Toothpicks are made almost exclusively from birch and maple and are chiefly produced in Michigan and New England.
Table 80 Matches and Toothpicks (Annual wood consumption, 85 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent White Pine 86 Basswood 7 Birch 4 Maple 1 Spruce 1 Other Woods 1 Total 100 17. Laundry Appliances. Laundry appliances include washing machines, washboards, ironing boards, clothes wringers, mangles, tubs, clothespins, and similar articles. Cypress and maple compete closely for the lead in the manufacture of laundry appliances, while nearly equal quantities of beech and cottonwood are required. More than twenty other woods contribute to the total of some 80 million feet of lumber annually consumed in this industry.
Cottonwood, basswood, and Sitka spruce are much used for washboards. Frames of ironing boards are often made of maple; and the tops, of cypress, cottonwood, spruce, basswood, and white pine. Wooden mangles are usually made of elm, beech, or maple; and wooden tubs frequently have cypress staves. Laundry machine construction uses cypress, maple, basswood, yellow poplar, and red and white oak. Clothes-pins are most largely made of basswood, beech, and maple, and also to some extent of birch, elm, and ash.
In manufacture of laundry appliances, Michigan has a large lead, with Indiana, Iowa, New York, and Ohio ranking next in importance.
Table 31 Laundry Appliances (Annual lumber consumption, 80 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Cypress 19 Maple 18 Beech 12 Cottonwood 10 Basswood 6 Cedar 6 Birch 5 Tupelo 5 Red Gum 4 White Pine 4 Spruce 3 Yellow Pine 2 Elm 2 Hemlock 2 Other Woods 2 Total 100 18. Shade and Map Rollers.Nearly fourfifths of all the shade and map rollers are made from white pine; and one-seventh, from spruce and other softwoods. Such hardwoods as are credited to this industry are used chiefly for curtain poles and trim.
Table 32 Shade and Map Rollers (Annual lumber consumption, 79 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent White Pine 78 Spruce 9 Douglas Fir 4 Red Gum 3 Yellow Pine 1 Tupelo 1 Maple 1 Other Woods 3 Total 100 19. Paving Materials and Conduits.The manufacture of paving materials and conduits of wood which is given a chemical treatment to prevent decay, is one of the more recently developed industries; but it has already reached a considerable size, requiring about 76 million feet of lumber annually. As is brought out in
the discussion of wood block pavements, yellow pine is by far the most largely used wood for this purpose; but larch or tamarack, Douglas fir, Norway pine, and tupelo are also used, the latter more especially for conduits to carry underground telegraph or telephone lines. These materials are prepared wherever creosoting plants may be located, of which there are now nearly 100 in the United States, as shown by the map in Plate 21.
Table 33 Paving Materials and Conduits (Annual lumber consumption, 76 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Yellow Pine 86 Larch 6 Douglas Fir 5 Tupelo 1 Other Woods 2 Total 100 20. Trunks and Valises. The manufacture of trunks and valises annually consumes about 75 million feet of twenty-four different woods, of which basswood supplies 28 per cent, yellow pine 20 per cent, and white pine 10 per cent.
Trunks and valises are usually made from softwoods which offer a desirable combination of light and strength, or from veneer of hardwoods, in which strength can be secured without much weight. Trunk slats are generally of maple, beech, or elm; and here strength is an important property. Trunk trays are largely made from basswood and yellow pine; while the box of the trunk is either of thin lumber with some kind of outside covering, or, in the better grades, of built-up veneer, which gives much strength and resistance to hard knocks.
Trunks and valises are largely made in Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
Table 34 Trunks and Valises (Annual lumber consumption, 75 million board feet) Woods Used Per Cent Basswood 28 Yellow Pine 20 White Pine 10 Hemlock 9 Elm 9 Maple 7 Yellow Poplar 4 Cottonwood 3 Red Gum 2 Spruce 2 Cypress 2 Other Woods 4 Total 100 21. Machine Construction.Under this heading are grouped such machines as steam shovels, cranes, hoists, well drills, dredges, crushers, presses, etc., in which much of the 'wood used must possess strength, toughness, and durability. Yellow pine supplies one-third of the wood required for machine construction; cypress, 23 per cent; and oak, 12 per cent; while nearly thirty other woods are used in smaller amounts.