Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-11-23
TOOTHPICk MAKING.
Logs Worked Into Wooden Dental Implements
by Steam Machinery.
Philadelphia Times

by Steam Machinery.
Philadelphia Times
Nlncty-tivc per cent. Of all the
toothpicks made i'll these United
States are formed from white bircl
timber in Franklin county, Maine
and yet scarcely more than 100 per-
sons are employed in the industry in
that State. Outside of the pine tree
commonwealth the principal factories
are in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,
and Western New York. Maple and
poplar are sometimes used in the
manufacture of American toothpicks,
but white birch is the standard timber
in all the factories. The industry is
very simple one. First, of course,
comes the work Of the fOresters. In
the woods of Maine every winter
there are great camps of lumbermen
engaged in telling and hauling out
timber for various commercial uses.
Whenever the foreman OF a camp
comes across particularly fine white
birch tree he orders it cut down and
the main part of the trunk laid aside
to be reserved for the toothpick fac
tories. That the vast supply OF tooth
picks comes from very small guam
tity OF timber is shown by the fact
that not more that 5000 cords of wood
are used in tine industry annually.
When the logs reach the factory
they are first stripped of their bark.
They are then placed on trucks mov-
ing on rails and pushed to the auto
matte machines by which they are
cut into veneers, which are thin strips
of wood OF about the dimensions of au
ordinary piece of blotting paper
that is, the strips are about as thick as
the toothpicks are intended to be and
as wide as the picks will be long. The
machine works automatically and
with tremendous speed and is 80 con-
structed that the finished picks come
forth sharpened at both ends at the
rate OF tens OF thousands an hour. It
requires only few weeks for the fac.
tories to turn out a supply sufficient
to meet the demand for whole year.
The factories are shut down again, 10
remain closed till spring. The wages
paid to American workers in this in
dustry range from $1.5O to $3.50 a
day.
Many OF the toothpicks made in
Maine come from timber that has
been seasoned in the open air and re-
tain something of the natural sweet
ness of the birch and maple and are
soft and pliable, while retaining suf-
ficient firmness. Kiln-dried wood is
apt to result in too much brittleness,
causing sharp splinters to break off,
which injure the enamel OF the teeth.
The best toothpicks made any
where in the world come from Portu.
gal. They are whitfield by hand from
orangewood splints by peasant girls,
the only tool used being an ordinary
jacknife. These picks are as smooth
as ivory and will not break into
splinters. They are expensive. Few
hotels in Philadelphia supply them.
The girls who make the picks receive
less than 10 cents a day AS the duty
on the foreign-made picks is only IS
per cent, they can be sold here for
less than picks of similar quality could
be manufactured in this country,
despite the improved American ma
chinery and skilled labor. The profit
on American picks is almost ex-
clusively on the cheaper products.
Some of the Portuguese picks are
highly ornamented with hand-carving.
Next to Portugal, Japan sends the
greatest supply of toothpicks to the
United States. These are made by
hand from fine reeds. They, too, are
sold in close competition with the
American product, owing to the
cheaper labor in Japan. The cases in
which the japanese picks are inclosed
are fine specimens of skill with the
jacknite. They are of wood, cut into
strips as thin and delicate as tissue
pqper, but very strong. The cases are
ornamented with hand-painted Japan
ese scenes and are of q size conven-
lent to be carried in the vest pocket.