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The decrease in the stands of merchantable timber located near our large fabricating centers and consequent increasing transportation costs of rough lumber have brought to the attention of the industry the economic importance of the use of small dimension stock, cut to size at or near the source of supply and 100 per cent usable to those industries which fabricate and assemble the finished product. The National Committee on Wood Utilization believes that the use of such stock reacts 'directly to the benefit of both the producer and consumer of small dimension, provides for more efficient utilization of our timber resources, and thus increases the practicability of commercial reforestation.

Many of our wood-using industries have recognized the economic soundness of this principle and have become enthusiastic supporters of the small dimension stock idea. Other fabricators have also recognized the value of the idea, but have reported difficulty in locating reliable sources of supply of small dimension stock. It is hoped that this report will be instrumental in encouraging the establishment of these reliable sources by giving to the established producer and to the prospective operator authentic information as to the most efficient practices employed in this industry.

The National Committee on Wood Utilization recommends that individuals or organizations that contemplate entering the small dimension stock production field proceed with caution. The difficulties encountered in the manufacture of ready-cut dimension stock are discussed in this report and should be thoroughly understood by the prospective operator.

The small dimension, stock subcommittee of the National Committee on Wood Utilization has spent more than year in the preparation of this report. A large part of that period was given to field studies, conducted in most of the important small dimension stock producing and consuming centers of the country. Claude C. Bell, of the committee's staff, who has prepared this report for the small dimension stock subcommittee, spent considerable time working as a laborer in the plants of the Pekin Wood Products Co., West Helena, Ark., and the Crossett Lumber Co., Crossett, Ark., for the purpose of obtaining first-hand practical experience in the methods. used for the seasoning, handling, and manufacturing of small dimension stock.

Leaders in the small dimension production field have given freely of their time in reviewing this manuscript and have included in it information gathered during years of successful practical experience. Dry-kiln manufacturers and others interested in small dimension stock have also furnished much valuable information. Grateful acknowledgment is made to these men for their splendid assistance in the preparation of this report. Valuable assistance in the form of data, criticisms, and illustrations, has been given by the United States Forest Service and its forest products laboratory and by the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association. The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce assisted in the preparation of drawings.

NOVEMBER 15, 1929.

AXEL H. OXHOLM, Director.

FRONTISPIECE.-Chain feed band ripsaw installation in a large plant manufacturing auto body parts. The ripsaws are aligned in batteries; alleyways are marked with white lines and are kept open for the movement of stock; the plant is well lighted and ventilated. Both factory trucks and lift trucks are being used. (Courtesy of Yates-American Machine Co.)

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SMALL DIMENSION STOCK-ITS SEASONING, HANDLING, AND

MANUFACTURE

INTRODUCTION

The activities of the National Committee on Wood Utilization are definitely concerned with promoting a more economical manufacture and use of forest products. The committee has selected the study of the small dimension industry as one of its most important projects, because the small dimension idea encourages closer utilization of our timber supply and thus furthers reforestation. The committee has followed with interest the development of this branch of the industry and has realized that such development is a step in the right direction from the standpoint of economy, but has also realized that there is little uniformity as to the methods employed in manufacturing, handling, and seasoning small dimension stock, and for these reasons believes that a report covering these points will be of value to the industry.

Field studies and investigations have been made at plants which are producing in excess of 1,000,000,000 board feet of small dimension stock per annum. This stock is being utilized in the production of automobile bodies, furniture, refrigerators, agricultural implements, sporting goods, turned articles, toys, novelties, and in many other ways. Every conceivable method of seasoning, handling, and manufacture has been found to be in use. An effort has been made to choose from this mass of information those practices which are most efficient and which are most in accord with recommended modern practices in similar industries. It must be understood that these recommended practices are not applicable to all operations. Location, financial and raw-material resources, market conditions, present layout, and equipment must all be taken into consideration before any radical changes are made.

OBJECTS OF THIS REPORT

(a) To summarize present conditions in the small dimension industry; (b) to present to the manufacturer and to the prospective operator a summary of the best practices of manufacture, seasoning, and handling as applied to small dimension stock; (c) to discuss the important subjects of cost finding and standardization, giving such information as is available on these subjects.

