Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-02-02
GREAT STRUCTURAL TIMBER.
Pacific Coast Product Makes
Fine Test.

Deguu Ov l9G DuISdu VI TOlSStIV,
now the Forest Service, in 1898,
in order to determine with great
er accuracy the exact scope o.
their commercial use. At that
time the only laboratory in the
West suitably equipped for WORK
of this character was that of the
University of California. Ac-
cordingly, the first testing station
was established there, and the
program then prepared has been
steadily carried out since. Keen
interest and hea,ty cooperation
have greatly aided the work.
The lumber mills of the coast
have furnished all the timber
needed; railroads and steamship
companies have given free trans
portation for the test material
and the University of California
has contributed the use of its
well-equipped testing laboratory
and supply of power.
In this first series of expert
ments the Forest Service has
aimed to determine the mechan-
ical and physical properties of
timbers used in buildings,
bridges, and other structures
where strength is called for. The
test specimens have been selected
from the mill and the lumber
yard. so that they might be rep
resentative Of the lumber in
actual use.
The tests cover all grades OF
the product, from clear, straight
grained sticks to inferior pieces
containing such knots and other
defects as are found in common
and second-grade timbers. By
this means it is possible to es-
tablish both the liability of the
timbers to contain season checks,
knots, windshakes. and other
similar detects, and the precise
effect which these have on the
strength of the timbers. The
knowledge thus obtained enables
the engineer or architect to de-
sign timber structures with safety
and economy, and, in addition,
provides reliable basis for the
inspection and grading of the
products of the mills.
A variety of factors enter into
the precise determination of the
strength of timbers. In dealing
with full-sized structural timbers
it is necessary to know the rate
of growth of the specimen, its
weight per cubic foot, and the
stage of seasoning which it has
reached, as expressed in mois-
ture content. To check these
determinations, tests are also
made on small selected pieces,
cut from straight-grained, large
beams. tree from defects, so that
the relation which these factors
bear 20 the strength of the timber
may be analyzed aud problems
attacked simply and directly.
The red fir and the western
hemlock have hitherto monopo-
lized the tests. Red fir, whose
merits have long been recognized
in the West, stands without
question first in Importance
among the structural timbers of
the coast. Lightness, strength
and durability are its distinctive
valuable qualities, and the fact
that it can be obtained readily in
sticks of exceptional size without
defects greatly enlarge its utility.
In recent years its introduction
to the eastern markets has made
rapid strides. The results of the
tests confirm couclusively to the
exceptional merits of this timber.
Western hemlock has not readi-
ly been received in the market.
Chief amoug the obstacles with
which it had to cope is the SIM
ilarity of its name to that of the
eastern hemlock, whose poorer
qualities it has unjustly been
held to share. Though large
quantities of the timber are cut
and sold, they are marketed under
fictitious names, such as Wash
iugton pine, Alaska pine and
gray fir, for under its own name
the western hemlock has even
now no market standing. Yet
a q r. u