The Uses of Lumber

Among the more prominent States in the consumption of wood for printing materials, are New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, and Wisconsin.

Table 60 Printing Materials (Annual lumber consumption, 5 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Cherry 29 Maple 13 Ash 7 Basswood 7 Yellow Pine 6 Beech 5 Oak 5 Chestnut 6 • Birch 5 Yellow Poplar 3 Elm 2 Mahogany 1 Other Woods 2 Total 100 47. Weighing Apparatus.Approximately the same amount of wood is used in the manufacture of weighing apparatus or scales of various kinds as is required for printing devices and machines. The qualities required are different, however; and consequently we find that three-fifths of the wood used in the manufacture of weighing apparatus consists of spruce and yellow pine, which offer desirable combinations of light weight and strength. Three other harder and stronger woods used to less extent are maple, birch, and beech; while white pine, oak, Douglas fir, yellow poplar, and a half-dozen others make up the remaining 10 per cent of wood material consumed in this industry.

Table 61 Weighing Apparatus (Annual lumber consumption, 5 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Spruce 36 Yellow Pine 24 Birch 14 Maple 9 Beech 7 White Pine 3 Oak 3 Douglas Fir 2 Yellow Poplar 1 Other Woods 1 Total 100 48. Whips, Canes, and Umbrella Sticks.The manufacture of such apparently small articles as whips, canes, and umbrella sticks annually requires the equivalent of 5 million board feet of lumber, although much of the material is never put into lumber form, and the rarer imported kinds are purchased by the piece or pound.

Among the native woods used for this purpose, beech supplies 57 per cent of the total consumption; and maple and birch, 33 per cent more, leaving only 10 per cent for some twenty other species. Beech is largely used for whip stocks and umbrella sticks, as are also maple and birch. Handles are frequently made from ebony, while many imported woods and roots are used for the more expensive cane and umbrella sticks.

Table 62 Whips, Canes and Umbrella Sticks (Annual wood consumption, 5 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Beech 57 Maple 22 Birch 1l Ebony 4 Hickory 2 Other Woods 4 Total 100 In the manufacture of these articles, New York and Massachusetts hold equal rank, each supplying about 40 per cent of the total product, while the bulk of the remainder comes from Pennsylvania.

49. Brooms and Carpet-Sweepers.

Ordinary broom handles are listed with handles; hence this classification relates chiefly to carpet-sweepers.

Table 63 Brooms and Carpet-Sweepers (Annual lumber consumption, 2 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Maple 25 Birch 23 Oak 18 Sycamore 12 Ash 10Red Gum 5 Beech 4 Mahogany 2 Circassian Walnut 1 Total 100 The manufacture of carpet-sweepers on a large scale is a strictly modern industry, and is centered in Michigan. The making of carpet

sweepers has come to be quite an art; and these articles are finished in a wide variety of durable and ornamental woods, in order to match many styles of house finish and furniture. In addition to the nine woods listed in Table 63, rosewood, laurel, and black walnut are recorded as being used to some extent in the manufacture of carpet-sweepers.

50. Firearms.

Black walnut has been the favorite gun-stock wood for many years, and still supplies four-fifths of the wood used in the manufacture of firearms. More recently, however, red gum has come into prominence for stocks in which •a circassian walnut effect is desired, while a small percentage of the more expensive firearms carry stocks of the true imported walnut. A small amount of English walnut is also used for pistol stocks, and birch occasionally for gun stocks, while boxwood is a favorite material for gun rods.

Most of the firearms used in this country are made in Connecticut and New York.

Table 64 Firearms (Annual lumber consumption, 2 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Black Walnut 81 Red Gum 17 Circassian Walnut 2 Total 100 51. Minor Uses.There are three smaller but important wood-using industries which in the aggregate do not consume much more than the equivalent of 1 million board feet of wood yearly. These are the manufacture of artificial limbs, tobacco pipes, and aeroplanes.

Table 65 Minor Uses of Wood in Manufacturing (Total annual wood consumption, 1 million board feet) Artificial Limbs— Per Cent Birch 51 Maple 21 Willow 8 Hickory 6 Yucca 6 Lancewood 4 Other Woods 4 Total 100 Tobacco Pipes— Per Cent French Brier 66 Apple 25 Kalmia 4 Red Gum 2 Other Woods 3 Total 100 Aeroplanes— • Per Cent Spruce 63 Ash 16 Mahogany 8 Yellow Poplar 6 Oak 5 Hickory 2 Total 100 The requirements for aeroplane wood are most exacting. Above all, it must be straightgrained, strong, light, and perfectly free from defects. The upright posts which hold the planes apart are chiefly made from spruce; the planes are also made of strips of spruce glued together, or "laminated," which form of construction gives added strength and freedom from splitting under stress. Aeroplane beams are generally of spruce. Ash is often used for the laminated propellers, while hickory is used for the axles and the braces over them. Propellers are also made either wholly of spruce or of built-up layers of ash and mahogany. Mahogany is used in the steering wheels. The skids which hold the landing wheels are usually of oak, ash, or hickory.