyer, who may be either an independent buyer or 

 regularly employed by a walnut-manufacturing concern. Profes- 

 sional log buyers generally have connections or arrangements with 

 some establishment for reselling the timber. Because, as a general 

 thing, the occurrence of the tree is occasional, walnut is often handled 

 by small log buyers, who may dispose of it to a larger log buyer. 

 Small country sawmill owners often purchase walnut logs and sell 

 them, or at least the choice ones, to a large mill or factory. As the 

 timber passes through the hands of several men before reaching the 

 mill, the original owner may get comparatively little for it. Some 