DEFINITION OF SMALL DIMENSION STOCK

Small dimension stock has been defined by the Dimension Lumber Manufacturers' Association, as follows:

Dimension lumber is hardwood or softwood refined to a point where the maximum waste is left at the mill and the maximum utility delivered for the

specific requirements of a particular plant or industry. It is cut to order, and in some sizes stock lumber is of specified widths, thicknesses, and lengths, or multiples thereof. It may be had as square lengths, flat lengths, and in specified shapes. It may be solid wood or glued-up lumber. The degree of refinement of dimension lumber is always a matter for agreement between the maker and buyer.

Small dimension stock may also be defined as stock ready cut, or rough in the case of split billets and blanks, to specified thicknesses and widths and to specified lengths less than the minimum commercial lumber length of 8 feet.

It is not within the scope of this report to discuss the manufacture of finished dimension for specified purposes. Since a manufacturer's profit or loss is largely determined by his practices up through the "rough mill" operations, and, because a discussion of finish mill operations would make it necessary to consider an enormous number of finishing processes and machinery, it seems inadvisable to carry this report further than the initial surfacing operation.

AMOUNTS OF SMALL DIMENSION STOCK USED ANNUALLY

There are no recent statistics available as to the annual production or consumption of small dimension stock. It is estimated that 80 per cent of our hardwood lumber is ultimately consumed in the form of small dimension. In 1928 this percentage amounted to more than 4,500,000,000 board feet. Large quantities of southern pine and the western softwoods are being fabricated at the sawmill and in the consuming centers. The table on page 3 gives the estimated lumber consumption by several of the important small dimension using industries, and gives some indication as to the importance of this subject.

This table, of course, is not exactly applicable to present conditions and gives no information as to the production of small dimension stock as defined above; that is, stock which is manufactured at or near the source of supply. It does, however, give some indication as to the possibilities of development in the small dimension industry. The table shows, for example, that the industries listed consumed 51.5 per cent of the hardwood cut and 4.7 per cent of the softwood cut in 1925. Although the Bureau of Census statistics on lumber production for 1928 showed a decrease of about 4,196,000,000 board feet from the 1925 production, nearly 3,365,000,000 board feet of this amount was found in decreased softwood production. Hardwood production showed a decrease of only 987,000,0001 board feet. Since practically 70 per cent of the consumption shown in the above table is classified under hardwoods, this would seem to indicate that the information shown is approximately applicable to present conditions, the only important exception being in the consumption by the automotive industry.

1 155,806,000 board feet of 1928 cut is not classified.

TABLE 1.-Estimated consumption of lumber by industries which use small dimension stock, 1925, in M board feet1

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NOTE. For the "other fabricating industries" included in the above list late detailed statistics are not available. They comprise 36 general groups classified as to lumber consumption during 1925 approximately as follows:

Handles 3

Shade and map rollers, paving material and conduits, laundry appliances, trunks
and valises, machine construction, pumps and wood pipe, sewing machines,
picture frames, and moldings..
Pulleys and conveyors, professional and scientific instruments, tobacco boxes, and
toys...

Gates and fencing, patterns and flasks, sporting and athletic goods, airplanes, bungs,
and faucets, plumbers' woodwork, electrical machinery and apparatus, mine equip-
ment, brushes, and dowels.

Elevators, saddles and harness, playground equipment, butchers' blocks and skewers, signs and supplies, clocks, printing material, weighing apparatus, whips, canes and umbrella sticks, brooms and carpet sweepers, firearms, artificial limbs, and tobacco, probably consume less than

M board feet 75, 000-100,000

50,000-75,000

25,000-50,000

10,000-25,000

10,000

1 From estimates released by the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association, Washington, D. C., on July 7, 1926. As far as is known this is the most recent information on this subject.

The National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, New York City, gives the following consumption by the automotive industry in 1928: Hardwoods, 1,020,000,000 board feet; softwoods, 349,000,000 board feet.

Three other industries-matches and toothpicks, boot and shoe findings, and shuttles, spools, and bobbins-utilize approximately 175,000,000 board feet of wood annually. The major portion, however, is in the form of short logs, bolts, billets, or blanks, which do not pass through a commercial sawmill in the form of lumber. They are, therefore, not included in the above table as consumers of lumber. The same is partially true in the case of handles. Probably more than 200,000,000 board feet of wood are used annually in the production of handles of all sorts, but only one-third or less of the raw material is produced in the form of sawed lumber, the balance coming from the same sort of material as in the three industries just cited,

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